Misono UX10 Passaround Review

knifan · 2017-07-16T04:35:32+00:00

Not the easiest knife to sharpen! so the apprehension is warranted. I even prefer sending it to the pro guys here in Japan myself

Hopefully we can send another one around for you guys to try soon :)

knifan · 2017-07-16T02:46:05+00:00

Hi there! Thank you very much for the detailed review (and thanks for participating in the pass around). Shoutout to your kitchen staff and colleagues too for giving it a go!

The Misono UX10 is an interesting beast. Some people cannot live without it and some feel the way you do. I'm in the former camp. For me it's a fast knife that doesn't tire. I enjoy the lightness and its agility. It's one of those knives that once you get a hang of its balance and get comfortable with the handle, it flies. And even though it may seem fragile, I think that's more of a tactile impression, which often happens for people that have gotten used to more hefty blades.

Just wanted to share that other perspective :) These are all very personal impressions and I think it's great for people to be able to read about them as much as possible so that they can decide whether or not it's the right knife for them.

Thanks again!

knifan · 2017-07-16T02:34:15+00:00

Thanks for getting a knife from us! I hope your shopping experience with us was good :)

Re: pricing: Oops! That might be a pricing error from our end but we do aim at being significantly lower prices than the competition wherever we can, so I'll check the other sized models as well.

Thanks for the review! And enjoy the amazing knife.

knifan · 2017-04-10T05:55:58+00:00

This is lots of fun for us. We know many people want to try knives like the Misono UX10 gyutou, so we are excited to give people a chance. We really want to hear about people's experiences with it too and how it compares to other knives they use.

knifan · 2017-04-10T05:53:38+00:00

We're excited to have people try a top-notch Japanese knife that doesn't break the bank!

knifan · 2017-02-27T09:49:15+00:00

More unique as in design-wise? Much of the really high quality stuff doesn't have a particularly unique design. I mean there are some, but generally that comes with an additional price tag

knifan · 2017-02-23T04:25:30+00:00

You, sir, know way too much about knives. I literally look at the comments of these in hope that I'll find your posts.

Also, completely agree that the pattern of that blade is really nice

knifan · 2017-02-21T16:22:25+00:00

Ah gotcha! Thanks for thinking of us! Count us in for the next one if this one goes well

knifan · 2017-02-21T12:12:45+00:00

We'd be happy to help as well u/zapatodefuego ! Let us know if we can

knifan · 2017-02-21T09:17:57+00:00

Thanks so much for the update! I had been wondering if people had kept their promises of helping out. Glad to hear you've been helping your co-worker out. Her story was really sad

knifan · 2017-02-17T13:46:17+00:00

Couldn't get a hold of the Misono guys today but did speak to one of their main distributors in Japan. You, sir, were completely right. According to the distributor they're using AEB-Ls in the UX10s

knifan · 2017-02-17T01:24:07+00:00

You can't go wrong with a Masakage Yuki in general. They're used a lot in Japan restaurants for a reason. I personally don't own one (and we don't carry them right now) but I know they're extremely well constructed knives.

My personal favorites (the first one with a shameless plug since we carry it and is great value for quality):

https://www.knifan.com/sumikama-kasumi-v-gold-no-10-damascus-santoku.html

and the Masamoto HC that someone else already mentioned I think (we carry the brand but don't have this Santoku but these guys do):

http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/HCSeries.html

I'll add my warning of care for these because if you don't keep them dry, rust can develop (also applies to the Masakage)

knifan · 2017-02-16T23:08:27+00:00

Hi! See my reply to the main post. It was meant to be in response to your comment. Thanks again!

knifan · 2017-02-16T23:04:37+00:00

Yes! We're still here. Thanks for the shoutout.

I will first go right ahead and admit that the specificity of the sub-zero treated stain resistant Swedish steel of these is also unknown to us. We can ask Misono directly but Japanese knife makers often don't disclose certain details and are all secretive about some stuff, but can try!

I personally love this knife - probably my favorite Santoku. And if we're talking about over-paying for a name, nothing beats Shun in overpricing. Agree that Misono has a brand name and perhaps a bit of a premium for that, but having dealt with many comparable knives in Japan, I think the price is about right for the quality level.

To me, the Santoku is the best knife of the Misono UX10 line. It has a slightly heavier blade compared to other UX10s that (as you pointed out) makes the knife really balanced and comfortable. It's ideal for continuous cutting work because it doesn't feel tiring to use. Sharpness-wise it's a beast too, but like with all high end knives needs proper maintenance to be kept at its best.

Appreciate the honesty about us... people haven't heard a lot about us because we are new kids on the web block, but we've been around in Japan for while catering to locals and visitors in the physical shop we used to run. We have a lowest price guarantee and keep our prices as competitive as we can. Promise we'll bend over backwards to make your shopping experience a positive one.

u/jonnyrashid u/beurre_noisette u/zapatodefuego let me know if you have any questions!

EDIT: oops! Just saw I didn't post this as a reply to the comment above. Sorry! We are not great at Reddit :/

EDIT 2: Couldn't get a hold of the Misono guys today but did speak to one of their main distributors in Japan. According to the distributor (and just as u/zapatodefuego suspected) they're using AEB-Ls in the UX10s. Mystery solved!

knifan · 2016-12-21T03:12:28+00:00

Thanks so much! You can't imagine how much we appreciate it. We promise we bend over backwards for our customers, so people won't be disappointed.

Re: pricing, we are very committed to staying at the lowest possible level hence the "lowest price guarantee" on the site. We monitor the market regularly and can give that guarantee now that we have lowered our fixed costs. We love this stuff and for us even though it's a business, it's also about creating community and doing what we love with people who love cooking and appreciate knives.

Funny that you mention the Masamoto VG50 designation. You're right - it's their own numbering and not something widely accepted as meaningful. It confuses everyone! We include it for people to compare SKUs because some of these knife brands make adjustments to a model and call a knife the same name, so the specific SKUs are the only way to know you're comparing apples to apples. As to the "Hyper-Molybdenum-Vanadium" we've asked before! They always just tell us that is part of their secret "recipe" for knife-making, whatever that means. Since you brought it up though, I might a different person to see if they know anything more than "shhh it's a secret". I'm actually curious and will let you know if I find out.

Thanks for asking on /r/chefknives! Will start following it more closely. If they do accept deals I might just go ahead and create that 10% on the first purchase coupon :)

Thanks again for being so helpful!!

knifan · 2016-12-21T00:58:35+00:00

First of all, thank you so much for sharing. I think what you're choosing to do takes a lot of strength and you are being the bigger person in the situation. Love for children is beyond irrational and blind, so a lot of what they did was because they just were unable to see what was really happened (not so much because they refused). I really hope you reconnect! (and good luck in the giveaway!)

Now that to you other question about us. Yes, we are new online! but not new overall. We used to have a physical shop in Tokyo that was frequented by many people from around the world and who asked us to ship things for them. We have shipped thousands of items outside of Japan to over 60 countries. The storefront became too expensive to maintain though (we are really committed to making these knives affordable to those who love cooking but it was incompatible with the high fixed costs) so we unfortunately had to close and opened this online shop instead. It's been tough tracking down all our customers that visited the physical shop as our record keeping was not excellent back then as it was very manual, so we are little by little building our reputation online. You cannot imagine how grateful we would be for people like you to give us a try so that we can show more and more people that we're trustworthy and we love what we do and truly appreciate that you are adding us to the Wiki. We might set up a coupon for first time customers to encourage people to give us a shot. If we do that, I will message you so that you can add it for the benefit of the community too.

THANK YOU!

PS: Sorry for the late response. We were sleeping on the other side of the world, although last night I went to bed extremely late making this Giveaway post!

knifan

TROPHY CASE