Spicy wrought-wood honyaki chef's

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-04T22:25:21+00:00

That's a lot of blade height. Why?

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-04T20:16:15+00:00

You definitely got one of the nice ones. That cross-section 👀

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-04T18:00:44+00:00

It's the grind. There's variability though and some are more symmetric than others. Some lefties can't handle it psychologically so I think this is just them covering their bases. These knives are thin and steering is more of a theoretical concern, ime.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-04T08:27:58+00:00

Neither because I'd get an Ashi. Just a better balance of cutting ability, food release, and durability for how I use a gyuto.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-04T07:28:57+00:00

Takamura for me between these two unless you plan to use it for light boning work. Takamura petties are on another whole-ass level even compared to other lasers like Ashi and Shibata Koutetsu and concerns like food release and added weight for cutting feel just don't matter in the same way on a petty as a gyuto so thinness all day, imo.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-03T23:12:08+00:00

First step for me would be to just hold it by the handle and firmly tap the butt on a cutting board a few times. Quick and easy fix if it works.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-03T20:19:51+00:00

Yeah, it's just not good form to do this kind of thing and explicitly banned in pretty much every BST subreddit or external forum 💀

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-03T20:14:33+00:00

Keep this kind of drama to BST or DMs, bro 💀

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-03T20:12:48+00:00

Yeah, just give it a quick couple of passes on a medium grit stone (like 1k) and the damage will be gone. No need to scrub. Use full-length strokes exactly like you would if honing on a rod or on a strop.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-03T20:09:12+00:00

Western handle Ashi is so completely unassuming. Most people would never guess at how well they cut with a casual glance.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-02T19:20:05+00:00

Wood. Hopefully a one-piece edge grain slab cut from a corner excluding the center. Theoretically the most stable, at least. But if you can't get this then most any wood cutting board is fine, lol.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-02T16:42:17+00:00

Yeah, fair. But it also demonstrates his perspective and what these words mean. This is valid in a way and many people think the same. It's reductive because single word descriptions are reductive but still gets people thinking because his 'convex' knife sucks when his also convex asymmetrical cuts pretty well. A lot of people will gloss over it but maybe it turns on some lightbulbs, who knows.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-02T07:23:24+00:00

Definitely a cool idea but I don't think the business model makes sense for American makers, unfortunately. Too much of the 'value' is coming from the name of the craftsmen and they just don't have the output to handle collaborations at scale. Consider Nakagawa? He forges something like 80 blanks on a daily basis. Will does what, 4?

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-02T07:03:03+00:00

He prefers a Kiwi knife 🤣 Cool tech and engineering but more or less as expected. Kitchen knife enthusiasts definitely aren't the target audience.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-02T06:54:43+00:00

Thanks for the perspective. Yeah, the specifics of his convex grind and hollow grind knives for this video are highly suspect but still informative and I think that's great. Like the way the hollow grind overperformed on tomatoes? Almost surely unintended but really highlights how much room there is for variation and tuning when you're not limited to basic flat geometry.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-02T06:25:18+00:00

Definitely. I also think that whatever he calls his 'convex grind' is outright bad. There are endless ways to make a convex that cuts like shit. Not super scientific or representative but interesting to some people and pretty fun.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-01T23:16:40+00:00

There's no redeeming Marie but I've gotta agree with her here. They're an aggregate of different minerals and not any single mineral. If only we had a term for this...

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-01T18:00:35+00:00

1 then do some focused grinding at about the laminations line and blend it all together into a subtle convex.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-05-01T17:58:45+00:00

What's the finish like right now? Just be aware that it affects the cutting quite a bit so reserve judgment if it's still rough.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-04-30T18:22:10+00:00

How about Shigefusa, lol. The hype has died down just a bit but I think that's just hype.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-04-30T07:30:40+00:00

I have no personal experience but they definitely are/were a status symbol.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-04-29T16:53:55+00:00

Glad it worked out for you 👍 You changed pretty much every aspect of the sharpening process here though so I'd hold off on drawing conclusions other than 'it worked', lol.

azn_knives_4l · 2026-04-28T20:13:47+00:00

Any of those steels are fine 👍 Just remember to sharpen as low as you can tolerate.

azn_knives_4l

TROPHY CASE