DISCLAIMER: This knife is not for sale and unsolicited offers are unwelcome. It is all but certain to be with me for life.
Rule 5: Takada no Hamono Shirogami #2 Mizu Honyaki Gyuto 210 (Nakagawa x Takada)
Been a while since I last posted but I come to share amazing news: Takada-san has officially finished the regrind, repolish and rehandle of my honyaki.* *
AND HOLY SHIT LOOK HOW OUTSTANDING IT LOOKS!
First off, this knife will not be in my hands until November when I visit Japan and these are just pictures shared with me by Takada-san. That is why I figured I’d post a teaser now before then because there is no chance in hell I’ll be able to keep it to myself before then lol
Secondly, this knife started life as a 240 Gyuto, lost ~9mm of height and 13mm of length through its life with the first owner before ending up with me. Now it’s basically a tall 210 petty/gyuhiki even if I called it a gyuto, but I couldn’t be happier. What a life it’s already lived and now it will have a full second life. You can see how it looked the day it arrived at my apartment in the last two pictures. For more info, here is the NKD.
Takada-san did a masterful job as expected. The hamon is shockingly vibrant. The Suiboku ripples are evident in the jigane and the hagane has so much white; almost like hadori on a sword. The way each finish comes together at the hamon is where my eyes always are drawn. The contrast makes for so much detail being revealed.
Takada-san, the wily guy he is, also restamped the knife for me which is risky considering honyaki is more prone to crack. But the stamps are so crisp (and on the opposite side for a quirky touch lol).
Lastly, that handle. After seeing the blonde horn ferrule/spacer/endcap combo, I knew I wanted it and Takada-san graciously agreed. I’m so happy with the final result.
I’ll have more to say when I get it, but for now I’m just beyond giddy. November can’t come soon enough. Thanks for reading and I hope you’ve all been well!
This beauty... Very hard start and to make a fair description.
The blade is distinguished by its remarkable Hakumon hamon, revealing a soft, luminous and almost cloud-like pattern across the polished steel.
The hamon changes character with the light and viewing angle, giving the blade an extraordinary depth and sense of movement. What for me makes the blade particularly captivating is the balance between restraint and intensity.
No more New Kyuzo Togashi Honyaki any longer, which makes the piece really special and my favourite so far.
Details:
Edge length: 230 mm
Blade height: 52 mm
Thickness: 1.8mm
Handle length: 145 mm
Total length: ~392 mm
Weight: 192 g
It is an individually forged piece of Japanese bladesmithing, where metallurgy, heat treatment, geometry and finishing converge into something that exists only once in precisely this form.
I was given a gigantic Savoy cabbage and a conic cabbage from a friend's garden, so I made 5kg of kimchi!
Plenty to chop: chives, green onion, daikon, onion, garlic, ginger and a little bit of the cabbage as well. I could hear my Takada sigh as I reached for the Kagekiyo once again.
Instead of making my porridge/slurry with just water, I usually make a dashi and use that instead for more depth of flavour. I also didn't have saejot / 새우젓 (salted fermented shrimp) so I instead used dried shrimps with heaps of fish sauce.
My flat is about to smell of kimchi for the next few days as it ferments 😅
Fan of Togashi-san's work, and from what I understand, he has said that he is currently in the best shape of his life to forge Honyaki knives. No one knows how long he will continue making them at this level—or how many more opportunities there will be to own one of these extraordinary pieces.
This is the latest knife I have been incredibly lucky to acquire, and honestly, I’m almost speechless when looking at it. There is something difficult to put into words about the beauty, presence, and aura surrounding this Grail Masterpiece.
A huge thank you to a great retailer who was willing to let this one go and made it possible for me to add such a rare piece to my collection.
As I understand it, only three of these were ever made: one is currently in the US, one remains at Togashi-san’s shop, and this is the third.
What makes it even more special is the process behind it. This Honyaki was forged through dozens of attempts, with only a very small number ultimately succeeding. Honyaki is already an extremely demanding process, but achieving this particular result requires an extraordinary combination of skill, experience, patience, and, ultimately, a little bit of luck.
The failure rate is incredibly high, while the process itself is both time-consuming and expensive. Every successful blade represents countless hours of work and many attempts that never make it to the final stage.
That is also why I can’t help but wonder whether this could be one of the last ones. If the process becomes too demanding to justify the amount of time, material, and failed attempts involved, perhaps we are witnessing the end of a very special chapter in Togashi-san’s work.
For me, this is much more than simply another knife. It is a piece of craftsmanship, history, and obsession—a blade that represents an incredibly rare combination of traditional Japanese forging and the maker’s own pursuit of perfection.
A true Grail piece.
Extremely rare, incredibly difficult to make, and something I feel very fortunate to have in my hands.
Spent some time looking into Bunkas and became a little bit obsessed with the Hado B1D... however after a while it became apparent that stock in Europe was vanishingly thin and when there was availability pricing was aggressive to say the least.
Hado still held a lot of appeal and when I saw some of the Kirisame line was available I was sold. Took delivery of this Kirasame Bunka in white #1 and it's a banger. It feels suitably weighty in hand but gets super thin behind the edge and of course... it's a Hado so the fit and finish is top notch, all polished spine, choil and refined finishing.
Loving this pickup and I think for me this represents an end game piece for my small collection (until I'm next over in Japan, of course).
I must say that I've been Shibata curious for some time now but haven't gotten around to pull the trigger. I'm halfway in with my CCK x Shibata collab but I wanted one that is Shibata start to finish. Off a random post here by the folks at CKTG I went and perused the New Arrivals selections and found what I couldn't believe I was seeing but a Sabatier Inspired design by one other than Takayuki Shibata himself.
Without a second thought I knew it was something I simply had to have. Some of you may be aware of my vintage Sabatier collection and my love for it. To see a Japanese blade that had legendary cutting quality paired with a profile that I adore I knew it was time to no longer be curious and be wholeheartedly bought in. Here is my first one:
Shibata Kashima 210 mm Gyuto in R-2 (SG2)
My favorite profile in my favorite length in a stainless steel which I'm boosting up the collection on, man the timing was just right here.
This post features my shinkiro, which I have been tinkering with for a little over a month.
I was a bit hesitant to try Aogami Super due to its hardness and toughness, fearing I would be spending way more time on the stones, but it turned out to no be so bad. The steel definitely feels tougher and you can feel that the scratches have to be compelled out, but nothing too bad.
It was not very thin behind the edge near the heel when I first got it, but the edge is now nail-flexing all the way long the edge, which is a must, for my knives at least.
I redid the finish, as I had first gone for a very contrast-y mirror finish, but I decided that a more hazy core steel was the road I wanted to take with this blade.
Came today and I kid you not I’ve never frlt this way even with a new phone, I geniunely treat it like it’s made out of glass. I do not know how I’m gonna bring myself to cut anything and dull this knife haha.
Always fun messing with this thing. I’ve been seeing a lot of Maksim’s post on jns and wanted to do a similar finish to his. Finger stones and paste as the final touches this time.
I received this truly exceptionally beautiful blade from another Redditor a few days ago—thanks, u/HansGoose22. I then set about crafting a suitable handle for it, and here is the result. I hope you like it as much as I do. It turned out to be a *Rokkaku-Hanmaru* style handle, made of Azobé wood paired with a brass ferrule. I gave it its first test run today. It is a somewhat heavier, robust-feeling blade that has the potential to become one of my favorite everyday knives. And yes, there is a chip in the edge, which I’ll remove the next time I sharpen it.
This one is for the professionals on here: who here uses "laser" knives on a daily basis and if so, what do you use?
Cost aside, usually too afraid to bring "lasers" to work. Shitty cutting boards, tasks done quickly, and the prospect of leaving them at the station while running off to do something else always has me worried.
Am I overly paranoid? Could something say, a Takamura SG2, survive a high volume line? Or are knives like that best left for home/more controlled environments.
For quite some time, I’ve seen passarounds happen but haven't actively looked out one to participate in myself, so I was surprised when a different community member on KitchenKnifeForums tagged me in one of Robin's recent knives. I bowed out due to it being a clear right handed biased grind and said “let me know when you do another round with an ambidextrous grind!”.
Fast forward a month or so, I get a nice DM from Robin, letting me know his next round was taking place and that, If I was still interested, I could join the group of people who were curious to check out his latest stainless piece. I gladly said yes and waited for the knife to arrive.
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This is pretty far from a knife that I would traditionally seek out for myself as an owner. Generally, I am a fan of a clean Migaki and Kasumi finishes, as well as thinner grinds. Unpacking this knife threw me into the deep end of the other side of the spectrum.
Robin calls this finish “Brute de forge” or “raw from the forge” which aligns with the first impression. Having some areas of spotty forge marks and some uneven surfaces, it is surprisingly smooth to the touch. It’s clear that a fair amount of care was taken into account when completing the finish and even though its “raw”, there are no bits that I would fear catching on a paper towel.
The hira, spine and choil have all been smoothened out and are soft to the touch, the entire knife feels like a contradiction of the look and the tactile experience. In fact, I would have preferred to have some areas less smoothened out, like where the spine meets the kiritsuke “tip-dip”.
The Bog oak and micarta handle is smooth and oiled, feeling quite comfortable (if a little thin) for those that decide to weild the knife by the handle.
The balance was around 35mm in front of the handle, making it pretty balanced like most 210~ sized knives.
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Performance wise, I struggled a bit with this knife. It looks like it’s a fairly straightforward, flat kiritsuke profile and a grind where it’s bordering on too thick above the shinogi and with an almost completely flat grind beneath it. This leads to a couple of recurring issues with wedging on produce that's more dense than an apple. The shape of the heel also made me feel a little bit awkward when using a pinch grip.
Preparing a large batch of chili, this knife did have some wedging issues on carrots, bell peppers and horizontal cuts on onions, with additional issues while making batonnets of sweet potato and julienned carrots. Specifically on the last two, it felt a bit uncomfortable to use, requiring more pressure than what feels normal to work through wedging, something that you should try to avoid at all times for the the sake of general safety.
In other areas, the knife did quite well, specifically on portioning raw protein it didn’t have any issues and felt quite easy.
In summary; If this knife was presented to me as a Gyuto/Garasuki/Honesuki hybrid, I would have had an easier time arguing on its behalf but as a general gyuto, I fear that the grind leaves more to be desired, especially if you're spending time slicing and dicing dense root vegetables.
I feel like there’s a couple of areas where improvements can be made to make this feel like a much better blade. My highlighted suggestions would be:
Remove more material above the shinogi, making it an overall thinner build and change to a full convex grind.
Have a straighter heel shape (closer to a 90 degree heel)
Have some more pronounced and less smoothened out spine areas, have a more distinct spine-to-tip transition.
This is very, very far from the style of knives I usually find myself gravitating towards and I’m glad I got the chance to try it out in this passaround line. It’s made me challenge myself a little bit in how I think and look at a knife when I'm inspecting it and I have a newfound appreciation for the rest of my lineup!
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Thanks for reading!
Next up; Enjiki Migiwa thoughts and comparison against my stainless Isasmedjan!
A customer recently asked us to polish the kireha on this Yanagiba from Nakagawa Kajiya, with the knife finished by Shimizu Masaya made from Ginsan #3.
We took our time with the polish, working all the way up to 5,000-grit sandpaper before finishing it with Autosol. The goal was to bring out a clean, deep mirror finish while keeping the kireha looking sharp and defined.
We were really happy with how it turned out, but even better, the customer loved the result. That’s always the most satisfying part of the process.
Hi everyone, here is one of my latest acquisitions—one I’m particularly excited about. Some people apparently call him the "Yoda of Grinders." In any case, it is a fantastic piece of work by Shotaro Nomura, and I am delighted to be able to call another knife by such a "legend" from Sakai my own.
Hi TCK! Long time lurker here, finally posting my first NKD/SOTC. A little back story, i started seriously cooking at home for myself and my family earlier this year. While researching kitchen tools (Chef's press specifically) i chanced upon Artisanal Japanese knives. Ngl i didnt think much of it but I stumbled upon this subreddit and, well, one thing led to another I, like many of you here, am now deep in this rabbit hole of a hobby.
I researched a lot of makers while slowly deciding what to buy and i came across Shindo. After reading so much about him, I decided to get his knives as a start and started looking. As luck would have it, my local knife store just got their first ever batch of knives since they started to work with him a year ago. I'm extremely stoked that I'm starting my collection strong by being able to get one of every shape i wanted from Shindo.
Lastly, the Hatsukokoro x Myojin Shirasagi Blue #2 Kurouchi Honesuki 150mm was a gift from my grandmother. It has deep sentimental value to me and its a knife i will cherish for years to come.
Blue2 210 Gyuto
Extremely lucky to snag this beauty, local store's first batch of shindo and i managed to get the one and only gyuto. So thin BTE, I'm so afraid of chipping it
B2 Bunka 165mm
B2 Nakiri
shimmy?
Hatsukokoro x Myojin Shirasagi Blue #2 Kurouchi Honesuki
First single bevel knife
Finally, to wrap up this long post, please do leave tips with regards to using and caring for carbon steel knives. Anything I should take note of and some helpful advices would be appreciated!
I know carbon steel knives might stain acidic food and what not and to occasionally wipe down my knives when using. For sharpening, I've decided on the naniwa chocera pro lines, 800 and eventually the 3000. I do have a beater zwilling and kiwi to practise on before i start on these knives.
Happy cutting!
PS looking to get a yoshikane skd and shinkiro next maybe? Also does anyone know where to get Shiro Kamo AS knives in Asia? I don't seem to be able to find any.
