Japanese knives

[RonB]

Here's a video on Japanese knives. It's simplified, but interesting. Please notice how sharp the demo knife is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dZmeh_28Eo

[rickgregory]

J-knives are wonderful. Addictive. https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com is THE place to dive in (they have a questionnaire if you ever want to pick one up and need advice https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/t...aire-v2.12791/)

Beware. Buying one leads to another.

[Razor]

One word, wow…

[Old Glory]

rickgregory So true. They are works of art. I started collecting them over the last year. I have a couple Kurosaki blades that are lasers.

[Mr. Bones]

That was a wonderful vidya, Brother!

Many Thanks fer postin it up.

Didn't cause me no MKS, at all. Nossir!

[gcdmd]

​​​​​​​If I bring another knife into this house my wife will slit my throat with it.

[Pobeque]

Just sent my knife to Korin https://www.korin.com/ for a chip repair. When they sent it back they also sent a huge catalog with a full breakdown of styles, metals used, sharpening guide as well as their offerings. Was a very informative catalog from a great company I highly recommend

[Razor]

Wow, after watching that video I have to ask, are any of you Japanese knife owners brave enough to sharpen your own blades with your Ken Onion Work Sharp? I don’t think I would try it.

[rickgregory]

I use water stones. I don't like any system well enough to invest in it as the solution

[Loren]

I wouldn't for two reasons:

1. The WS is fairly easy to round tips with,

2. I'd be wary of the heat generated vs how thin the edge is on a Japanese knife. Would be an unnecessary risk.

That said, J-knives are fairly easy to sharpen on a stone with a bit of practice.

[CLB3]

I use my Ken Onion Worksharp on my Shun knives (8” Classic chef knife & 7” Classic Santoku) whenever they need sharpening. Works great! Usually all I have to do is touch them up with the honing band. Removes very little metal.

[GolfGeezer]

There really is only one word: WOW! His knives make my Shun knives look like cheap knockoffs.

[gcdmd]

Great video, Hank. Thank you.

[rickgregory]

By the way - that intro does a disservice to Japanese knives by the 'over $900' bit. My Wakui was under $200. I had a nakiri made these guys https://www.teruyasu.net for about over $100. I've got a petty from Munetoshi for $75...

Price in J-knives is really controlled by reputation and scarcity. There are traditionally made knives from Shigefusa and others that are over $1000. But they are usually very limited styles/forging methods and a reputation for excellent. You can get very very good j-knives for under $200 or so per knife. No, they're not the Mercer price. But Mercers and the like are factory made, stamped out products. And, taken care of, a good knife will last years and years.

[RonB]

I should have mentioned earlier that these knives are not for everyone. They are better in some ways that the knives most of us are used to, but some are much harder than Western knives, (with a higher Rockwell hardness). That can lead to the blade chipping if not used correctly. Sharpening with water stones takes practice, and some people don't want to spend the time to learn sharpening that way.

Also, high carbon steel can take a sharper edge than almost all ss blades. And carbon steel will rust if not cared for properly, and will develop a patina over time.

[rickgregory]

To Ron's last point - you can (and I did) get many of these knives with carbon cores and stainless laminated on the outside so the edge and a bit more is exposed carbon.