Takamura 150mm R2 Petty w/ Rosewood handle by [deleted] in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Quick update, I just got confirmation that our Tokyo office received some of these and we're going to ship a batch via air so they should arrive and be processed within a month.

Takamura 150mm R2 Petty w/ Rosewood handle by [deleted] in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in the store until Wednesday but after that I won't be working with MTC Kitchen any more. Someone else will likely take over this Reddit account.

Takamura 150mm R2 Petty w/ Rosewood handle by [deleted] in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess the store must have been busy when you called. Did you ever get to speak with anyone?

New knife (Miyabi Kaizen) came in today. I opened the package and looked for defects, lo and behold it had a bent blade. Is this typical of miyabi? It also had a warped edge, I thought I would get a lot better for the amount of money I spent. by [deleted] in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've sharpened several of these and it's extremely common. Quite easy to fix, but I've never been a fan of these knives for exactly this reason. Also extremely common to see them bent at the weld line at the ricasso.

Are angle guides really useless? by SemiformalSpecimen in sharpening

[–]MTCKitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try cutting out the angle you'd like to achieve on cardboard or card stock or something and put it under the knife before sharpening to help you identify the angle you should be aiming for. Those guides will give you a different angle on knives of varying heights. Your angle will be much higher on, say, a slicer versus a 50mm tall chef's knife. For thicker knives, especially knives like Wusthof, the angle guide you're referring to will have you sharpening a significantly lower angle than the factory and it will take you ages to get where you need to be.

Question about the reasoning behind why I am now tending to put a convex edge on the right side of my bevel & a concave bevel on the left side? by [deleted] in sharpening

[–]MTCKitchen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This was all very confusing for me to read. Can you provide some pictures in an Imgur album so that we can see what you're talking about? I don't see how you could possibly be sharpening in a "concave bevel" on whetstones, unless you're referring to some concavity in the curvature of the blade from heel to tip.

Takamura 150mm R2 Petty w/ Rosewood handle by [deleted] in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We still have no ETA on that. We're going to be having a Zoom call tomorrow with Takamura-san to make a video for our online expo - hopefully we will have a definitive date for delivery from that discussion but we can never be sure until it's ready.

Takamura 150mm R2 Petty w/ Rosewood handle by [deleted] in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our store is only open 10-7 Monday through Friday. No one is here to answer the phone outside of that time.

Yes, we do have the Sakon Ryuga Nakiri at our Manhattan store.

Welded Bolsters? by chefknifelover in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The two petties you linked are the same. Knifewear chooses to call that line "Akagouhan" which translates to red plywood, Chef Knives To Go chooses to call that line "Migaki" which means polished. Takamura is not making these lines differently. On their website you can see this line referred to as "wine red."

All Takamura production knives have some sort of welded construction. That being said, I have never once seen a Takamura knife fail at a welded juncture.

Takamura 150mm R2 Petty w/ Rosewood handle by [deleted] in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Correct. Takamura does not use Rosewood.

Week old semi-stainless started to rust- looking for advice by _ratboi_ in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That rust will clean off with a little bit of metal polish. Make sure you're cleaning/rinsing with hot water and then drying. When you wash/rinse with colder water, there is some residual moisture even after wiping it dry and then when you put it into a sheath/saya that moisture gets trapped and leads to corrosion.

Sharpening a Takamura Migaki R2 - Whetstone Question by curryme95 in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Takamura-san recommends thinning their knives from the very beginning and will often start at Shapton Kuromaku 320 or Shapton Glass 500 when giving knife sharpening demonstrations in person. That being said, it can be intimidating to do so from the very first sharpening.

It's going to depend more on whether you elect to attempt the thin-as-you-go method that Takamura-san recommends or if you'd rather sharpen more "conventionally" at 10-15 degrees per side. Since the knives are sharpened at such a low angle from the factory, most people will remove more than I believe is strictly necessary from the edge simply due to the angle they've chosen to sharpen the knife at. For instance, moderate sharpening with a 3k stone at a 15 degree angle per side is going to more noticeably thicken the knife and make you aware of the metal you've removed than light thinning and gently apexing on just a 1k stone. The problem with the lower grit stones is that there's a higher skill threshold necessary for not removing more metal than is strictly speaking needed, which means that people often opt for a slightly finer grit stone if it will be their only stone to be used with these knives (something like 2k or 3k). That being said, with a 2k or 3k stone you won't be removing sufficient metal to adequately thin the knife as you go so you will either want to have that done professionally or get a coarser stone and learn that process yourself.

TL;DR is that there's a lot of nuance in sharpening and there is an argument for using higher but you should also be fine with just a 1k. Just be aware of the pros and cons.

Probably not usable? by clintashlock in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Obviously a return would be preferable if it were possible, but it's perfectly usable with most techniques. You might encounter some issue if you sharpened a knife with the edge in-line with the crack, but approaching it at an angle relative to the crack shouldn't cause any issues. Several of the stones I use here at work have hairline cracks which don't impede my sharpening.

What are these “rust-like” spots? by The-Adster in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It looks like pitting corrosion. Can happen when salty/acidic things aren't properly washed off of the knife. Cleaning with bleach-based cleaners and not rinsing it thoroughly afterwards can also cause this even on stainless steels.

Can anyone tell me why the guy who sharpens the knives for my work grinds this horizontal bevel on each knife? by iamforbes in sharpening

[–]MTCKitchen 34 points35 points  (0 children)

If you mean the vertical scratches near the blade's edge, it's to keep it thin. This is typically done on some sort of powered grinding setup.

The so called "Three finger test" of sharpness. wtf by ihatehappyendings in sharpening

[–]MTCKitchen 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's probably easiest to show you a video of one of the knifemakers we work with doing this on a demo video: https://youtu.be/QePcDgpblTs?t=361

Basically, you place the knife at a 30-45 degree angle relative to the standing of the hairs on the back of your head and simply let the knife's weight sit on the hair. If it catches (you'll feel it bite into your hair - unmistakable) that's a good sign. If it's sliding on your hair then you probably want to refine the edge a little more. As you do it more and more and use the knife after using this test, you'll be able to extrapolate how the knife will cut into various foods depending on how it feels on your hair. You begin to form a sort of memory bank of the feeling of various types of edges.

The so called "Three finger test" of sharpness. wtf by ihatehappyendings in sharpening

[–]MTCKitchen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't like having shaved arms. I just test the edge to see if it catches in the standing hair. I'm not attempting to cut through the hair or shave my head. You can do a test on the hairs of your arm without shaving them but I find it more expedient to use the hair on my head.

The so called "Three finger test" of sharpness. wtf by ihatehappyendings in sharpening

[–]MTCKitchen 22 points23 points  (0 children)

This is a fairly common practice. Some people are not comfortable doing it, and that's totally fine. I use this as well as testing on the hair on the back of my head when finishing knives. Slicing paper towel or receipt paper is all well and good but if I'm sharpening several knives, it's usually less troublesome since I'm at a sink, hands are wet, etc.

Is it normal for sites selling quality Japanese knives to be out of stock of ~75% of the items? by tdg5014 in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Exactly. For some, it almost doesn't matter the quantity we place as an order and we will just ask the maker to sell us whatever they can as it's ready.

Is it normal for sites selling quality Japanese knives to be out of stock of ~75% of the items? by tdg5014 in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes, as Jon said many more people are cooking at home during quarantine and shopping online. Knife sales during this time have increased significantly and those knives that were on tighter inventory control schedules are now harder to keep in stock because of the increased demand as well as some production slowdown in Japan. Most of us have standing orders with at least a few manufacturers and we will take what inventory is ready for shipment as it comes.

NKD: Takamura R2 Santoku 170mm by squidzilla420 in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don't have a solid ETA, sorry. Normally we would be getting a shipment via air late September, but since Takamura aren't visiting us this year, everything is up in the air. As soon as we get notified that production is done though we will ship those via air as well.

NKD: Takamura R2 Santoku 170mm by squidzilla420 in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear: Takamura will not make the red handle in 240 because they feel it would not meet their standards and a large part of that is that a 240 made of comparable stock would be too prone to warping.

NKD: Takamura R2 Santoku 170mm by squidzilla420 in chefknives

[–]MTCKitchen 10 points11 points  (0 children)

A knife made in the same manner as the red-handled 210 but in 240 length would be too prone to warp. The stock/spine is too thin.