Xinguo ApexUltra Honyaki group buy survey

[blokey]

Hi everyone, recently I was talking to @jedy617 about ApexUltra Honyaki made by Xinguo, seems alot of people are interested after @Hz_zzzzzz posted his knife. So we came up with the idea of a massdrop of 5-20 blades depend on the interest. I talked to @simon yu , they are also up to it, we will send them the steel if enough people are interested.

For people don't know Xinguo, he is one of the best knife makers in China, specialized in cutlery, he does forging, stock removal and his own heat treatment. He studied a lot of metallugry on his own and has a good understanding from simple carbon to modern PM steel. He has a sepcial attention the details, often wrote notes on every single one of his knives so he can even do it better next time. His fit and finish is spectcualr to say at least, with rockwell hardness of every batch tested I trust his blade to last a long time.

For the blade they can be heat treated to 67 HRC, even more than the current one off batches. We haven't decide on length and engraving yet, so we would love to hear from you guys. Currently we are debating doing just one length option around 240-255mm, or we do it in MCX way with 230 and 250 options. For the engraving the front side will have Xinguo;s name, tho the back side is not decided, I was thinking something like "KKF APEXULTRA". The handle will be their simple heart sharped wood and metal spacer, tho if anyone fancy they can choose to install their own handles. The price will be around $750-$850, ultimately depends on the amount ordered and other fees. Another member from Britain will help with final distribution in Europe.

Heres some photo from @Hz_zzzzzz , note his has a custom engraving that won't be on the massdrop

Here's another one off still in Xinguo's shop

 

[TheDza]

Oh yeah, I'm in

 

[enrico]

After talking to @yiyang yu im glad to see it come to fruition

 

[jedy617]

Was debating because of price, but screw it, in.

Everyone join so we get a better price

 

[blokey]

After talking to @yiyang yu im glad to see it come to fruition

@yiyang yu is also a partner in this drop, he would deal with importing the steel and distributing in Europe

 

[Jmast]

Stuff like this is one of the best parts of the forum. People putting this together is so cool.

Right now I wanna say I’d be down, but I might be a little too cheap rn to go over $800. I’ll have to let the hype convince me

 

[Blumbo]

Sigh… guess I’m in

 

[Hz_zzzzzz]

I know many of you are curious about its performance. I’ve sharpened it once and used it for 6-7 meals. I can share some of my initial impressions,

• Grind: it’s generally thin at edge but the near-tip part is a little thinner hehind the edge than the near-heel part. The transition is gradual from heel to tip. The front half cuts carrots effortlessly and smoothly. The near heel part can see a little resistance but no real wedge. The tip is thin and stiff and basically ghosts through anything. Overall it cuts pretty well (which is rare on a honyaki say… from Japan).
• Profile: Mine is custom made after Kato profile. I like Kato profile a lot so it’s good. It’s probably not what you will get but Xinguo profile is also very good.
• Food release: the convex grind helps but the polished surface can generate some stickiness to wet thin slice. The food release actually got noticeably better after it had developed some patina.
• Fit and finish: rounded everywhere. Very comfortable to use. Polished nicely. Better finish than most honyakis I’ve owned.
• Hamon: you can make your own judgement but I think it’s almost as good as it gets.
• Patina: it gets patina slower than other carbons
• Honyaki boarding feeling: yes it exists. It feels stiff on the boarding (and on stones). If you’ve handled other typical honyakis from Japan, they have similar boarding feeling.
• Sharpening: glassy but gets super sharp. I sharpened it on Venev 400 and 800, followed by Naniwa diamond 3000. It actually got pretty sharp off Venev 400. Toothy and smooth. Like you wouldn’t believe it’s a 700-800 grit edge. Cuts paper towels more silently, like 1500 grit edge. I just lightly sharpened it on Venev 800 afterwards and then stropped for a few times on Naniwa Diamond 3000. It got pretty sharp. The sharpening feeling is glassy throughout the process though, so you need a steady hand if you want to use diamond stones. Probably it will feel much better on traditional wetstones.
• Edge retention: kinda amazing so far. It seems to keep the tooth I got from venev 400 for super long. After 6 or 7 meals, it still cut paper towels (not super smoothly but it cuts folded paper towels through). It still ghosts into green onions like nothing is there and slide into tomato skins almost instantly.

Isn’t it beautiful with patina?

 

[Jville]

Dang this is nice, ugh… I’m in

 

[enrico]

@nickrut

 

[nickrut]

@nickrut

*******.


In.

 

[JPAU]

I am IN! Especially eager for a larger option, 250-260mm, if that is available!

I really like the shape of the one in the pictures above - really generous flat spot. Reminiscent of the older TNH shape and TNH honyaki shape! What do you mean by the profile being different or the 'Xinguo profile'? Will it be like this one: ??

The one that was on a HK retailer's Instagram page (above) looked like it had been etched with crazy banding and a blue hue - I think it was AS though. Can that be achieved by just etching in some acid, or does that require cycles of etching and polishing? @Blumbo

 

[jedy617]

I would love to get kato profile too, love my kato. But if it's a different profile I will also live with it haha

 

[nickrut]

I’m in for pretty much whatever configuration comes. Let’s do something neat.

 

[dabes]

I'm in!

 

[dehory]

Everything looks beautiful about that honyaki except - no disrespect intended to whoever made the design decision - the “ApexUltra HRC65” on the back.

Would it be possible just to have the usual clean AU logo stamped discreetly (or maybe even better, nothing at all) on the back, and “KKF Massdrop 2025” on the tang so it’s recorded on the knife for posterity, but not showing?

EDIT: I should add that I think the 新国作 maker’s mark looks great.

I should also add that I’m in — pending confirmation about proposed specs and design details. I’d personally vote for the 230/250 length option model. I prefer 250.

 

[Gavva]

I’m in. Thank you for spearheading the group buy.

 

[Hz_zzzzzz]

Xinguo’s typical profile has a little lower tip and narrower neck compared to Kato’s. I think you guys can get Kato profile if you all want it.

 

[jedy617]

Love the engraved characters on front, but yeah could do without the apex ultra engraving. I'm honestly good with no stamp/just info on the tang. But I assume we definitely have time to work that out haha

 

[Barmoley]

I am interested and basically in, but it would be nice to know the profile, length and approximate delivery time.

 

[Tekkz]

In

 

[blokey]

Thank you everyone, for the profile enough most people prefer a Kato one we can do it, for the length it is still not decided, but we can either have one option of 250mm or 2 as in MCX, 230 or 250mm, tho due to the nature of small batch forged blade the price is unlikely to change much for the smaller one. For the engraving a KKF mass drop 2025 on the tang sounds great, if people prefer only ApexUltra or just nothing on the back we can definitely change to that

 

[Shein]

I’m in. Open to options.

 

[Dave]

I would be down if payment is in a few months when my discretionary funds recover a bit

 

[JPAU]

Thank you everyone, for the profile enough most people prefer a Kato one we can do it, for the length it is still not decided, but we can either have one option of 250mm or 2 as in MCX, 230 or 250mm, tho due to the nature of small batch forged blade the price is unlikely to change much for the smaller one. For the engraving a KKF mass drop 2025 on the tang sounds great, if people prefer only ApexUltra or just nothing on the back we can definitely change to that

Nothing on the back sounds great - Simple and clean has a lot of appeal (and also like the idea of the sentimental parts on the tang).

Will the price change if it is delivered sans handle? I think I prefer my own handles (as I am not a metal spacer guy) but am happy to take delivery with handle not glued in if the price is the same).

 

[blokey]

I am interested and basically in, but it would be nice to know the profile, length and approximate delivery time.

I would be down if payment is in a few months when my discretionary funds recover a bit

For the delivery time it depends on the number ordered, since they still need to get the materials in id say at least 1 month, probably up to 3

 

[blokey]

Nothing on the back sounds great - Simple and clean has a lot of appeal (and also like the idea of the sentimental parts on the tang).

Will the price change if it is delivered sans handle? I think I prefer my own handles (as I am not a metal spacer guy) but am happy to take delivery with handle not glued in if the price is the same).

I will have to ask Simon about that

 

[Repjapsteel]

In, I need to fill in the void that was left from the last massdrop

 

[Jmast]

I would prefer the 230mm personally

 

[JPAU]

I will have to ask Simon about that

Is etching like the AS one that Syoukon sold (linked above) possible? Honestly, I am apprehensive that I sound too entitled asking (but hopefully it does not come across this way!), and please excuse me as being ignorant and willing to learn. If it is not hard to achieve, I would be game to get an etched one like that (and if the blue hue from the tungsten and banding is possible on AU). But if it is a lot of extra time and effort (i.e. inconsistent with a mass drop), then I will drop the issue!