Who makes the finest Yanagiba in your humble opinion?

[JBroida]

Good Lord... 50+ yanagiba?! That is insane.

How many knives do you own personally, in total???

a lot

 

[aboynamedsuita]

I own nearly 50 yanagiba (in my personal collection) right now…

This makes me feel a bit better about my addiction collection lol… I only have about 50 knives total

 

[Omega]

a lot

Lol, and here I thought maybe my collection was getting close in number to yours.

 

[NO ChoP!]

As a lefty, I haven't explored too much with single bevels. I have a Yoshikane yanagi and deba, mostly because they were easily accessible. But I do enjoy them.

 

[cheflarge]

Doi Hayate 300mm, Tanaka 270mm in white #2.

 

[Kingkor]

First lefty shig yanagiba that I've seen!

I've only owned one, love it, think it's great in my humble opinion. My 270 Left-handed Shigefusa yanagiba.

 

[lumo]

from what I’ve used and own...

Doi, weight and density of steel is appealing to me but I’m a Clydesdale
Shig, sexy finesse feel and nice finish, like a sports car
Jin, soul and character like no other, feels alive like an Elvish blade
Kato, haven’t used it yet, long story, but feels great
Haburn made me a gorgeous 330 sakimaru that has some of the best attributes from what I described above, soul and finesse but mighty.

If I had to choose one maker it would be Shigefusa, for single bevels. I’m not a fan of their double bevels, or rather I prefer a lot of others for equal or less money.

my 2 cents
lumo

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

@JBroida would any of the premium ones be notably better as tool to the occasional yanagiba user than a correctly sharpened "basic" one (say a tanaka damascus or sakai takayuki shirogami)?

 

[JBroida]

@JBroida would any of the premium ones be notably better as tool to the occasional yanagiba user than a correctly sharpened "basic" one (say a tanaka damascus or sakai takayuki shirogami)?

in a truly meaningful way, probably not. Consider this analogy... say you commute 5 miles to work in a 35mph zone. You could do that easily in a camry, which wouldnt struggle at all to go 35mph. You could do that same thing in a porche, and it would still be going 35mph. It might be a bit more fun, but it still does the same job. Its not until you start to push the boundries of what the cars can handle, and the differences become more clear. But that also takes skill and experience in driving. What i'm also saying is dont buy yourself the ford pinto of yanagiba (or pontiac aztec/pt crusier/etc).

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

@Jbroida Pinto as in pseudo-yanagibas that have a flat ura and coarse grained stainless?

 

[JBroida]

@Jbroida Pinto as in pseudo-yanagibas that have a flat ura and coarse grained stainless?

yeah... that would be bad, but even not quite as bad as that, there are a number of really inexpsensive yanagiba that have horrible grinds (ura, omote, and bevel), are bent, twisted, and possibly even have sub-par steel and/or heat treatments.

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

Speaking of the cheap ones: Why do some $30 pieces have a urasuki ground (and use some low carbon stainless that at least *gets sharp*) while the $100 half-western handled class often is ... exactly the worst case scenario I described...

But then, most any yanagiba use I do is off-label, so it would be my view being twisted and bent

 

[Dave Martell]

Speaking from a sharpener's perspective my favorites are Watanabe's Kintaro-ame and then Shigefusa

 

[Godslayer]

Speaking from a sharpener's perspective my favorites are Watanabe's Kintaro-ame and then Shigefusa

When are you going to make a Yanagiba with a bolster and yo handle :knife:

 

[Dave Martell]

Speaking from a sharpener's perspective my favorites are Watanabe's Kintaro-ame and then Shigefusa

When are you going to make a Yanagiba with a bolster and yo handle :knife:

I hope never. :scared4:

 

[apicius9]

Not really having a clue what I am talking about, I would put a Watanabe in the top of my list, just because I liked every knife I have seen from him. But I also would blindly trust Jon’s recommendations, so I would need to buy 2 yanagis...

Stefan

 

[daddy yo yo]

I definitely need to stop reading threads like this one. I don't need a yanagiba , but I feel the urge to buy one!!! :viking:

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

If you aren't into fish, these things have good uses when working with doughs, pastry (not if there is coarse sugar in it!) etc - why squeeze through when you can actually cut through the gluten strands?

 

[daddy yo yo]

If you aren't into fish, these things have good uses when working with doughs, pastry (not if there is coarse sugar in it!) etc - why squeeze through when you can actually cut through the gluten strands?

I can definitely hear you! :knight:

 

[osakajoe]

Morimoto
Hide
Nomura

Are some of the better single bevel sharpeners out of Sakai. I would advise buying one in the next year or two. All of these guys are quite old and can probably no longer sharpen within a few years.

Once they are gone or retired. That’s it. No one young even close to their potential out of Sakai. There will be a big void, a lot of scrambling and a lot of pirate tales being told to cover up this fact.

I also think many of you focus to much on brand names instead of craftsman and confuse forgers with sharpeners.

 

[supersayan3]

Osakajoe please, explain more

 

[bkultra]

I would imagine that most individuals entering the field are drawn to the blacksmith side of the bussness. This has recently come up in another thread, but we tend to focus on the smith and over look the sharpener/shaper. I would image this means more money for the smiths and less for the sharpeners. If you were just entering the field would you be drawn to more recognition and money?

 

[Panamapeet]

Morimoto
Hide
Nomura

Are some of the better single bevel sharpeners out of Sakai. I would advise buying one in the next year or two. All of these guys are quite old and can probably no longer sharpen within a few years.

Once they are gone or retired. That’s it. No one young even close to their potential out of Sakai. There will be a big void, a lot of scrambling and a lot of pirate tales being told to cover up this fact.

I also think many of you focus to much on brand names instead of craftsman and confuse forgers with sharpeners.

Maybe that is because it can be very difficult to figure out who made a certain knife or sharpened it

 

[StonedEdge]

That, and I'm assuming most of us are not anywhere near fluent in reading or understanding Japanese so we have to go by what other say (with a large grain of salt, obviously)

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

@osakajoe wouldn't that suggest buying the knife as is, and paying a pro sharpener - somewhere else in japan or somewhere else in the world - to rework it?

 

[osakajoe]

Wrote my post after a few mega highballs but to elaborate...

@osakajoe wouldn't that suggest buying the knife as is, and paying a pro sharpener - somewhere else in japan or somewhere else in the world - to rework it?

This is what I mean. The way a knife is made in Japan. Let me break it down as simple as possible at first.

- Knife blank is forged (factory, hand forged)

- blank is heatreated (by forger, sub contracor, or sharpener)

- Knife is sharpened (factory, all hand, some hand)

- Handled

- Engraved

Now in Japan the business is usually clustering meaning a different specialist at each step. Take a knife branded by a forger. He may have forged the knife but he will probably have sub contracted the sharpening of that knife to grinder/sharpener he trusts. This also works the other way if branded by a sharpener.

If branded by a wholesaler, the subcontract both steps and usually only do the engraving and handling.

This is the standard and completely normal.

I would imagine that most individuals entering the field are drawn to the blacksmith side of the bussness. This has recently come up in another thread, but we tend to focus on the smith and over look the sharpener/shaper. I would image this means more money for the smiths and less for the sharpeners. If you were just entering the field would you be drawn to more recognition and money?

This is what most people assume but you’re not looking at it from the business aspect. The forger and sharpener usually make and charge the same amount depending on and jus based on the work. Both are equally hard crafts and both take time.

I’m a farmer I sell you meat (you’re a chef) to prepare a dish. You charge the customer accordingly to your food costs labor and restaurants fees. The chef/restaurant owner would make more here.

Farmer/restaurant owner hires chef to cook for him. Cook makes his money on his work. Farmer makes more of his grown food and sales.

Restaurant owner buys food and hires chef. Charges accordingly for his costs of food and labor.

Any one of these models can make more than the other and be recognized more than the other depending on how you work it. But let me ask you, when going to a restaurant what will you be looking at more?

 

[knspiracy]

$599 USD 300mm tamahagane honyaki Hamon can be seen on another picture, came with saya, if you can find me a better deal in the 500-800 dollar range your a better shopper than me.

Is that for sale?

 

[adam92]

Morimoto
Hide
Nomura

Are some of the better single bevel sharpeners out of Sakai. I would advise buying one in the next year or two. All of these guys are quite old and can probably no longer sharpen within a few years.

Once they are gone or retired. Thats it. No one young even close to their potential out of Sakai. There will be a big void, a lot of scrambling and a lot of pirate tales being told to cover up this fact.

I also think many of you focus to much on brand names instead of craftsman and confuse forgers with sharpeners.

I heard Nomura used to be learn from Ino, May I assume Ino must be better than Nomura?