Watanabe iron-clad gyuto vs Toyama stainless-clad gyuto

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Hi guys,

I have recently received a Watanabe iron-clad gyuto, which I made a special order with Shinichi Watanabe and wait about a month. Since I also have a Toyama stainless-clad gyuto by hands, I would like to do a comparison. It is not a comparison between Wat or Toy brands, but more iron-clad or stainless clad shape differences.

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Watanabe is 58 mm wide and Toyama is somehow about 54. Watanabe is weight about 290 g and Toyama is about 212 g.

Here is some pictures about spine and side views.

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I thought they could be some similar knife but they are completely different. Watanabe needs to be modified a bit, but it has great potential. The heat treatment is both great, which I describe to my friend that you kitchen life won't completed until you use the blue steel heat-treated by Sanjo.

Let me know whatelse you guys might be interested, and sure I will try to figure it out.
 
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IME the iron clad Wat and iron clad Toy compare well to each other.

And the stainless clad Wat and stainless clad Toy do as well.

The iron clad is the Wat (Toy) we've come to know and love. The stainless clad, IMO, is more like "every knife". Very good, but.......
 
IME the iron clad Wat and iron clad Toy compare well to each other.

And the stainless clad Wat and stainless clad Toy do as well.

The iron clad is the Wat (Toy) we've come to know and love. The stainless clad, IMO, is more like "every knife". Very good, but.......
haha, I am not a big fan of stainless clad, since I do like to polish my knife surface by using natural stones.

Toy is definately a good everyday knife for most of people, but I still like iron clad Wat a bit more.

I do not bother about the weight of 290 g, somehow I kinda like it. It has great potential.
 
I have the stainless clad 210mm W and the stainless clad 240 T and they seem identical with the small exception of length.
 
That iron Wat looks super badass.

I have a similar question. How does the Toyama dammy compare with iron clad toyanabe/watayama? Is it more similar to the iron clad Toyama or ss clad Toyama in terms of thickness, grind and weight?
 
I've had the Wat and Toy iron clad sujis side by side. The only discernable difference was the handle. IIRC they weighed within 5G of each other.
 
I'm interested- what modifications do you think the Wat needs?
I personally wanna to change the curve of the spine a bit (front part). To make it more looks like kato shape. The thickness (1 cm above the edge is not even) is not even, I believe it should be the flaw. Some area need to be thinned. The fillet on the heel is raugh, kinda need to be polished.

That's mostly of it. It is iron clad, so it won't be to difficult to remove steel by stones and I can do some Japanese style surface polish with natural stone.

Expecting a few hours spend on that knife, gonna get myself mental prepared.
 
Chiming in on the weight. Assuming we’re talking about 240mm size, 290g definitely isn’t normal. I have 2 iron-clad Watanabes in 240mm size (with modified spine from Shinichi directly), none is in that weight range...
 
Chiming in on the weight. Assuming we’re talking about 240mm size, 290g definitely isn’t normal. I have 2 iron-clad Watanabes in 240mm size (with modified spine from Shinichi directly), none is in that weight range...
That's also what I am thinking. 290 gram is not a bad thing but it is definately not normal. I received the email from Shinichi, and he explained it with hand-made error. emmmmm......
 
I wouldn’t say it is an „error“. It’s variance in a hand-made process maybe.

Personally I like heavier knives, above 200g for a knife in the 240mm length. But 290g is probably a bit too much for me, especially with a light handle... But it all comes down to what YOU like and how the knife feels in YOUR hands.
 
The dammies are thinner. Shape is “familiar”..
Ok thanks. That’s what I thought. I looked up the BST posts for specs and it seems like most iron clad toyama 240 are 230-240 grams with stock handle, while ss clad ones are around 210 gram, and the dammy ones are more around 220 gram.
 
You are right - the Toyama is 240 Damascus I have is in that range at 225. The 270 toyama dammy on the other hand is 290 gm
 
Ok thanks. That’s what I thought. I looked up the BST posts for specs and it seems like most iron clad toyama 240 are 230-240 grams with stock handle, while ss clad ones are around 210 gram, and the dammy ones are more around 220 gram.
I’ve had em all. I kinda think the Damascus is “finished a little nicer”.. but that is subjective. The iron clad (RIP) was one of the best knives of all time tho.
 
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