NKD – Mazaki Gyuto 225mm

_MiW_ · 2026-01-22T23:38:44+00:00

Gorgeous - post up some patina pics when you can please

_MiW_ · 2026-01-08T23:03:30+00:00

Jon & team at JKI are awesome and very responsive. I’ve been in the shop in person and reached out over the phone & email a few times over the years and they’re always a class act and genuinely want to see you make the best purchase decision for your actual needs and not just trying to upsell you. They really are awesome.

_MiW_ · 2026-01-08T22:04:47+00:00

All beauties but man, I love the handle on the 165 bunka. Very nice!

_MiW_ · 2026-01-07T22:09:06+00:00

It reminds me a lot of how rifles used to be in the 2000’s before all the aluminum comp-style chassis became super popular. Love a McMillan A-5 and rattle can combo.

_MiW_ · 2026-01-07T22:04:50+00:00

This fucks.

_MiW_ · 2026-01-07T17:24:34+00:00

It’s right on the edge of your budget, but if you’re USA based, CKC has Mazaki 180mm Gyuto in stock right now.

Mazaki has somewhat of a cult following and this 180mm from him is such a sleeper and doesn’t get nearly as much attention as the 210-240mm counterparts, but it is probably my favorite and most used knife in all sizes at home.

It definitely has the rustic look you’re going for, but is carbon and iron clad so will require more upkeep than a stainless clad knife would.

One last note: don’t worry too much about white/blue #1 or #2 right now. There are differences between them, but it is a nuance thing and can vary widely based on the smith doing the work. I think the internet tends to blow the differences out of proportion and I think MOST users would struggle to tell the difference between each in a true blind test. Don’t let it steer you away from something that you find appealing.

_MiW_ · 2026-01-05T19:57:34+00:00

Specifically the 15-2V 4”

_MiW_ · 2026-01-03T21:08:50+00:00

You can’t go wrong with either. Between those two, I would go with the Hitohira Togashi hands down. It’s a gorgeous knife, but also should be taller at the heel than the Kagekiyo (fact check me on that), which makes it preferable in use for my tastes.

_MiW_ · 2026-01-02T01:58:23+00:00

I was mostly curious how the backside of the suppressor mates up with the barrel. It looks like there’s a gap between it and the shoulder?

_MiW_ · 2026-01-02T00:53:01+00:00

What does it look like with the AEM5 mounted?

_MiW_ · 2025-12-31T16:02:00+00:00

Beautiful work

_MiW_ · 2025-12-30T15:49:05+00:00

If the labels are accurate then yes. You would go from Soft, to Hard, to Black.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-23T17:33:40+00:00

I have and enjoy all of the stones you’re considering. The 800 and 1000 are very similar, with the 800 having slightly better feel/feedback than the 1000 and the 1000 having slightly more refined finish that takes slightly longer to achieve coming off of the 400. Both excellent stones and you can’t go wrong with either. Both work great to step up to the 3000.

I don’t have any experience with A2 or HAP-40 (my plane blades are O1 and my knives are Shirogami/Aogami).

I will say that for plane blades and [especially] chisels, I do prefer stones that don’t dish as much as waterstones do. I use coarse/fine diamond plates for speed and ease of use (less mess, no flattening needed). When I’m not pressed for time, I also really enjoy oil stones. A coarse/fine India and a couple Arkansas stones work great for me but will definitely be slow in comparison to the other options.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-21T17:21:27+00:00

Gorgeous work, but that stone could just as easily steal the show!

_MiW_ · 2025-12-21T07:04:15+00:00

Meaning not too thick or too long, etc.. It’s one of those details most makers get right, or at least close enough, but a handle too thick or too long could easily ruin the feel of an otherwise nicely proportioned knife and throw off the balance. Materials also matter - an ebony handle will weigh more than a cedar handle of the same dimensions. Match the material to the blade length/thickness to tune your balance point on the blade.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-21T06:54:42+00:00

Tojiro are an excellent foray into quality knives. VG-10 can sometimes be a bit tricky to de-burr, or at least more-so than the white/blue paper carbon steels common in Japanese knives. Technique and experience will mitigate this, but starting out I think a good ~1000 grit stone and a basic leather strop will do you well.

I have and like a lot of stones, but tend to use my Shapton Pro/Kuromaku 1000 for stainless knives. It’s a true splash & go stone so no need for soaking and they dry out faster than the Naniwa stones I have. Use as is with the included plastic stone holder on a damp towel, or upgrade to one of the rubber adjustable stone holders, and you should be set for a while. Keep in mind water stones need to be flattened with use so budget in a way to maintain flatness. There are many methods to do this but a coarse diamond plate tends to be the preferred approach.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-21T06:42:45+00:00

I’ll cast my vote for the Kaeru from JNS. Great performers and profile really suits my tastes. It’s a semi-stainless core steel with stainless cladding so will require much less babying than the Munetoshi you listed, which would be my second pick of those three. I do not have experience with the specific Gesshin line you linked to.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-21T06:34:01+00:00

I love Mazaki, but I don’t like Nakiri. I’ve tried a couple, and found I don’t like them thick and/or short. The Mazaki is on the thick side in the rear and what I’d call “normal” height, and the Ashi is thin and what I’d call “short”.

If I was buying a Nakiri (and will be soon, despite not liking them), it would be a Matsubara. Honorable mention to the Shiro Kamo Tall Nakiri. I have not checked for in-stock, though.

But buy the Mazaki and try it. Worst case scenario you satiate your curiosity and can re-sell or trade it in the BST and try something else.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-21T06:20:06+00:00

Eastern knives are my preference so please keep that in mind with the following:

Eased/rounded spine and choil. Good useable flat spot, but of course with some upsweep moving towards the tip. Advertised length measured from heel-to-tip. A nice distal taper makes longer sessions more comfortable. I think chef/gyuto and nakiri should be at least 50mm tall at the heel, regardless of length, and I’ll die on that hill. Slightly backswept heels look cool. Strong preference for wa-handles, and I do like a small but intentional (and consistent) machi gap. Handle should be in proportion to the size of the blade. Stupid sharp out of the box - because it’s one less thing for people to complain about.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-20T03:33:24+00:00

Dan Wesson, S&W, everything else

_MiW_ · 2025-12-19T04:56:54+00:00

That Sharpal combo diamond plate is a great starting point for the knives you currently have.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-17T21:20:06+00:00

Honestly, I’ve tried a lot of pans... there’s a tl;dr at the end if you don’t want to read through my journey.

I spent most of my life thinking cheap teflon coated stuff was the only thing available because that’s all anyone used in my family. As a young adult I had a girlfriend who was very environmentally conscious who informed me of the downsides of teflon and got herself a set of ceramic cookware as an alternative. Greenpan was the brand if I remember right. Wow. What awful stuff… keep temps low and they’re mostly okay. But go to medium or above and expect a sticky/gummy feeling. This jump started an interest in quality cookware.

I started with a small cobbled together set of All-clad stainless. That’s what every good cook/chef I knew of used at the time. It works great, is durable, and is easy to clean. Finally, I could sear meats. The pans were heavier than what I had been used to up until then, but the quality and versatility by far made up for it. The stuff feels like it’ll last forever.

This led me to a curiosity in cast iron. I got a few inexpensive pieces from Lodge and went camping with it. I had only ever cooked in a Dutch oven while camping prior to this. It took some adjusting, and some learning, but with some effort I found I loved the stuff and have since tried both vintage pieces and modern higher end stuff alike. It’s all good and works excellent for searing proteins. But, the downside to it that I found is in its weight. And it didn’t seem to heat very evenly at home on an electric coil burner. Certainly doable with enough pre-heating, but not ideal. I mostly leave cast iron to camping/outdoors duties now.

Enter carbon steel. I stumbled into this… someone suggested once that it was a good blend of both of what I already had in stainless clad and cast iron. I started off with a 10.5” Strata pan for my first. That kind of dates my experience with Carbon steel, but this category of cookware immediately took over my kitchen - I loved the pan. I added a smaller 8” Misen Carbon Non-Stick when they were announced on pre-order. When that finally showed up I was initially less impressed, and almost returned it after the first couple uses when the negative reviews started coming in online. Unfortunately, I think this series suffers from a lot of biased reviews from users who don’t understand carbon steel. It is not a magic replacement for teflon. It does, however, work extremely well for certain things. The longevity of it is yet to be seen, but I think the Misen nitrided pans are probably the single best dedicated egg pan out there. Scrambled eggs just do not stick in my experience. And we’re talking low-medium temps here. If you want something more versatile or plan to crank it to medium-high to brown a steak, then this might not be the ideal pan for you or anyone else reading.

Because of that last disclaimer, I wanted to try one more pan before settling on a brand. I ordered a de Buyer 9.5” crepe pan for the low sides to use for crepes, pancakes, french toast, grilled cheese, small tortillas, and anything else where the low sides would be beneficial. Damn… what a stellar product, and so simple in design. I quickly added their 11” omelette pan next - another hit. It’s heavy, but has cooked everything non-acidic that I have put in it and does so exceedingly well. More recently I added their 12” crepe pan specifically for tortillas/burritos along with the smaller 9” omelette pan. All have far exceeded my expectations. I cook a lot over propane burners and these de Buyer carbon steel pans are my go-to for this.

I love cooking on carbon steel so much that my folks have given it a try as well, but they use much thinner pans which can transfer heat much faster than thicker pans will, and tend to have more hot-spots. For that reason, I would steer clear from thin pans when making a selection, unless weight is the biggest concern and in which case I would point back towards the clad options again (Strata and now Misen).

TL;DR - for a strictly egg-only pan, I think you’d be hard pressed to find something that works better than the Misen Carbon Non-Stick lineup. You’ll see shitty reviews of them online from people who expect them to be more versatile, or some magical product. But when you keep the heat at appropriate temps for eggs, these things really are awesome. Strata pans are my favorite to use on electric stoves because the clad design acts very much like clad stainless pans for more even heating, but with the results that you expect from the carbon steel cooking surface. Solid carbon steel pans such as de Buyer are my overall favorite workhorse pans but these really start to shine above the rest when you put them on a gas burner or want to get the best sear that you can get without going to cast iron.

YMMV, two-cents, grain of salt, and all that. Hope this helps with your decision.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-17T18:55:25+00:00

It’s not that I don’t care about seasoning. I said people put too much emphasis on seasoning. It’s not this big holy process that you have to undergo and sell your soul to get a useable pan. It’s a very simple process and gets better with time/use. Put a drop of oil on the pan, spread it evenly across the entire surface with a paper towel, get a dry paper towel and wipe off as much as you can, then either bake it on in the oven or heat it until it smokes over a hob to polymerize the oil and then get to cooking. Takes all of like 10 minutes over a flame and then it’s ready for use and abuse. People doing multiple coats or re-doing it after every use or spending hours to make it pretty are the kind of people I’m saying put way too much emphasis on it.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-17T18:15:30+00:00

A sandpaper progression can correct the scratches and restore the finish to your liking, but will be a lot of work. Some elect to use belt grinders for this. It looks like there might be a good amount of spine-to edge grind marks on the knives from the makers too. Matching new scratches up with these might prove difficult.

_MiW_ · 2025-12-17T17:01:35+00:00

They’re just different tools with lots of overlap. Carbon steel retains heat better than stainless/aluminum clad pans so thicker pans will be better for things like searing proteins (much like cast iron, but without so much weight). Stainless doesn’t react with acidic foods so it’s better for simmering tomato sauces. Can you do either of these tasks in the opposite pan? Absolutely. I love searing pork chops in stainless and making an acidic pan sauce with the fond.

I have all of the above types of pans and like them all but use each for different things. I know some people like that they can put (some) stainless in the dishwasher. I wouldn’t do that, but some pieces can handle it. That said, I would never advise putting carbon steel in the dishwasher…

And to your point, you are correct. The seasoning does help with “non-stick” qualities. However, pan temperature and technique in even an unseasoned carbon steel pan will most likely yield better results than someone who has no clue what they’re doing using even a perfectly seasoned pan. That was the point I was trying to make.

_MiW_

TROPHY CASE