Ikeda X Nomura Gyuto, shirogami #2 mizu-Honyaki. Spent a lot of time debating and researching pre-purchase and reading and happened to come across this sub, where I thought it would be appreciated. The finish makes it honestly hard to capture in photos a lot of times because it reflects so much light.

The trip to Sakai at the last minute was well worth it for this memento. Wish I would have gotten to look around a bit more at other shops than the craft museum, but it was the easiest to get to within the time frame and I was NOT leaving Japan without something like this.

I don’t have any information on the stone beyond being a super fine grit.. to be completely honest that was something I saw and thought it looked really sweet for a display piece because of the patterning in it.

Needing help deciding,

I am currently researching about a Yanagiba, most things I’ve read in this sub is that I should get something more than 300$ for it to be good, and so I am keeping my eye on this Nakagawa Damascus yanagiba, which is very cool and I want it.

The only set back is it cost around $600+/- and as a home cook, do I actually need it? What else can i use it for? I do sashimi and nigiri at home and I’m quite passionate about improving my skills and trying out different fishes for raw consumption. (Outside Japan)

To those who bought a good yanagiba who are not a sushi chef, what were your reasons?

Nigara Hamono Gyuto 240 Twisted Damascus B2 Rosewood & Marbled Buffalo Horn Ferrule

V.S.

Tanaka x Kyuzo Bunka 180 Migaki B1 Ziricote & Buffalo Horn Ferrule

A fellow knife enthusiast sent me a message on FB. He wanted a Tanaka x Kuzyo bunka. I had one and was hesitant to part with it. He said he’d trade his ultra rare Nigara which he removed the etching. I saw it and knew I could get the etching back with a little elbow grease.

We struck a deal and sent each other’s knives through DHL.

I had to keep this one under the radar for a little bit as the retailer didn’t want it publicly know he was sitting on a bunch of Mikami’s. Seeing he has put the last of the bunch online yesterday (and sold out almost instantly) I felt like I could post mine now.

For starters: Mikami was a very renowned blacksmith from Hiroshima. His treatment of blue 1 was considered one of the best in the game. He did these amazingly thin, convex grinds as you can see in the choil. His son is a renowned swordsmith, who trained Hashimoto Shoichi.

Unfortunately he passed away in 2017 but sometimes, although it’s getting increasingly rare, it’s still possible to get your hands on his work. I was lucky that Michael was in the process of picking some of his works to put up for sale just when I asked so I got to choose between a few nakiri’s. As the knife that got me interested in Mikami was a finger notch nakiri, I was very happy to see one available. Mikami’s are rare, but the finger notch ones are even rarer (and extra cool).

It came with a certificate of authenticity because Mikami didn’t engrave these blades. Also some extra background info written up by the amazing Michael Shaw from Knifejapan.

This knife is very special to me. It’s exactly the type of knife I’d like to pursue. The embodiment of wabi sabi. Rough, rustic looks at first glance but once you look a bit longer you start seeing a very sophisticated quality to it. The charm is not in a perfect looking finish, it’s pure cutting performance and good steel.

I have cooked with it for a bit now. Very smooth cutter. Food release is not as great as I expected looking at the grind but it’s good. Not special like Okubo or Kageura. This one is thinner behind the edge though. Very bitey, grippy edge. Sharpened it on a 4k Morihei, took a mean edge really quick and didn’t lose it yet. The finger notch feels good, nicely rounded.

Heads up: I believe the Mikami stock has dried up a bit now. If you’re ever interested in one, you might have to wait for a possible new drop. If you do see one though, just pull the trigger.

Picked up this knife after handling it in store on a trip where I went to Strata to buy the Miyazaki Hakata. I liked the blade shape and my gut told me to take it home, so I did. It’s quickly become my go to knife.

It’s hand made start to finish by one guy, which I dig. It’s not perfect, and the grind and fit and finish have an acceptable/appropriate amount of wabisabi. It came out of the box with a few scratches and the finish isn’t as super even as some others I’ve seen. It looks kind of thick, but it’s really thin behind the edge. The most important part, it’s just a wonderful cutter. Flies though everything it’s faced, and this is one of the best B2 Heat treats I’ve used—edge retention is fantastic and it doesn’t feel fragile. It’s feels like a laser dressed up like a workhorse. It’s not my thinnest knife, or my thickest knife, or my heaviest knife, or my tallest knife, but it might be my best all around knife. New favorite on the strip—just a joy to use. I really love this knife.

Tetsujin Blue #2 Kasumi Nakiri 180mm

With Shindo

Hands down, this is now the most reactive knife in my stable! I whipped up a batch of steak sandwiches, julienned some peppers and onions, and sliced some ribeye extra thin. Just loooook at those purples after a single prep session😍 It's still tough to catch good patina photos with the hon kasumi finish, but I managed!

Show us all how YOUR patina are coming along, and tell us what you cut to get them!👀

Had a request for a 5 slot from a customer.

Learned a lot on this one but really happy with the result.

I’ve been eyeing the Majime Meraki II and wanted to get some opinions from all of you especially if you own this knife. how does it compare to other knives in this price range? is BG42 is a good knife steel and how does it perform compared to SG2?
Here's the link: https://www.majimeknives.com/product/the-majime-meraki-ii-available-early-2025

Very slowly getting better at kasumi and forcing myself to put the finger stones away so I can figure out how to get scratch-free cladding without my usual crutch.

Model: Zakuri AS Funayuki Hair and Makeup: Shobudani Tomae

This is still pretty scratchy, on the side opposite the makers mark especially. The long journey continues. On the plus side, I’m getting much better at polishing the core steel with high pressure passes at the end without messing the cladding up, so that’s progress. Also slowly figuring out hamaguri sharpening, which is actually way more intuitive than I was assuming but I’m still a noob at it. Baby steps.

Today I started with slurry from an atoma 400 and then re-generated slurry as needed with a fine Nakayama nagura. I noticed that I got less scratches with the mud from the atoma, so I doubt I’ll use that particular nagura again with this stone. Next time I want to try one of my softer uchigumori slurry stones and see if that reduces scratching and also darkens up the cladding a little bit.

Let me know if you have any tips or questions, thanks for reading!

Uncle Jed's Iron

Forged this pizza cutter from a farriers rasp.

I see posts from people who have gone to Takada no Hamono's workshop or knife shops in Japan, but I don't see posts about smiths outside Japan.

I went and visited Funguy Knives in the U.S. where I was able to see Mike and Doni working on seperate projects. I didn't know until talking to Mike that they do everything including forging their own billets and making their own handles. Mike was super friendly and happy to answer all my questions, even the undoubtedly dumb ones. Apparently the knife makers in Idaho are a close knit community, share knowledge with each other, and occasionally equipment! Although not in a co-op, it reminds me of what I've read of the Echizen knife village - how all the smiths are friendly and help each other.

I was only able to stay about 90 minutes, but in that time watched Mike forge weld a billet of damascus in preparation to make a custom nakiri, and Doni put rivets into and grind on a handle of a Dune inspired Bowie.

Pic #1 is Mike liming up 11 plates of steel to clamp in preparation of welding them together.
Pic #2 & 3 are the billet in the forge.

Pic #4 is Mike grinding scale off the flattened billet. I had to leave about then, but his plan was to cut the billet into 4, stack and forge weld those, draw that out, and cut and stack one more time.

Pic #5 I got from their instagram account although I saw it in at the shop. It's a san-mai damascus suji he made. It's more stunning in person than the pic. Maybe u/FunguyKnivesID can comment on the layers, core steel, and length of the sujihiki. Pretty sure it was around 240 and over 100 (200?) layers of damascus - but I'm probably off on both counts.

They don't have a store or even a counter of knives to sell like TnH, but there were a few knives on the shop walls or on a counter including the suji. I'd link to instagram, etc. but am afraid the post would get deleted for promoting. Ya'll have google search skills I'm sure, if you want to check them out.

Thanks to Mike & Doni at Funguy Knives for a fun trip to their forge!

About ten years ago I started getting "serious" about knives, and I went down the Western knife route. I"m just a home cook, but I like nice things. Landed on Wusthof (with a Mercer or Zwilling thrown in there) and have been happy.

Started following this subreddit about a year ago (I was getting into sharpening my own knives) and discovered that EVERYONE USES JAPANESE KNIVES lol. I mean...I'm happy as hell with my Wusthof, so how can it get better. Well down the rabbit hole I go lol.

I started getting a few cheapos from eBay (mostly to practice with sharpening) and discovered they are WAY better. Thanks to this community (and r/TrueChefKnivesBST) I've been able to grow my collection by a few and have so much more fun in the kitchen. I don't know that I'll ever want or need to drop $500+ on a gyoto, but I'm having a blast cooking these days.

Good job, r/TrueChefKnives!

Neither stainless or cleavera are my forte, but this one came out quite nice. 14C28N 230x90 With carnelian birch handle Would love to hear what you guys think

I wish Chef and my Fridge gave the knife descriptions.

On the first pic, what is the kanji below "HD"?

On the second pic what is the bottom kanji below the white kanji?

Thanks!

Hello! Just bought this knife on a whim a few days ago as I've been wanting to try out a deba, and it seemed like a fun project to restore it a bit.

Now I'm wondering if anyone could idnetify the knife? Or maybe just help me translate the kanji. The handle is a little busted but I'd like to know what it says before I discard it 🙂

As the title suggests, I am currently looking to buy my first gyuto. Afaik, it is the best choice for all around cooking (hopefully at this time the only knife I'd need). I really wanted to spend some money on a nice one that I can maintain and hopefully own for a good number of years. My price range is pretty spread out 250-450 is where I am sitting at, although, if there are recommendations below that range I am equally, if not more interested.

There is a ridiculous amount of options and almost every post I've looked through in the subreddit with rec's has been sold out or not available. I've browsed the chef knives to go and such having the same issue. Let me know thanks! Also, if you are feeling up to it, I was curious about the maintenance schedule, I've heard from some friends that there are places you can take it to sharpen it every year or biannually or something like that. Once again thanks.

EDIT: Located in Midwest US, near Chicago

I am also finding I like the look of wa gyutos more than western, however, I do not know if that affects functionality much. Further, I will edit this post once I have used whichever knife I decide to get for a bit.

Happy international knife day bros. I phoned the knife store to wish them one, they said wtf really didn't even know that was a thing, and no we don't have an HRC tester , fuckin n00bs.... Anyways At last, after much indecision choosing between deba, usuba, yanagiba, unagi, fugubiki takobiki sujihikis etc. none of which I've ever had proper opportunities to test drive, just researching reviews and ogling pictures I faithfully acquired a pristine 2nd hand mukimono. shirogami#3 mukimono/kenmuki made in Sakai . The Sakai craft totally seduced me with the unbearably attractive ways the front kasumi and backside has taken on the most charming natural patina tattooing from a half dozen sessions of transcendent spiritual dissolving boundaries passing through tomato blueberry fig melons garlic onion purslane kale watercress and purple beans, and ginger. The sharpness and handling precision has increased with the natural patina charm giving any magic using class wielding it +2wisdom+1charisma+1vitality bonuses, in real life where I identify as a level2 druid. My least crappyphone camera colour vision struggles(I tried 3) to only capture like less than 30% of the actual natural patina colours. camera not doing justice is a gross understatement .

I'm visiting family, which of course means cooking with whatever they have in the kitchen. Most of their knives are 20 year old Walmart finds that are as dull as a butter knife (last night my wife literally chose a butter knife for prep because it was sharper than the 5 inch "santoku" she was handed). All that goes to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up this Cangshan. Here's my take after a couple of days of use:

Cangshan 6 inch chef knife X-7 "damascus" steel

Overall, I would say this is a perfectly serviceable knife. It's a few years old and still has it's factory edge (albeit with minimal use), and it handled ripe cherry tomatoes with ease. It's got a workhorse grind and is reasonably thin behind the edge. It slays onions and potatoes (haven't tested it on carrots yet) and even had no problem with corn cobs (I needed to cut them in half to fit in their stock pot).

With the substantial belly, it wants to rock chop and handles like a Western knife. I can't help but compare it to the Miyabi artisan 6 inch chef I have at home--and so far I would say the Changshan is quite comparable but handles a bit better than the Miyabi. The Changshan has a noticably thicker at the spine, but that serves to balance out the knife fairly well (though it's still handle heavy). If memory serves, the Changshan may be thinner behind the edge than the Miyabi, although the Miyabi is more of a mid weight overall. I haven't had a chance to sharpen the Changshan (that will have to wait for another time), so I can't speak to that yet.

Aesthetically, I think it looks nice enough. I find the handle attractive and comfortable. The fit and finish are what you'd expect for a factory knife (good but not great). However, I'm pretty sure the damascus finish is laser etched. Whatever--the etched texture may help minimize food sticking.

All in all, the Changshan seems like a decent quality knife. I wouldn't necessarily seek it out for myself, but I am perfectly happy to use it when I visit my family.

https://cutleryandmore.com/products/nigara-anmon-sg2-damascus-gyuto-41037?variant=44997326209278&currency=USD

OR

https://sharpknifeshop.com/products/ryusen-hamono-fukakuryu-gyuto-210-mm

THANKS!!

So I am Looking for my First Japanese Knife. I Right now own a F. Dick Red Spirit Santoku & Office knive. White looking through reddkt if found the Tsunehisa Ginsan Nashiji Gyuto. I‘ve planned on spending around 100€, the Tsunehisa Gyuto With The Blue handle is out of Stock but in Stock With a red handle for 125€ (is it the same knive although it costs 20€ more?). Can u help me decide if Its worth it?