r/TrueChefKnives

Takada Suiboku Hanabi Gyuto 240mm Blue 1 Ebony with Buffalo horn. Takada san was a pleasure to work with. Can't wait for it to arrive.

Title more or less says it. This Anryu is circa 2024ish, so well after things had been handed off to Ikeda, and it’s great. Like, “as good or better than my Yoshikane” great.

Subtly convex grind, softened shoulders. Combine that with the chonk coming out of the handle, and thing screams.

It’s no where near as refined as a Yoshikane, but there’s something about this grind going through dense veg. It’s incredible.

Curious if anyone knows whose work this is.

Thanks.

I recently found myself without a good petty and snagged this Tetsujin 165mm for work. The Ukiba finish is one of my favorites and Myojin and Tamura never disappoint!

Mirror polished 330mm Damasteel sujihiki

Blistered Koa handle with vintage Westinghouse amd G10 Liners with a Curly Koa handle.

Cheers!

Im in love with Xinguo knaifu

220g x 56mm x 3.5

Stainless , shining hairline , cool handle , flat profile , tall height , great taper , good edge retention , sexy and most importantly cut very well 🔥

Saturday was honestly one of those days that just reminds you why this hobby is so great. Tetogi opened their new store, and even though the time was long, the time passed quickly with good conversations and the chance to finally meet people from the sub and community I’ve only talked to online until now.

Tonny had put together an incredible lineup. I had my eyes set on the TxK AS, but as many of you probably saw, u/ScSuede secured it. Completely deserved after making the trip from Sweden. That kind of commitment is hard not to respect.

Still, I walked away with something that feels just as special to me. On the wall was this stunning Nakagawa Rou, and it immediately stood out. Interestingly, Nakagawa didn’t use the usual Kikuchiyo name on this one, which I’ve never seen before.

The grind and finish felt familiar in a really intriguing way. After a hint from u/ScSuede, I took a chance and chose this over several other amazing knives. Later, I reached out to the sharpener I had in mind to see if my suspicion was right.

Out of respect for Hitohira and how they do things, I’ll keep that part quiet. But let’s just say I got the confirmation I was hoping for. I guess, if you know, you know. That detail made me appreciate the knife even more.

I’ve never really been drawn to mirror polish, but this completely changed my perspective. It’s one of those pieces that just feels right the more you look at it.

I very much look forward to putting this one to use.

Thanks to everyone who showed up and made it such a great day.

Rule #5

Hitohira Nakagawa Rou Ginsan 240mm gyuto mirror polish

Excuse the crappy photo. Got too excited. But this Izo just arrived in the mail. Had to take a photo of it next to the Tetsujin which I’m going to list shortly on BST now that the grail Myojin is here.

The wild thing is I used to droll over this exact knife from this sub a while back and now I somehow own it. Thanks the asshole who made this deal happen. You know who you are.

I picked this up on a whim. Hard to turn down Nakagawa Ginsan and a new-to-me sharpener in Ren. The blade is insanely thin BTE and the concave nature of it makes it have a noticeably different feel versus other wide bevels I have. It seems to help with food release, which is nice, but does feel a bit more fragile in use. The magnolia handle it comes with is fairly boring, so I swapped it for this nice curly rosewood from Boogwa. Not sure it will find a place with me long term, but it’s a fun knife to use.

Another shop opening, another trip. This being my first visit to Copenhagen, I was thinking I’d go about it slightly differently, city-tourism first, knives second. That being said, after a sleepless night and a long morning of queuing, I ended up with an incredible pickup.

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Rule #5
Hitohira Tanaka Kyuzo Aogami Super Migaki Gyuto 240mm w/ Taihei Makassar handle.

Weight : 209g
Length of the cutting edge: 231mm
Width at the heel: 50,9mm
Spine at the handle: 2,8mm
Spine at the heel: 2,7mm
Spine in the middle: 2,6mm
Spine 1 cm from the tip: 1,2mm

Blacksmith: Yoshikazu Tanaka
Sharpener: Kyuzo (Tsuyoshi Yauchi)

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Getting home from the Karasu opening I was feeling the high of meeting so many likeminded people in Amsterdam. Seeing the community in-person was rewarding in a way that can’t be compared to making posts, reading comments and chatting in DMs. In short; I really wanted to visit another get-together soon. Turns out I didn’t even have to wait for more than a month as Tetogi was opening up their new location on April 18th! I looked into some flights and hotels… A day or two later, I was all booked in. Funnily enough, in my excitement, I accidentally booked a flight to Copenhagen 17-19th of July, something I need to get a refund on as soon as possible. Double check your dates before you book people!

After I landed in the early morning on the 17th, I swung by Tetogi to say hi before the opening. I didn’t stick around for long as they were very busy getting everything together, mounting shelves, putting up decorations and getting light fixtures together. Very much a construction zone close to the final stages before cleaning and stocking happens. I didn’t want to stress about getting there early in the morning but decided to lean into waking up at 4am for my 7am flight and headed to bed after enjoying some excellent cocktails at Duck and Cover. Turns out I couldn’t sleep more than a couple of hours and woke up shortly after midnight. Trying to nap proved itself useless so instead I headed over to the Rødovre mall and sat down inside and waited. A little while later, u/Salt_Replacement_711 showed up, and shortly thereafter we got more company and became four Tetogi visitors. 

A handful of minutes before opening, the sign up sheet with everyone's queue orders had increased to around 35~, with more joining their friends/spouses to look at the new location. It got packed very quickly, as if you were standing at the front of a Taylor Swift concert (I wouldn’t know but I assume there’s people standing at the front there). As I showed up first, I got to take a peek at a handful of knives, namely the Kyuzo AS 240mm, Nakagawa Rou Ginsan Gyuto and Santoku and finally the Tetsujin Rentetsu. The Rentetsu was extremely pretty but given the 210mm size and a grind that I suspect I wouldn’t enjoy as much, it eliminated itself from contention. The toughest choice was between the Kyuzo and the Rou. Ultimately, it’s a wonderful rush to add another piece that fits my preferences to my kitchen, in a unique and rare to find steel as well!

Unlike the Kyuzo Vintage Swedish Carbon, this Migaki finish gives off a very polished and almost edgier impression, a different look with a very similar build. This Aogami Super Gyuto sits at a solid 4 grams lighter than its Vintage sibling, with a thinner spine. The angular choil slightly pointing towards the handle feels aggressive, I envision the Vintage as an old Chevy, whereas the AS feels like a fighter jet (don’t ask me why, this is just where my mind goes). Besides its similar weight and size, it feels more delicate in its handling with more than enough heel height to support all the pinch grips my heart can muster.

This’ll be the last store opening for a while I would assume but if there’s another big event in the future I’d love to fly out, even if it's just to say hello to everyone that’s in attendance and share in the excitement of seeing all the craftsmanship being put on display.

Thanks for reading!
Next up was supposed to be my Yogiri thoughts, instead I recently found another interesting NKD pickup that will go first…

Just started cooking again after getting absolutely sick of 28 years of IT, never had anything better than £20 knives in any kitchen I've worked in and decided the time has come, now I've totally got my eye on a few more already! After deciding I didn't want a Gyuto first I settled on this Ohishi SLD Santoku, I'm hoping it's gonna be fairly easy to look after, I only prep salad stuff and a few veggies and very occasionally a bit of poultry but no butchery. It was fairly sharp out of the box but toothy, a bit of time on the strop and it shaves easily, I've been trying to find a hair to see if it whittles but I'm bald AF and the wife is out!

I like more rustic knives and would probably like something hand forged next time, what would you guys like in the £300-£400 range?

Hey everyone,

I recently came back from a Japan trip and told myself I would buy some knives for myself and my mom. Not sure if I got taken advantage or not but picked up these two pieces while in takayama at a place called kiwami. The top knife is supposedly silver 3 and the bottom one VG-10. I’m new to knives and cook in my free time as a hobby. Paid around $125 for the vg10 and $159 for the silver 3.

If I made a poor choice what is some advice to look for when shopping for a good quality knife I can start implementing when shopping around?

A 9” chefy I did a few years ago. 144 layers of 1084 & 15N20 wearing black g10 with carbon fiber pins.

I currently am on a quick 5-day stopover to Japan before heading out to my destination in SEA. I planned to visit Hitohira and then Baba Hamono (and other shops in Sakai if I have the time and able to walk in) to hopefully get a ginsan steel gyuto to replace and pare down my admittedly still a small collection of knives. I was blown away when one of the folks assisting me pulled this one out. It was the last one at the store too, he said. He also pulled another ginsan 240mm gyuto, but my eyes were immediately glued to this one so I had to get it. My wallet hates me now.

I also asked for a more reasonably-priced nakiri, which is a gift for my sister-in-law, and so they also showed me a few! I settled on a stainless clad blue #2 nakiri.

I truly did not expect this one to be available as it is OOS at their website. I was anticipating that I might have a slightly better chance at getting a ginsan gyuto at Baba Hamono. I will still visit tomorrow as I am in Osaka now, but I most likely will just buy a Kagekiyo petty to replace my current Tojiro, and then I will stop buying knives unless absolutely necessary (**we shall see lol).

Hitohira does not offer tax free purchases, which is understandable. I suppose this is why I was okay opening it at the hotel. They also did the final passes at stones to create the functional edge on the knife. The bonus y-peeler was much needed too, since I lost my current one due to being an idiot (I unknowingly tossed it in the compost pile along with the rest of the vegetable peels).

Another funny thing I noticed is that Hitohira codes as a "Restaurant" in my credit card transactions but hey, I'll take the 3x points!

My one regret is not catching the names of the 2 attendants that assisted me. I think one of them is the owner of the store? I will make sure to ask this the next time I visit, which I definitely plan to. This shop is a wonderful place with awesome people. I also need new stones at some point, which the shop seems to have a nice collection too... but damn they can get hella expensive too! 🫠

I will make sure to post better photos when I am back in my home kitchen which, unfortunately is still during the 1st week of May. I'm really excited to use this one!

Someone used my beloved knife and carelessly threw it in the sink. I’ve tried a little simichrome to take out the scratche but took off a little of the black finish… ugh… any ideas on how I can get this back to looking good? Thanks in advance.

The dirty co-bunka and I have squared off for another round. This time I followed the advice of fellow redditor low -indication on the progression. No chance to save the kurouchi so I went for full kasumi. I was also advised to try a kasumi kit. Which I did.

First pic is starting material. Then a couple pics as I progressed on coarse stones. The rest are me trying to take a good pic to show edge contrast.

It was quite the task. Involving 220-3k stone progression. Then some 5 k sandpaper and diamond paste. Alternating my scratch pattern between stones was very helpful. A large divot by the heel was not amendable to flattening in my hands. I accepted the wabi-sabi. I appreciate all the advice and input from my prior attempt. Ty to Mr indicator for his help

I have sent some of these pictures to Hado. I hope to hear back from them soon about a job opportunity 😜. Ty for looking ☮️

Went a bit crazy in Japan buying my first proper knives. I’m no expert, let me know how I done!

All stainless apart from the purple/black handle which is carbon steel.

Purchased from left to right-

Seisuke knife Kyoto

Odeo knives Osaka

TDI kappabashi street

Kamata kappabashi street

Far right knife from Kamata was probably all I needed and is my favourite, but I wanted to take advantage whilst I was there.

S’up fellows,

quick Sunday kurouchi appreciation post.

I just love my ku knives. It makes every knife unique and tells a story about its origins, regions and makers. Especially the combination between mirror polished spine + choil and a rough ku looks so nice imo. It combines high end F&F with the blacksmiths dna.

Also looks like a got have a preference in handle materials haha

Rule 5 - left to right:

JNS x Wakui V2 ss clad 240mm Gyuto

Shindo B2 210mm Gyuto

JNS x Munetoshi W2 180mm Bunka

Throw your fav. ku in the comments. I want to see what else is out there!!