yoshikane gyutos and storage/saya options

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hey KKF

just looking for some opinions. after buying a couple laser gyutos to try(ashi ginga, takamura chromax) i love the way they just glide through produce but im not a fan of the food release and was looking at a yoshikane 240mm skd gyuto on K&S. i did a little searching on here and see the yoshikane's seem to be well liked, but how is the food release?

any other vendors besides K&S carrying a yoshikane skd 240 gyuto? i have a kamo from him but i noticed the ebony handles feel fairly heavy and i wouldnt mind trying something with more of a blade heavy balance to see how it feels. although im not completely opposed to the K&S version if there are no other handle options available.

also, basically every gyuto i buy, i get a saya if the vendor has one available for the knife. but i cant help but feel im just wasting money. i love the look of them w/ saya's etc but im just a home cook and i dont travel with my knives. so i was wondering about storage options? at the moment i just get the saya, put it on and put it in a drawer. i was looking at the magnetic knife strips but those arent really a good option since i have family members over fairly frequently and im POSITIVE they would just start grabbing my knives and probably drop one or cut themselves, which would drive me nuts. how do you guys store your knives?

there are plenty of other gyutos im interested in as well, specifically anything by yoshikazu tanaka, kochi, kagekiyo(these are so clean looking and i love the look of wide bevels), and munetoshi primarily because i heard his shirogami HT is very good.

by all means, any and all opinions welcome. im still fairly new to jknives so im still in a sort of trial and error phase. also, edge retention isnt a huge concern of mine since im becoming fairly proficient sharpening knives on whetstones(i have a ton from razor sharpening.) and i actually like sharpening.

thanks again guys/gals for any advice given, hope you guys are having an awesome weekend so far!

Jeremy
 
Carbon Knife Co and Epicurean Edge both stock Yoshi SKD but I believe they're out of stock on 240s. The food release on my 210 is OK, not great, better than a laser but as the grind is pretty flat and high it doesn't shed food as well as knives with a lower bevel or convex grind.

For storage away from clumsy relatives, the felt-lined plastic sleeves/sheathes you can get from various shops work pretty well. They're less liable to scratch a knife than a basic wood saya and are cheaper. Or you can get an in-drawer organizer. If you leave your beater knives out in a block it should head off family abusing the good stuff.
 
Cleancut.se also carries Yoshi, a couple of them under their house brand "Sashima" with a white steel core. The Sanjo ones are made by Yoshi and are very similar to the K&S variant. I've not seen an SKD one from them.

I was pleasantly surprised with the food release on mine - in a pro environment. In home use it should not be a concern.
 
hey KKF

just looking for some opinions. after buying a couple laser gyutos to try(ashi ginga, takamura chromax) i love the way they just glide through produce but im not a fan of the food release and was looking at a yoshikane 240mm skd gyuto on K&S. i did a little searching on here and see the yoshikane's seem to be well liked, but how is the food release?

any other vendors besides K&S carrying a yoshikane skd 240 gyuto? i have a kamo from him but i noticed the ebony handles feel fairly heavy and i wouldnt mind trying something with more of a blade heavy balance to see how it feels. although im not completely opposed to the K&S version if there are no other handle options available.

also, basically every gyuto i buy, i get a saya if the vendor has one available for the knife. but i cant help but feel im just wasting money. i love the look of them w/ saya's etc but im just a home cook and i dont travel with my knives. so i was wondering about storage options? at the moment i just get the saya, put it on and put it in a drawer. i was looking at the magnetic knife strips but those arent really a good option since i have family members over fairly frequently and im POSITIVE they would just start grabbing my knives and probably drop one or cut themselves, which would drive me nuts. how do you guys store your knives?

there are plenty of other gyutos im interested in as well, specifically anything by yoshikazu tanaka, kochi, kagekiyo(these are so clean looking and i love the look of wide bevels), and munetoshi primarily because i heard his shirogami HT is very good.

by all means, any and all opinions welcome. im still fairly new to jknives so im still in a sort of trial and error phase. also, edge retention isnt a huge concern of mine since im becoming fairly proficient sharpening knives on whetstones(i have a ton from razor sharpening.) and i actually like sharpening.

thanks again guys/gals for any advice given, hope you guys are having an awesome weekend so far!

Jeremy

Re: sayas. It's not wasting money if you like sayas on your knives. Personally, I don't like sayas very much, and prefer plastic or kydex edge guards.

Re: Yoshikane. Well made knives, if you're into flat profiles—too flat for my tastes, yeah some like them. Carbon Knife Co is a good source.

What do you like about yoshikazu tanaka, kochi, kagekiyo? Which have you tried?
 
Re: sayas. It's not wasting money if you like sayas on your knives. Personally, I don't like sayas very much, and prefer plastic or kydex edge guards.

Re: Yoshikane. Well made knives, if you're into flat profiles—too flat for my tastes, yeah some like them. Carbon Knife Co is a good source.

What do you like about yoshikazu tanaka, kochi, kagekiyo? Which have you tried?

what ive tried so far- tojiro DP, yu kurosaki AS KU 240mm, shiro kamo sumanigashi 240mm, takamura chromax 210mm, ashi ginga 240mm. so far i love the kurosaki and the ashi ginga, just wish the ginga had better food release. im still relatively new and trying different things to see what i prefer.

what i like about the knives listed? specifically ive just read good things about them. Y.tanaka is a very well respected smith from sakai. his blades on miura are appealing to me and ive read he has an excellent aogami heat treat. kochi i read has excellent food release(sorry not heat treat) and is supposedly a great budget blade, kagekiyo i just love the look of the high bevels and F&F.

maybe im going about this the wrong way and should solely focus on profiles and not worry about steels/makers etc.
 
what ive tried so far- tojiro DP, yu kurosaki AS KU 240mm, shiro kamo sumanigashi 240mm, takamura chromax 210mm, ashi ginga 240mm. so far i love the kurosaki and the ashi ginga, just wish the ginga had better food release. im still relatively new and trying different things to see what i prefer.

what i like about the knives listed? specifically ive just read good things about them. Y.tanaka is a very well respected smith from sakai. his blades on miura are appealing to me and ive read he has an excellent aogami heat treat. kochi i read has excellent food release(sorry not heat treat) and is supposedly a great budget blade, kagekiyo i just love the look of the high bevels and F&F.

maybe im going about this the wrong way and should solely focus on profiles and not worry about steels/makers etc.

Good to read up—but keep in mind that ultimately, the only opinion that really matters is your own. There're knives by famed makers that many rave about, that I simply don't connect with in the kitchen, finding them 'meh'; pricey knives that get swooped up in a minute, that don't perform for me as well as knives half the price.

Everyone has their own path—helpful for me is building a relationships and having a dialogue with a knowledgeable vendors, since they got the stuff, communicating your knife needs, etc.

But, yeah, going with makers that many users have had positive experiences is an obvious strategy.
 
any other vendors besides K&S carrying a yoshikane skd 240 gyuto? i have a kamo from him but i noticed the ebony handles feel fairly heavy and i wouldnt mind trying something with more of a blade heavy balance to see how it feels. although im not completely opposed to the K&S version if there are no other handle options available.

Yoshikane also manufacturers for other brands, I think Konosuke YS is one in SKD. So if you’re looking for different options and vendors, you could widen your search.

I just ordered a yoshi tsuchime 210 from epicurean edge, but looks like they’re out of 240s. @ModRQC posted a good review of the Yoshi santoku and probably covers food release there.
 
Good to read up—but keep in mind that ultimately, the only opinion that really matters is your own. There're knives by famed makers that many rave about, that I simply don't connect with in the kitchen, finding them 'meh'; pricey knives that get swooped up in a minute, that don't perform for me as well as knives half the price.

Everyone has their own path—helpful for me is building a relationships and having a dialogue with a knowledgeable vendors, since they got the stuff, communicating your knife needs, etc.

But, yeah, going with makers that many users have had positive experiences is an obvious strategy.

yeah i understand that some recommendations wont gel with me, im just looking for a little extra guidance is all rather than blindly buying everything i see that looks interesting.

instead, lemme phrase this question a little differently in order to gain some insight into how someone goes about deciding what consitutes a good knife w/ good food release. you mentioned the yoshikane was too flat a profile for your tastes. when you look at a choil shot, what specifically do you look for that would make you think a knife would have good food release? could you give me some examples of knives or some choil shots of knives that you would consider to have excellent food release?

sorry if these are some pretty broad questions, im just trying to learn a bit about jknives in general.
 
For push cutting, a thin gyuto with full flat grind+mirror polish has the worst food release on cutting potatos. Compared to a thick gyuto with strong convex grind+Nashiji finish will have the best food release.

For slicing, it’s a different story, for example,
When slicing tuna blocks, a thick gyuto+Nashiji finish is the worst for this task, the blade gets stuck in between the flesh and the Nashiji finish can cause the drag.

I won’t focus too much on “food release” when buy knives, Look for ones that fits your cutting style and what you cut every day.

Yoshikane knives has a lot of flat spots from heel to mid blade, gives you that sudden stop cutting feel when rocking/push cutting, it’s not suitable for ppl likes to rock, but is good for push cut/slicing.
 
Also to take into consideration, without more handling of knives of different types you won't know what you like. If you want to dip your toes into the water trying a popular maker can make it a bit less of a financial commitment since the secondary market will eat it up. You'll likely only lose a few bucks and be better informed about that which you like and dislike.
 
For push cutting, a thin gyuto with full flat grind+mirror polish has the worst food release on cutting potatos. Compared to a thick gyuto with strong convex grind+Nashiji finish will have the best food release.

For slicing, it’s a different story, for example,
When slicing tuna blocks, a thick gyuto+Nashiji finish is the worst for this task, the blade gets stuck in between the flesh and the Nashiji finish can cause the drag.

I won’t focus too much on “food release” when buy knives, Look for ones that fits your cutting style and what you cut every day.

Yoshikane knives has a lot of flat spots from heel to mid blade, gives you that sudden stop cutting feel when rocking/push cutting, it’s not suitable for ppl likes to rock, but is good for push cut/slicing.

my primary use for a gyuto is push/pull cutting/chopping produce. lots of potatoes/carrots/onion/cabbage etc. slicing wise it will see use on beef/pork/chicken primarily.
 
Also to take into consideration, without more handling of knives of different types you won't know what you like. If you want to dip your toes into the water trying a popular maker can make it a bit less of a financial commitment since the secondary market will eat it up. You'll likely only lose a few bucks and be better informed about that which you like and dislike.

yeah, part of the reason why i was considering a yoshikane skd. it seems to be a fairly well liked knife around here. my logic is ill just try gyuto's. settle on what i like and sell the ones i dont. as long as i stick to some of the more popular makers i wont be out much $ reselling hopefully
 
Yoshikane will definitely have better food release and cutting feel compared to the Chromax and Ginga's. Now if you're looking for "food stays where you cut it" food release, Yoshikane isn't quite there on everything. Nothing suction cups to the knife, some stuff stays where you cut it. But it won't quite be like a thicker Watanabe or Kippington's Chevron hook grind.
 
what ive tried so far- tojiro DP, yu kurosaki AS KU 240mm, shiro kamo sumanigashi 240mm, takamura chromax 210mm, ashi ginga 240mm. so far i love the kurosaki and the ashi ginga, just wish the ginga had better food release. im still relatively new and trying different things to see what i prefer.

what i like about the knives listed? specifically ive just read good things about them. Y.tanaka is a very well respected smith from sakai. his blades on miura are appealing to me and ive read he has an excellent aogami heat treat. kochi i read has excellent food release(sorry not heat treat) and is supposedly a great budget blade, kagekiyo i just love the look of the high bevels and F&F.

maybe im going about this the wrong way and should solely focus on profiles and not worry about steels/makers etc.

as it happens I just ordered a 240 white gyuto from this line. Ill let you know how it's ground when I get it, but my suspicion is slightly hollow.

yoshikane food release is fine. the whole knife is fine. it doesnt do much for me but it's inarguable that theyre a good knife for the price.

best overall 240 Ive used that I can recommend given the current state of the market would be like, Toyama or Mazaki. this is a combination of being a good knife, being reasonably available, reasonably priced and being ready to go out of the box (e.g. I am always pimping Hinoura but I felt like mine got 10x better after doing a tiny bit of flattening/polishing)
 
as it happens I just ordered a 240 white gyuto from this line. Ill let you know how it's ground when I get it, but my suspicion is slightly hollow.

I can confirm it’s slight hollow grind on the OUL Tanaka line, the shinogi line is much more pronounced than the Yoshikane(slight convex on the bevel), it helps push the food away/fall off while push cutting leads to better food release in some ways.
 

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I can confirm it’s slight hollow grind on the OUL Tanaka line, the shinogi line is much more pronounced than the Yoshikane(slight convex on the bevel), it helps push the food away/fall off while push cutting leads to better food release in some ways.

I got the itadaki one, so not OUL, but I dont know what to expect as there weren't many hits on the forum search function
 
I can confirm it’s slight hollow grind on the OUL Tanaka line, the shinogi line is much more pronounced than the Yoshikane(slight convex on the bevel), it helps push the food away/fall off while push cutting leads to better food release in some ways.
Are these choil shots of the y Tanaka oul + yoshikane? How do you like the 2 knives? Performance in general/characteristics? Also how easily do they sharpen up/maintain an edge?

I got the itadaki one, so not OUL, but I dont know what to expect as there weren't many hits on the forum search function
Lmk how you like it, as these were the exact knives I was looking at. I noticed knifewear has a decently priced munetoshi and some y Tanaka knives on spring sale that look interesting too
 
yeah i understand that some recommendations wont gel with me, im just looking for a little extra guidance is all rather than blindly buying everything i see that looks interesting.

instead, lemme phrase this question a little differently in order to gain some insight into how someone goes about deciding what consitutes a good knife w/ good food release. you mentioned the yoshikane was too flat a profile for your tastes. when you look at a choil shot, what specifically do you look for that would make you think a knife would have good food release? could you give me some examples of knives or some choil shots of knives that you would consider to have excellent food release?

sorry if these are some pretty broad questions, im just trying to learn a bit about jknives in general.

The pertinent question is why you want a new knife? What are the shortcomings of the knives you've tried and how do you define your tastes and knife collecting objectives?

It's very, very easy to get opinions on knives that other people love. Just because a knife garners rave reviews. doesn't guarantee it'll work for you.

For me, 'food release' is way over-rated, not a major consideration when I buy a knife. My parameters lean more towards length, height, maker, price, aesthetics, profile, weight, steel—probably in that order—yeah, steel probably last on the list, don't care about steel type if from a maker I like.

The two gyutos I use the most are knives with a 225mm length, carbon—Raquin and Takada. Hence my tastes.

BTW, Yoshikane SKD steel is excellent.
 
Are these choil shots of the y Tanaka oul + yoshikane? How do you like the 2 knives? Performance in general/characteristics? Also how easily do they sharpen up/maintain an edge?
Yes, they’re both extremely sharp OOTB,
I only been using OUL Tanaka on cutting piles of cucumbers, it’s the best knife I’ve tried for this task because of the pronounced wide bevel makes it unique during cutting, helps pushing the cucumbers away or fall off on their own. I haven’t sharpened it yet, but I have sharpened Tanaka’s white 1 Sujihiki before, not as easy to sharpen as white 2, but it’s easier and holds the edge longer than my other Shibata Kotetsu R2 slicer.

Yoshikane(Konosuke YS) is a very good all around gyuto for push cut/slicing, it replaced my Konosuke Hd2, the OOTB edge can be a bit sticky for carrots( most Yoshikane has that mirror polish finish on the cutting edge), other than that, I’ll use it for anything except bones or frozen products because the edge is pretty thin. I don’t see any serious sharpening anytime soon, only couple pass on strop(with green compound) it’s back to razor sharp again, it’s pretty easy to do so.
 
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The pertinent question is why you want a new knife? What are the shortcomings of the knives you've tried and how do you define your tastes and knife collecting objectives?

It's very, very easy to get opinions on knives that other people love. Just because a knife garners rave reviews. doesn't guarantee it'll work for you.

For me, 'food release' is way over-rated, not a major consideration when I buy a knife. My parameters lean more towards length, height, maker, price, aesthetics, profile, weight, steel—probably in that order—yeah, steel probably last on the list, don't care about steel type if from a maker I like.

The two gyutos I use the most are knives with a 225mm length, carbon—Raquin and Takada. Hence my tastes.

BTW, Yoshikane SKD steel is excellent.

as a newbie my order of importance is probably length>steel>price>maker>aesthetics>profile=weight

honestly im just in a phase where im enjoying trying random things. my jknife journey sorta began from just wanting to try a very high quality knife, i had a bunch of whetstones from razor honing and started sharpening my kitchen knives(mercer/victorinox mainly) but the edge retention was pretty poor due to the soft steel, which was actually a great thing for me since i really enjoy sharpening but i just wondered how much better things can get.

so i took the red pill and started finding out how deep the rabbit hole goes. how different steel types feel on the stones, how easy some steels are to sharpen, how easily lasers just glide through produce, how reactive some carbon steels are to various foods and the list goes on and on.

i couldnt tell you too many hard and fast preferences. i like carbon steels(or at least semi stainless) because watching patina develop is a lot of fun. i like knives with a decent flat spot towards the back because i find push cutting/chopping easiest for me to be consistent with and rock chopping automatically makes me cringe since i dont have the skill set developed yet to risk chipping a blade. if i buy a thicker blade it has to have a nice distal taper so i can still do finer work with the tip, and as an all around i like 240mm way more than 210mm, but its bordering on too large for my skillset so i might be better off with something in between.

at the end of the day i could have just lived with a 20$ mercer and been just fine, but using nicer knives has made me enjoy cooking alot more. thats really all it boils down to for me.
 
as a newbie my order of importance is probably length>steel>price>maker>aesthetics>profile=weight

honestly im just in a phase where im enjoying trying random things. my jknife journey sorta began from just wanting to try a very high quality knife, i had a bunch of whetstones from razor honing and started sharpening my kitchen knives(mercer/victorinox mainly) but the edge retention was pretty poor due to the soft steel, which was actually a great thing for me since i really enjoy sharpening but i just wondered how much better things can get.

so i took the red pill and started finding out how deep the rabbit hole goes. how different steel types feel on the stones, how easy some steels are to sharpen, how easily lasers just glide through produce, how reactive some carbon steels are to various foods and the list goes on and on.

i couldnt tell you too many hard and fast preferences. i like carbon steels(or at least semi stainless) because watching patina develop is a lot of fun. i like knives with a decent flat spot towards the back because i find push cutting/chopping easiest for me to be consistent with and rock chopping automatically makes me cringe since i dont have the skill set developed yet to risk chipping a blade. if i buy a thicker blade it has to have a nice distal taper so i can still do finer work with the tip, and as an all around i like 240mm way more than 210mm, but its bordering on too large for my skillset so i might be better off with something in between.

at the end of the day i could have just lived with a 20$ mercer and been just fine, but using nicer knives has made me enjoy cooking alot more. thats really all it boils down to for me.

I would strongly recommend reordering this and putting steel last.

at any rate if Yoshikane looks good to you just go for it.
 
Lmk how you like it, as these were the exact knives I was looking at. I noticed knifewear has a decently priced munetoshi and some y Tanaka knives on spring sale that look interesting too

ok so the Miura Itadaki showed up today a bit ahead of schedule. the one I selected was the 240 with chestnut handle in iron clad white 2 (which for me is extremely on brand I think like at least 3/4 of my knives are iron clad white 1/2 specifically).

it has a hollow grind of about the same depth as the one Jason showed here. interestingly, it appears to have a nearly identical finish to my Hitohira Togashi iron clad, and a similar shape.

my example is 229 x 50 & exactly 200 grams so a bit bigger than listed on the particular listing height wise, which is good. still, the knife overall feels small, especially due to the shorter than Im used to burnt chestnut handle (which is perfectly nice). it's somewhere inbetween my 210 and 240 hinouras for handle size, but the knife itself is about the size of my Hinoura 210 (just a few mm longer and basically the same height). the choil is nicely rounded but the spine is definitely not.

I think it's a fine knife and reasonable for 300 dollars, but you can still find 240mm Togashis for like slightly more and you get better f&f and the Tagayasan handle is honestly one of the nicest Ive ever used, so I almost feel like I'd say get that instead. WRT heat treat I mean it's Y.Tanaka and Togashi, not like you're settling for either. The hammered 210 Hinoura I have is also a reasonable choice and is even cheaper but theyre not always in stock. It also has a much lower grind line and Im looking forward to flattening out this Tanaka blade and polishing it. (well ok not looking forward to the first part but still).

anyway all these knives are horses for courses.
 
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My #1 storage recommendation is the Ippintei Ho Wood Saya. They're designed to fit just about any knife depending on shape and size. For instance: you can buy the "small gyuto" size and it'll fit any gyuto 180mm to 210mm. Or the "large deba" version. They have tightening straps and velcro to really hold the knife in place.

Anyways, just google it and you'll see what I mean. It's hard to find outside of Japan, but you can get a freight forwarder pretty easily. I've been using six of them for years with no problems. I keep buying them for friend and family because they're so useful. I just wish somebody would start importing them to the states.
 
I would strongly recommend reordering this and putting steel last.

at any rate if Yoshikane looks good to you just go for it.

yeah, just bought a yoshikane today. couldnt resist after all.
ok so the Miura Itadaki showed up today a bit ahead of schedule. the one I selected was the 240 with chestnut handle in iron clad white 2 (which for me is extremely on brand I think like at least 3/4 of my knives are iron clad white 1/2 specifically).

it has a hollow grind of about the same depth as the one Jason showed here. interestingly, it appears to have a nearly identical finish to my Hitohira Togashi iron clad, and a similar shape.

my example is 229 x 50 & exactly 200 grams so a bit bigger than listed on the particular listing height wise, which is good. still, the knife overall feels small, especially due to the shorter than Im used to burnt chestnut handle (which is perfectly nice). it's somewhere inbetween my 210 and 240 hinouras for handle size, but the knife itself is about the size of my Hinoura 210 (just a few mm longer and basically the same height). the choil is nicely rounded but the spine is definitely not.

I think it's a fine knife and reasonable for 300 dollars, but you can still find 240mm Togashis for like slightly more and you get better f&f and the Tagayasan handle is honestly one of the nicest Ive ever used, so I almost feel like I'd say get that instead. WRT heat treat I mean it's Y.Tanaka and Togashi, not like you're settling for either. The hammered 210 Hinoura I have is also a reasonable choice and is even cheaper but theyre not always in stock. It also has a much lower grind line and Im looking forward to flattening out this Tanaka blade and polishing it. (well ok not looking forward to the first part but still).

anyway all these knives are horses for courses.

im always surprised whenever i order anything from japan how fast it shows up sometimes. glad to hear miura has good shipping. handles arent something i have a strong opinion of yet, outside of looking at some and just thinking they look nice or ugly, i havent found anything that just doesnt work for me so far, i will say that i really like the feel of unfinished/lacquered handles, they just have a nice grip to them.

would you say you have some buyers remorse then on your y tanaka then? does the hollow grind bother you? after looking at the hitohira togashi's these look like some really nice knives.
 
My #1 storage recommendation is the Ippintei Ho Wood Saya. They're designed to fit just about any knife depending on shape and size. For instance: you can buy the "small gyuto" size and it'll fit any gyuto 180mm to 210mm. Or the "large deba" version. They have tightening straps and velcro to really hold the knife in place.

Anyways, just google it and you'll see what I mean. It's hard to find outside of Japan, but you can get a freight forwarder pretty easily. I've been using six of them for years with no problems. I keep buying them for friend and family because they're so useful. I just wish somebody would start importing them to the states.

these look like a nice "all around" option, but the only place im seeing them is the ippintei website. after looking into it a bit though it looks like they only deliver inside of japan so these dont really seem an option for me atm.
 
ok so the Miura Itadaki showed up today a bit ahead of schedule. the one I selected was the 240 with chestnut handle in iron clad white 2 (which for me is extremely on brand I think like at least 3/4 of my knives are iron clad white 1/2 specifically).

it has a hollow grind of about the same depth as the one Jason showed here. interestingly, it appears to have a nearly identical finish to my Hitohira Togashi iron clad, and a similar shape.

my example is 229 x 50 & exactly 200 grams so a bit bigger than listed on the particular listing height wise, which is good. still, the knife overall feels small, especially due to the shorter than Im used to burnt chestnut handle (which is perfectly nice). it's somewhere inbetween my 210 and 240 hinouras for handle size, but the knife itself is about the size of my Hinoura 210 (just a few mm longer and basically the same height). the choil is nicely rounded but the spine is definitely not.

I think it's a fine knife and reasonable for 300 dollars, but you can still find 240mm Togashis for like slightly more and you get better f&f and the Tagayasan handle is honestly one of the nicest Ive ever used, so I almost feel like I'd say get that instead. WRT heat treat I mean it's Y.Tanaka and Togashi, not like you're settling for either. The hammered 210 Hinoura I have is also a reasonable choice and is even cheaper but theyre not always in stock. It also has a much lower grind line and Im looking forward to flattening out this Tanaka blade and polishing it. (well ok not looking forward to the first part but still).

anyway all these knives are horses for courses.
It’s weird my 230 mm OUL feels liked 180-210mm range knife too, maby was the pronounced upward curve tip profile making it feels even shorter when slicing, it’s great for push cutting tho.
A2F60DEE-FDB3-4942-96C9-4EDD5AA37B28.png

This gave me future reference in buying knives, an “evenly” curved cutting profile from heel to tip will definitely give me maximum workable cutting length.
BB32720E-9919-45C8-9582-63B30450A9E5.jpeg

These 235/215mm knives feels liked true 235/215 knife.
0284F4D5-C518-4599-8DCC-FD64C49FD0D9.jpeg
 
would you say you have some buyers remorse then on your y tanaka then? does the hollow grind bother you? after looking at the hitohira togashi's these look like some really nice knives.

no. dont mistake my honesty about what I consider to be shortcomings to mean I am unhappy. it's a 300 dollar 240 from Y. Tanaka, you cant expect it to come as sorted as a 600 dollar Kaiju or blue steel Takaka no Hamano. the well rounded choil is already a win in my book.

also my main attachment to this hobby is now natural stones anyway, and I buy knives knowing Im going to immediately start tinkering with them.

plus my ideal knife is a wide bevel knife with some material ground out of the area above the shinogi.
 
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