Selling for a friend, but knife is in my possession.
These were ordered awhile back and came in needing a lot of TLC. While an incredible amount of work was put in by RDG getting the bevels tamed, this is still a bit of a project knife. It will need just a bit of re-profiling to correct a small frown in the blade and then the final thinning and any polishing work if you so choose. Price is reflective of the work remaining to be finished and is below cost even before factoring in having a pro knife-maker help with the heavy thinning.
Smith: Yoshitaka Yamada
Construction: Aogami 1 / wrought iron hon-warikomi
Handle: rosewood, nickle, horn
Edge measurements: 171.5mm x 58.5mm
Weight: 298g
Price: $415 + shipping
There is a LOT to love about Yamada-san's work. His wrought iron finish is second to none - well defined, detailed, organic and soft to the touch. IMO it's the bench mark for deep etched iron. The steel heat treatment is great as well. It is HARD but not brittle or chippy. Feels incredibly special in hand, like a piece of blacksmith's art as much as a knife. On the other hand, they're very thick and heavy knives with a good amount of wabi-sabi. This is not a knife that would be well suited for all tasks or all times. Ryan did a great job with the thinning, removing quite a bit of material and excess convexity to create a knife that is now roughly similar to some of the thicker workhorses from other makers I've used. This work would take many, many hours to achieve by hand and was done deftly while preserving a crisp shinogi. That said, you will need to lightly profile and then thin the knife and polish the bevels, meaning some work is left ahead. I simply don't have capacity to finish this task now.
For polishers, this wrought is come of the most figured I've seen and will be an absolute joy on stones. Because of the shape it'll be insanely easy to keep a good grind and create beautiful finishes. As a polishers playground and XXXtra heavy nakiri, I can't think of a better option. But you'll need to put in a bit of leg work to get there.
These were ordered awhile back and came in needing a lot of TLC. While an incredible amount of work was put in by RDG getting the bevels tamed, this is still a bit of a project knife. It will need just a bit of re-profiling to correct a small frown in the blade and then the final thinning and any polishing work if you so choose. Price is reflective of the work remaining to be finished and is below cost even before factoring in having a pro knife-maker help with the heavy thinning.
Smith: Yoshitaka Yamada
Construction: Aogami 1 / wrought iron hon-warikomi
Handle: rosewood, nickle, horn
Edge measurements: 171.5mm x 58.5mm
Weight: 298g
Price: $415 + shipping
There is a LOT to love about Yamada-san's work. His wrought iron finish is second to none - well defined, detailed, organic and soft to the touch. IMO it's the bench mark for deep etched iron. The steel heat treatment is great as well. It is HARD but not brittle or chippy. Feels incredibly special in hand, like a piece of blacksmith's art as much as a knife. On the other hand, they're very thick and heavy knives with a good amount of wabi-sabi. This is not a knife that would be well suited for all tasks or all times. Ryan did a great job with the thinning, removing quite a bit of material and excess convexity to create a knife that is now roughly similar to some of the thicker workhorses from other makers I've used. This work would take many, many hours to achieve by hand and was done deftly while preserving a crisp shinogi. That said, you will need to lightly profile and then thin the knife and polish the bevels, meaning some work is left ahead. I simply don't have capacity to finish this task now.
For polishers, this wrought is come of the most figured I've seen and will be an absolute joy on stones. Because of the shape it'll be insanely easy to keep a good grind and create beautiful finishes. As a polishers playground and XXXtra heavy nakiri, I can't think of a better option. But you'll need to put in a bit of leg work to get there.
