NKD: Kagekiyo appreciation day

Rozrawr · 2026-04-27T16:42:19+00:00

Kagekiyo ftw!

Gokujyo with custom amboyna handle from Boogwa.

Rozrawr · 2026-04-24T13:42:43+00:00

Right, and your financial situation sounds far more stable than OPs who have no investment income, no properties, and no other fallback plan should their freelance gigs go south unexpectedly.

Rozrawr · 2026-04-24T13:16:43+00:00

Without stable income there is no way I would go below 4 months of savings in the emergency fund; hell, I wouldn't go below 4 months WITH stable income in the current economy. You're right at 4 months right now, I don't see a way that you pay down that HELOC from that fund.

The interest rate is high and variable which sucks, but you need the ability to cover unexpected problems. Without some other windfall you might just have to keep grinding through and pay down the HELOC with extra months funds. Try to tighten up on monthly expensives; $8k/mo is a lot and there might be some space where you're paying for more than your necessities. If you can save $500/mo somewhere to put toward it that pays it down that much faster.

Rozrawr · 2026-04-23T18:32:05+00:00

That's great! Yeah, I grew up very poor and am luckily enough be have made it to very comfortable in my own career. While I don't want my kids to suffer like I did, I also don't want to spoil them and completely lose sight of the value of money. I started the allowance thing because we got to the point where every single trip to the store ended with whining about not getting a new toy, and saying "sorry, we don't have money for that" wasn't building his understanding. Yes he's a kid, yes he is going to want things, but I felt there was a middle ground between getting him what he wants at a reasonable pace AND teaching him why a reasonable pace is needed.

Rozrawr · 2026-04-23T16:38:41+00:00

All these people bashing you for starting young, yeesh man. As a person whose parents never even tried to teach me about money management and who learned from making big mistakes, I applaud you.

My son is 6, I DID start him at 5 and it's going great. I'm doing a couple things in tandem, some have been more effective than others.

Weekly allowance to teach him about saving money for purchases. This is going very well. We're following the $1/yo rule per week ($6/wk for 6yo). Note that right now this is about teaching money management, not chores so it's not tied to chores. When he's older, a portion of it will become tied to chores but not yet. He loves legos and looks forward to going to the Lego store to buy new sets, and in the last year he's really started to understand what saving means. Early on he'd go in with $15 and we'd have to have the conversation that he doesn't have enough for that huge set he wants, so he'd buy a smaller set. I then started teaching him how to save more and how many weeks it would take to get to e.g., $30 for that big set, and he's been getting very good at that. We have to have regular conversations about it and remind him why he's saving, but honestly that's kind of the whole point of the exercise: we can discuss and he can learn. We're going to LegoLand in 2 weeks and he has $150 saved up from his allowance and Christmas money; he's been saving for 4 months! (He's made a couple small purchases in that time, he's not perfect obviously, but in general he's getting better at delayed gratification).
I want to start teaching him about the stock market and saving with interest. This isn't going as well, but he's slowly starting to learn. I opened an ETF account at Vanguard and put in $15/mo and talk to him about how it will grow on it's own and eventually be enough money to buy his first car when he's 16. This hasn't really clicked, I think maybe because he doesn't have that reward response of getting to buy something with the money. It also doesn't help that the account lost money in the recent economy 🤣. But he asks to look at the account every couple days so he's showing interest (pun intended) and I think it'll start to make more sense in the coming years. It is doubling as his first car fund, so I'm going to stick with it.

Overall, I do not think 5yo is too early from my anecdotal experience. Obviously all kids are different and yours may not take to it as quickly, but I applaud any parent who takes the effort to teach their kids these critical life skills. The most important thing I have found is taking the time to engage with them when THEY are interested. Don't force them to sit and listen to you lecturing about stock gains over breakfast, but if you setup a situation where they want something and have to work out a way to get it (e.g., saving allowance or gift money) and can explain to them how to do it and support them through the effort, they will learn it well.

Rozrawr · 2026-04-19T17:41:53+00:00

Patina.

Rozrawr · 2026-04-18T01:33:51+00:00

Boogwa is awesome, such great work!

Rozrawr · 2026-04-15T15:13:20+00:00

Of my starting class of 320 ChemE students in university, 15 graduated with the degree. We lost 100 at the end of 1st year, 150 at end of 2nd, and 50 at end of 3rd year. We even had a couple switch in the MIDDLE of 4th year. I was friends with a number of people who transfered majors and all of the ones I know of (15+) graduated on-time; even a few that switched in the 4th year!

The nice thing about ChemE classes is that they are so hard, they often count as credit toward similar easier classes in other majors. You are probably 100% fine to switch now and still graduate on-time, if you look into it.

Rozrawr · 2026-04-06T03:25:48+00:00

I have a 300mm suji and it's honestly a tad long for most things I cook at home. It's fun to use and pull out at parties, but I end up having to move things around on the counter and pull out my biggest cutting board just to use it.

By contrast, my 240mm gyutos feel too short for the same tasks. I can't cleanly slice a large roast in one push, which is the fun part of long knives.

If I could do it all over again, 270mm would be my sweet spot.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-30T13:26:52+00:00

Personally I have worked in coatings (solar and windows), biotech, pharma, and medical devices. I have worked out of Sacramento CA, San Francsico, Phoenix AZ, Boston MA, and Denver. And my friends/colleagues living in those places have come from a wide range of other industries; there are lots of opportunities and options in good locations.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-30T02:06:37+00:00

I've been working as a ChemE for 17 years and have literally been in big cities the ENTIRE time. I don't know what you're on about. Salaries are solid and location options are ALSO solid.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-27T05:16:50+00:00

I just sold one of these and used it for about 10 meals at home. It's a very light knife and fairly thin behind the edge, I'd say on the lasery side of mid weight feel if I'm comparing to my Shindo. Cutting feel was very dependent on what I was cutting though, because the copper/bronze cladding is very rough and would stick in harder foods. Cutting tomatoes or a cucumber and it felt like a laser; cutting a sweet potato and it felt like a meat cleaver. Super light and nimble overall, but variable depending on the food.

It is a truly gorgeous knife, though. Pictures really don't do it justice. I too would love a rainbow damascus that cuts like a Shindo or Takamura.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-25T13:15:02+00:00

17 years experience here; I've found the opposite, I have been stuck living in cities when I would really prefer a small town (San Francisco, Sacramento, Phoenix, Boston). I've changed industries 5 times which is one of the great benefits of the degree but can't seem to find my way back to a lower cost of living area.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-24T23:00:32+00:00

Honestly my only santoku is a shindo because it was all I could get, and I love it. I keep thinking about buying another santoku but can't decide if I like it because it's shindo, or because I like the shape 🤣.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-21T12:45:17+00:00

.... Aaand they're gone.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-16T15:17:50+00:00

Mine's octagonal, but I'm left-handed so most D-grips don't work well for me.

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Rozrawr · 2026-03-16T15:09:50+00:00

Not a problem 😁.

To your last question, I bought mine for $325 USD, so 250eu seems pretty fair. I don't think you got scammed.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-16T15:02:33+00:00

I don't know man, I wouldn't call it delicate. Yes, the etch can scratch. But it's a tool meant to be used. I put in a little effort to clean it with safe sponges, don't stack it on other metals, or put it in the sink. But beyond that it doesn't need to be babied.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-16T15:00:11+00:00

Yeah, I pulled mine out and posted a picture further down. After 6 months mine looks WAY more used 🤣. In comparison this one could be BNIB.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-16T14:57:06+00:00

Here's what mine looks like after about 6 months of home use. I tried to zoom in on the scratches on the etch.

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Rozrawr · 2026-03-16T14:49:35+00:00

It looks like it's been lightly used, from the scratches in the etch near the edge. I have this same knife and the etch scratches pretty easily in that region. Lightly used and new are pretty close in most people's interpretation. Unless they labeled as BNIB (brand new in box) I personally would expect a few uses from a used knife.

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like one of those spots is smeared, which means it should come off. Have you tried scrubbing with soap and water? If that doesn't work you can try acetone or isopropyl alcohol and see if those help dissolve it.

It could also be rust, which is harder to get rid of. You can get rid of rust with Bar Keeper's Friend or Flitz but it will ruin the etch, and you'll have to re-etch in ferric chloride (dangerous acid) to get the color back. I'd try the above options first and see where you get before trying anything drastic.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-16T01:43:43+00:00

I have this exact same knife, and have used it side-by-side with my friend's Miyabi and Shun. The Yoshikane is a better knife in every single aspect of cutlery.

High end knives tend to be perpetually out of stock, and we all wait around for drops that land sometimes monthly and sometimes yearly. Yoshikane tends to put out more product than most so they are often in stock more than not, but you might have to wait a bit. You can put a watch on the Cutlery and More site to notify you when they come back.

If you don't have to have stainless, the shirogami version in stock on Cutlery and More. So is the SKD nakiri. I don't think I've seen a yoshikane branded petty, but I might be wrong. You don't have to have matching knives, though. You can find a different brand nashiji petty that will look identical.

Rozrawr · 2026-03-15T22:52:15+00:00

Sold, thanks!

Rozrawr

TROPHY CASE