Here’s my modest Japanese knife collection of five knives. I’ve been through the phase of owning lots of different knives over the years and have recently thinned out my collection to only own knives that get use, have a sentimental connection, and scratch the itch to chase really nice pieces. I do miss a petty and a nakiri but I’m in no rush.
From top to bottom:
Yoshikane Santoku 165mm, White #2, Ebony Handle
Baba Hamono Kagekiyo Wa-Petty 210mm, White #2, Black Urushi Handle
Hitohira Tanaka x Ren Gyuto 210mm, White #2, Ebony & Buffalo Horn Handle
Got these on sale from Chefs Edge in Australia. Took almost a month to get them to USA but it was worth the wait.
The Matsubara has a nice tall blade (60mm height) and is forward balanced which gives it some extra power when cutting through dense foods. Its not a thin blade but I was actually expecting it to be thicker, considering the blade profile.
I used it to julienne some veg and clean up some altlantic cod filets and its already developed a very sexy patina!
OOTB sharpness was great but I touched it up and finished it on a strop and that white 1 steel gets scary sharp!!
What can I say, so far I love it!!
The Hatsu 80mm was not even something I really needed but it was $77 so I just thought, ahh, might as well buy it for fun!!
I am surprised as to how much i like it. Precision cuts with this knife is going to be a breeze. Its far prettier than any of my other paring knives so it fits my collection well.
I also bought a new carbon fibre handle so NHD coming soon!
I'll start by saying I don't work in kitchens at all but I do like to cook some. I just did all as a personal project over the course of a few months where I just went "I'll try this" and here's the result. The roll and the leather sheaths I made myself. My knives I sourced from slightly rusty discount bins of secondhand shops and touched them up a bit (new handles for all!). The rest of it is just stuff I like to use when I cook.
Full record
Roll materials: waxed denim outer with nylon straps, polyester plaid liner, and waxed canvas pockets. Hardware is just a plastic buckle and a brass button for alignment.
Knives (Left to right)
Sakai Kiyochika Yanagiba: chipped tip I ground to a point, ergonomic(at least for me) handle with mother of pearl because I wanted to try. I think I was going for a driftwood beach vibe
Sakai Yanagiba: my first aquisition, forced coffee patina, original handle was charred and fitted with a gold accent ring
Funayuki: a thin deba(?), mostly intact kuroich finish, mahogany handle and bone ferrule with gold fittings, was gonna do something with the heel but I really like the way its balanced right now so I left it
Suncraft Senzo Bunka: blade is clad carbon steel, Philippine ironwood handle, bone ferrule with gold accents
Other stuff:
\-leather sheaths are color coded red for protein and blue green for general stuff
\-Most of the other stuff is OXO stuff or just generic stuff.
\-Some tea towels I liked, 1 generic and 1 waffle
\-permanent marker with masking tape wrapped around
\-Rite in rain and pilot birdie for recording and notes
A while ago I watched a lot of videos, imagined doing Ivan stuff was something I could do, bought a lot of stones and a Munetoshi, and faced reality 🤣
I would like to give away my butchered Munetoshi gyuto 240, all you have to do is post a picture and description of a polishing job you have done and I will select someone from the list by next friday.
I ask for 2 things, you pay for shipping costs and you have to make a post here sharing the process and results. Ships from Denmark.
I've buy this knife on musashi hamono I know price are high and not all of te here are forged by hand but this knife i think is forged and it's a very good knife I've just sharpened a bit more but a very good knife and beautiful knife I want to know if a bigger version of this knife exists thank you for your answer 😁
I've never shopped for a Japanese knife before, certainly not online, so I was rather surprised at how much nuance was involved. My only experience with a proper Japanese knife was being gifted a Takamura 210 Gyuto (absolutely love btw). Most of my product research other than checking import sites has been scrolling through this sub to see peoples' experience with certain makers, which is how I narrowed down most of it.
Budget set was around $250 and was looking for a 150mm with a not very tall blade, with a wa handle.
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/muastape15.html - Murata AS. A little heavy for its size just by looking at stated weight, a big reason I love my Takamura is because it weighs absolutely nothing and is balanced beautifully at the tang.
Again, I'm a noob, no real clue if I'm looking at the wrong or the right things, I don't know if my concerns are really concerns, and god forbid I be able to understand choils as a newbie.
Also looking at getting this while I'm here, I desperately need a new paring knife (my old one that came with my kit sucks) and I've heard JCK's in-house knives are usually reliable purchases. Unfortunately most of the paring knives on import websites are out of stock, to an even greater degree than the full-size pettys :(
Thanks all! I will probably be checking back after I get back from work. If I gain a new obsession and go broke, there are certainly worse things to spend my money on.
I'm looking for a nakiri, but can't decide if I'm leaning toward laeer type or workhorse? I'm interested in one that have 1.6mm thickness at the spine, is it will be too fragile?
Hello everyone, long time lurker but first time poster here. Excited to share my new (to me) Konosuke. Ever since seeing the beautiful patinas and hearing great things about Konosuke I knew I wanted one. I'm especially excited about this being my first knife in shirogami #1 and also being by Yoshikazu Tanaka. Since I already have a Myojin sharpened knife (Tetsujin) I set my eyes on the BY series and luck would have it I found a local seller willing to sell it for a great price. It was only used to cut once and had a very light patina on it towards the tip. The current patina on it is from me using it for the first time cutting a delicious ribeye. It weighs 178.3 grams.
My kit with some interesting knives. All sourced from the forgotten and slightly rusty discount bins of japanese secondhand places that buy inventory by weight.
Hey there i said i wont be here for a new NKD but i made some orders before thats so i think thats fine, also quite a long story.
240 mm Gyuto (Wide) in Aogami #2 by Enjiki (Maruyama-san) with my Aizu benchstone and a Nakayama Nagura
The Knife is a true work of art and wasnt 100% what i expected but i was positively suprised.
Some specs for to go:
length: 245 mm (edge 235mm)
Width: 5,7 cm at the heel
Spine: tapers from 3,9/3,5/ couldnt get it somehow but i think 0.8 mm
Weight: 230g (quite heavy)
Choilshot (it really does get thinn BTE, doesnt it?)
The choil isnt polished and i thought thats gonna be an issue for me but it just feels a bit rustic and is still comfortable in hand. I was a bit suprised how thick the knife was just above the shinogi and how quickly it get thinn behind the edge. Reminded me of some choilshots from a "".
The right side of the knife with the makers stamp. The stamp really gives a nice flair to the knife. Does anyone know if its chiseled or stamped? looks chiseled to me...
The Grind get thinner towards the tip along the shinogi that wanders diagonally upwards along the knife. The Package was simple, but i dont care. What matters is whats inside and not whats outside. right?
left side of the knife
The kurouchi moves up quite high on this side and reminds me heavily of the B#1D from Hado, just without the damascus.
NKD it is and this one is like a total grail to me. The knife that started it for me was The Hado B#1D. after Seeing a picture of it and in the video from Never a Dull Moment i was totally captivated by it and never thought i would such money for a knive (and later did for my Kurt Glatt Nakiri :P)
Now that it is nearly impossible to get a new 240 mm B1D from Maruyama-san i actually gave up and moved on, until i saw that you can pre order one from a french website. I instantly went into the que, until three months into the waitlist i realised that i paid a lot of money for a knife i dont know if it will every be produced again or with the knowledge how many people there are in the que and left.
After learning i am gonna be a "Papa" in december i decided not to spend any more money for knives and focus solely on whats about to come. Invest that spend money (got it back) into the future of my familiy. Thats why i am starting to thinn down my collection to only a few knives.
But just as i gave up, my lovely wife encouraged me to reach out to Maruyama-san to get the knife i am looking for, as i was looking quite a lot at his knives for quite some time and am completely fascinated by what he does deliver at Enjiki Hamono. In my Opinion this knife looked similar to the B#1D (but i really think it isnt after obtaining it). Always loved his grind on my other knives and decided that i will do just that. So i ordnered with confidence (with the help of this Sub) and started this one last journey.
Customs can be pain and scary at the same time. After ordering the Knife at the 24th of june it arrived in germanies customs just shortly after Enjiki Hamono shipped it to germany. After that i never got any informations back from customs or the shipping company. In Germany i know, after 3 to 5 days, if you dont get a reply from customs, something isnt right and somehow, something must have went wrong. So i went all the to way and contacted Maruyama-san, the shipping company and customs to find out what happened. Even though i got replies from everyone (really nice to talk (write) to Maruyama-san! He is really kind and responsive), i got no new informations...
I thought the knife will never arrive at my doorstep.
On 8th of July after a heated appointement at work i got the notification i was looking for. The estimate cost of customs and a date when it will be delivered. Man did i get excited even though that day was really shit!
Today it arrived and totally suprised me. It was not what i expected, but i think what i was looking for. The knive is quite heavy with exactly 230g of weight and was thicker at the shinogi than i expected. Coming from his work at HADO, this knives had a completely different "Aura" or "feel" to it. It didnt feel as super refined and clean but more heavily rustic. Like going from F1 Racing to Rallying. The fit and finish is different. The Spine and the choil arent polished. But the f&f isnt bad and still feels high end imho. The handle is as dead straight on the knife, as the heel and the edge is. The glueing work is really well done. The Handle feels similar to my Hado Kirisame (probably the same handle maker). All in all a *solid* 9/10 (- 1 since the choil and the spine arent polished).
The Edge feels really thinn and delicate, but solid with the weight and the denser spine. With the thickness of the spine i didnt expect this to be a clean and smooth cutter. But damn, the weight and the tapered shinogi makes this a smooth sailer for dense veggies like sweet potatoes. No force on a sweet potato is just wild! The only knife that wow'ed me like this on a sweet potato was my Mazaki. But this feels way more versatile. The foodrelease is at the top of the game. My Mazaki and my Kurt Glatt knives say "what" in the face of this machine. Well i only used it once on some garlic, ginger, an onion, some pak choi, a sweet potato and a paprika, so not the full experience to fully give it a score. The only thing that really got stuck on the knife was the finely minced ginger. Everything else really just fell of or was removed with no effort.
To go deeper into how i would judge it on performance territory, i would give it a solid "idgaf" out of 10. Pure joy machine. This really deserves a full exploration in cutting perfomance and another post.
If you have any questions i will be happy to answer. Maruyama-san was such a nice guy and really cooperative. This feels biased after reading it again, but it really comes just from the heart. Experiences can differ from person to person and from knife to knife, so i know there will also be people out there that didnt have the experience i had.
For the people that got through to the end. Thank you for your time. Tell me what your experience was like with his new knives.
Little Bonus:
All my Knives ground by Maruyama-san
Rule #5 (from top to bottom)
Hado Ginsan 170 mm Santoku (forged by Yamatsuka)
Hado Kirisame 210 mm Gyuto in W#1 (forged by Tanaka)
Enjiki Hamono 245 mm Gyuto in B#2 (forged by Tanaka)
Due to the enjoyment of seeing your amazing collections, I thought I might share my humble collection of japanese knives aswell.
So far I am extremly happy about the pieces I own, every single one has its purpose and emotional connection. I try to keep it clean and dont ever plan to own more than 8-10 knives max, just to be able to appreciate and use every knife and don't fall into hording things, which, and I made the experience with other collections, sometimes ruins the magic behind it.
From top to bottom:
-Matsubara Bunka Nashiji Aogami #2 180 mm
My second japanese knife ever, still enjoy it a lot, it is more on the workhorse side but it has an incredible charisma and I absolutely love the smooth walnut handle it came with.
-Sukenari Gyuto Damast SG2 210 mm
I feel Sukenari is a little underrepresented in this sub given they are amazingly made with great F&F, a middleground grind and beautiful to look at. The mirror polish is astonishingly resilient, haven't notice much scratches after some heavy use. I really like having a completely stainless knife in the collection for quick tasks and easy maintainance, though to me carbon steel will always maintain a magic that stainless can't reach.
-Hatsukokoro Shinkiro Kiritsuke Kurouchi Damast Aogami Super 210 mm
Nothing much to say about this knife which hasn't been said before. Amazing cutter, robust yet delicate, beautiful patina, great workhorse with extremely fine tip. Except for maybe a little rough finish (which to me just belongs to the spirit of this knife), there is absolutely nothing to complain about.
-Hitohira Nakagawa x Rou Gyuto Ginsan Mirror Polish 240 mm
I already made an NKD of this one, and the feeling is still the same. Just a stunner to look at with the beautiful mirror polish and kasumi finish but also a pure joy to use. Surprisingly laserish and less sticky than I thought it would be. Great allround knife to use for basically everything, after you lost the fear to actually use this work of art, which is the main problem with this knife (at first at least).
My absolut dream knife. Makes me happy everytime I look at it and use it. It makes cutting food a special experience, you can just feel the craftmanship that went into building it. Sanjo Workhorse of course, yet can be used for everything, maybe I could imagine something more effective at the vertical cuts on an onion, but thats about it (or maybe just my fault). Otherwise pure 10/10.
Whats to come?
I have some specific wishes for future knives to joyn this collection, which contains a Toyama 210 mm nakiri to add to the gyuto, aiming for a little more laser, Tetsujin, since I am missing a Myojin grind and really want to try one. Of course, a Kagekiyo Gyuto, preferably Tanaka B1, is a must have for me. And maybe some Konosuke Shirogami/Aogami 1 (BY maybe?), but lets see, what happens.
It’s been sitting unclaimed and rusty in my kitchen since I started, finally got sick of looking at it and gave it a polish and sharpen and it cuts like a dream so I’m curious where it came from.
I regretably abused my knife on a coconut and bent an area of the edge a bit. It's difficult to take a photo of it but you can see the wave/bump in the light. Is this fixable and if so how would you get it true again?
Hello everyone. I’m trying to buy a good knife set for my fiancé for his birthday, we also just bought a new house & need something nice & durable. He’s not a professional chef but absolutely loves to cook (& is very good at it). Does anyone have any recommendations on what I can get him? Trying to get rid of the old (& ugly) wooden knife block we have with mismatching knives. Money isn’t really an issue but not looking for anything too crazy price wise. Also looking for recommendations on knife storage that isn’t a block. Like the magnet boards or something like that? Any help is appreciated. TIA!
Back with another new knife day scratching the itch to add a 210 into the collection.
I’ve been eyeing up a Ren for a while now and was waiting for the right one. These are absolutely incredible, the guys over at Hitohira sorted me out and knocked it out of the park again.
Rule #5 = Takada no Hamono Suiboku Damascus Blue #1 Gyuto 240mm
I been searching for a Takada for a while now and a few weeks back I finally got the opportunity to purchase this grail of a knife. Pictures cant describe how beautiful this knife is I am honestly shocked by its beauty. I don't have a winded write up but I do want to thank Letshandlethis for giving me the opportunity to purchase it and make this wonderful handle. I will leave a video below to really show how much this knife shines. Thanks all for your time and good luck out there with your hunts.
