I had been looking for an upgrade to my Wuesthof Nakiri and of course Watanabe blades popped up a lot when looking for Nakiris on here. As I was also thinking about dipping my toes into single bevel territory, I decided to make the plunge with Wat. But I wanted to try out the "standard" rather than "pro" line, because I can't buy 2-3 $350 knives at a time. Communication with Wat was great -- I had questions about the difference between Standard and Pro and he was very forthcoming with info. Basically, he says it mostly comes down to whether he sits down with the waterstones to put an edge on it or not, plus other fit and finish issues. Shipping was $45, but super fast, and no hold up with customs (Japan to US west coast).
I got:
1) Ajikiri 120mm W2
2) Ai-Deba 210mm W2
3) Nakiri 165mm B2
From Wat's message I expected to receive a literally blunt set of knives, but while not more than a 5/10 in terms of sharpness, there definitely is an edge on them.
The ho wood handles with plastic ferule are truly ugly and the wood has a noticable overhang with the ferule which is going to be uncomfortable in the long run. I will try to sand that down immediately, and save up for fancy handles down the line. The spine and choil easing is .. minimal. There are no actually sharp edges but it's more chamfered than rounded/ if chamfered even. Even the 'upgrade' chestnut handle has wood sticking out in uncomfortable ways.
The blades themselves look very nice. Choil and blade profile shots below.
Grind seems good (though, as should be obvious, I am far far from a single bevel 'expert') on all three, with a nice thinness behind the edge and a deep uraoshi/suki and a clean shinogi line.
One issue I am worrying about is with the Nakiri -- the recurve (see picture vs a straight line on paper) seems a little problematic. Do you think it's worth removing material from the edge to get it straighter?
I will re-watch all the videos I can find on sharpening single bevel knives next, and then try to "open up" the Ajikiri and Ai Deba. If anyone has particular tips and hints on what to do about that, I would be immensely grateful. The Nakiri is already pretty sharp but I will also do a touch up on that and provide a more in depth review when I have actually used all three!
I got:
1) Ajikiri 120mm W2
2) Ai-Deba 210mm W2
3) Nakiri 165mm B2
From Wat's message I expected to receive a literally blunt set of knives, but while not more than a 5/10 in terms of sharpness, there definitely is an edge on them.
The ho wood handles with plastic ferule are truly ugly and the wood has a noticable overhang with the ferule which is going to be uncomfortable in the long run. I will try to sand that down immediately, and save up for fancy handles down the line. The spine and choil easing is .. minimal. There are no actually sharp edges but it's more chamfered than rounded/ if chamfered even. Even the 'upgrade' chestnut handle has wood sticking out in uncomfortable ways.
The blades themselves look very nice. Choil and blade profile shots below.
Grind seems good (though, as should be obvious, I am far far from a single bevel 'expert') on all three, with a nice thinness behind the edge and a deep uraoshi/suki and a clean shinogi line.
One issue I am worrying about is with the Nakiri -- the recurve (see picture vs a straight line on paper) seems a little problematic. Do you think it's worth removing material from the edge to get it straighter?
I will re-watch all the videos I can find on sharpening single bevel knives next, and then try to "open up" the Ajikiri and Ai Deba. If anyone has particular tips and hints on what to do about that, I would be immensely grateful. The Nakiri is already pretty sharp but I will also do a touch up on that and provide a more in depth review when I have actually used all three!
