I bought a Japanese knife.

[RonB]

For years I have been looking at Japanese knives. Many top chefs, (that are not paid to use a specific brand), use Japanese knives, and some of the videos on youtube are amazing. So I bit the bullet, and after a lot of research, I bought a Takamura Migaki 210mm gyuto. It is equivalent to a western chef's knife. The blade is about 8.5" long and it is very light - just over 5 oz. The blade has an R2 ss steel core and is clad in a softer ss steel. It's only 1.6 mm thick at the heel, and it tapes somewhat towards the point. I thought I could sharpen knives, but this knife is ridiculously sharp. It almost seems to fall through food. It's very easy to handle because it's so light.

R2 steel is a powdered steel. That means that the iron and the additives are ground to a fine powder, mixed, and then melted to form ss steel bars. Grinding the ingredients to a fine powder is supposed to make a more even distribution of the additives to the iron.

The wavy line you see close to the cutting edge is the R2 core. (click on the image to see a larger view)

Here is a video. If you don't want to watch the 5 min video, go to ~ 4' 15" and watch the onion dicing. This guy has serious knife skills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx1pP1JHhCA

[kmhfive]

Looks like a fine piece of cutlery. Should last a lifetime or more!

[Frozen Smoke]

Man that's a beautiful piece of culinary hardware. Like you I have pondered Japanese cutlery and high end knives for quite sometime but have yet to pull the trigger on anything that would be considered high craftsmanship. My last couple of purchases have been Victronix which are nice knives but what you have there is in a class by itself.
Congratulations!

[RonB]

It's a really sweet knife, but I do have to be careful handling it. The steel is harder, so it will chip if you abuse it. My wife doesn't use it, or 3 other nicer knives, but she has enough to use when she needs one. If you decide to get one, you will also need some water stones for sharpening.

[Jerod Broussard]

Takamura Migaki 210mm gyuto

Wow, say that 10x real fast.

You should break it in with this stuff, also from Japan.

http://www.dartagnan.com/japanese-wagyu-beef-boneless-striploin-a5-grade/product/FBWSL029.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_vLttcD91wIVB3ZeCh2hlATREAQYASABEgJWqPD_BwE

[Steve B]

Ha. You’re hooked 😁

[RonB]

I'll take a whack at that meat just as soon as you send me some.

[Steve B]

Now that’s a knife!!!

[EdF]

Very nice-looking knife!

[DWCowles]

Nice knife

[Mr. Bones]

Beautimous knife ya' got, there!

[holehogg]

That was a sharp choice.

[Jerod Broussard]

hehehehehe

[jgreen]

Nice! I keep looking at Japanese knives too, but my family thinks one knife is as good as another, so I worry about it getting wrecked.

[ComfortablyNumb]

I hear you loud and clear, my wife treats knives terribly.

[RonB]

You would have to keep one under lock and key...

[FireMan]

Ditto ComfortablyNumb, my wife uses them for everything, screws, cans, stuff I can’t imagine & she doesn’t remamber. I have a bent Wusthoff to show for it. Doesn’t know how it happened.

[Danjohnston949]

RonB, Congratulations on Your New Knife‼️ I Think You are to Find the Quality and Performance Will Still be There Long After the Price is Forgotten‼️ 👍👍👍👍👍 ‼️ 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan

[RonB]

Thanx Dan. I do think that it will outlast me.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Fantastic video, I watched it in its entirety. Very impressive the paper thin cut of the tomato. Curious as to how well it holds its edge and sharpening requirements. Congratulations on the addition to your line up!

[RonB]

That is a fun video. If you look for "Japanese knife skills" on youtube, you will get lots of hits.

[RonB]

It's supposed to hold it's edge for a long time, but it's also supposed to be easy to sharpen.

[HawkerXP]

I like it! Beautiful!

[GadjetGriller]

Do you still have all your fingers?? I hear those knifes are wicked sharp! Be careful and enjoy

[ComfortablyNumb]

In the video it shows a fellow slicing celery, I kept expecting a finger tip to pop out!

[Sgt Tyree]

Beautiful. Be mindful that Asian knives have a different angle to them. I spoke with the folks at Chef's Choice about using their sharpeners on my Shun knives and they instructed me to use the strop stage only. I believe they said the angle was 15 degrees, much steeper than western knives and using the other stages would change the profile of the blade and affect performance.

[RonB]

That's what I thought too, but the guys on the knife forum I visit say they are about the same as western knives. At any rate, I sharpen all my knives at ~ 15* anyway, so there is no change for me.

[Sgt Tyree]

RonB : If in doubt Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table offer excellent knife sharpening services. Congratulations on your knife. Now you have to find one of those wicked awesome racks for your chef's knife to display it and show it off.