u/BertusHondenbrok

Hello friends,

It took half a year for this to finish and arrive so I have been eagerly awaiting it for quite a while. It started with some confusion around the order, mostly related to the maker only just stepping into the digital era and having trouble understanding his iPad. Which I honestly just find charming. Unshu Yukimitsu is an old school forge and it shows in more than one way.

I already received a single bevel kensaki petty I ordered a month earlier around January/February I think, which only kickstarted my enthusiasm for the yanagi. That one was very thin, no warps, a ridiculously neat ura and fully stone ready. Besides some grindmarks that are mostly aesthetics, Kusunoki san really cares about fit and finish and a neat end product that is 100% ready to use.

That was what I was expecting for my yanagiba as well and… he absolutely knocked it out of the park again. It is slightly heavier that expected but feels lovely to hold. The heavier ebony handle and blonde ferrule looks stunning with it but helps with balance as well. Again, no warps or bends, a very neat ura, spine is nicely polished, choil feels comfortable. Bevels are stone polished. It has some slight scratches here and there, this is no flashy high end Sakai style mirror polish. But it’s functional and well executed in every way.

Out of the box sharpness is quite ridiculous and I’m scared to touch it up myself as I feel like it can only get duller from here, I’d say it’s a good 9,5/10. Lasers through paper towels, no burrs catching on it. I’m not sure if I’ve encountered better. I know OOTB sharpness does not say much about the quality of the knife, but it says something about the attention to detail from the maker.

Lastly I’ll have to say something about the steel. Kusunoki san usually works with shirogami #1 and is known to master its heat treatment. I’ve seen people compare it to the likes of TF, which I cannot confirm or deny as I’ve never handled TF white 1 over a prolonged time, but from what I know of the Unshu Yukimitsu petty Kusunoki san knows what he’s doing. It’s hard (I recommend putting a slight microbevel on his single bevels as the original edge can be a bit brittle) and is able to keep it’s edge for a surprisingly long time.

I have yet to test it on some fish but I did some cucumber test cuts and its a bit scary to use with the current screaming edge. The previous yanagiba I had was a bit light, I think the added weight here should really help with smooth, clean slices of fish.

That’s all for now. I’ve received another knife which is quite different in every aspect, I’ll post that one later today I think (in between work and packing my suitcase for a wine trip).

Hello again,

I received some new handles from u/khoosyi this week. Very nice guy and his handles look great. Got some unique wood types with lovely patterning. Handles are finished neatly, nicely oiled. I still need to decide on which knives I’m going to attach them but I’m very happy with what I received. I can fully recommend his services.

In other news, I recently got this cool knife from Yosimitu Kajiya. I asked him if he had anything special and he recommended me this: a ‘kiriage’ or a broccoli harvesting knife. He figured it might serve nicely as a kitchen knife as well and I think he’s right.

It’s maybe a little thicker than let’s say a regular santoku. The shape makes me believe it might work great as a boning knife, even though it’s a little thinner compared to a regular sabaki. It does work well on veg too, although it’s a little thick for carrots. Nice garlic mincer though.

That’s all for now. Still waiting on something a little more special that’s been sitting in customs for almost two weeks but I hope I can show it here before a wine trip to Burgundy next week.

Hello guys,

Last listing of today. It’s a bit of a pain to have to let this one go as I’ve bought this at the Meesterslijpers live event where I met Mutsumi himself. Very nice guy, talented craftsman. Unfortunately I need to make space in my drawer as I’m visiting Japan in a few months and this one sees little use next to my Kageura and Yosimitu gyuto’s.

This is one of his special edition nashiji damascus knives with a unique lacquered handle. These were specially made for the Meesterslijpers event. There were only a few 240 gyuto’s and I was lucky to get one of them.

Awesome knife with an aggressive pointy profile and a generous flat spot. Typical Sanjo grind with a thicker spine but it tapers down into a very thin edge. Best feature of this knife imo is the extremely thin tip (see picture 6), best tip I’ve experienced on a knife honestly.

Mutsumi’s white 2 is a lovely compromise between durability, edge retention and ease of sharpening. It is not extremely hard but it takes a screaming edge easily with a light touch up every now and then. And even though the edge is quite thin, it does not feel too fragile.

I bought this one at Meesterslijpers for €475 I believe. There aren’t many of these and Mutsumi has left the Hinoura company so it’s not yet clear what kind of work is coming from him in the future.

I am willing to let it go for €400 incl. shipping. Current price for this knife type with a regular plain handle on Meesterslijpers is €450. For €50 less you can get this one with a way cooler and unique handle made by one of Mutsumi’s friends. 🙌🏼

Any questions let me know. If you’re interested, reach out and see if we can make a deal.

Hey guys,

Next is the shiro 2 Hatsukokoro Shirasagi 240 kiritsuke. Letting this one go as I’ve got a mean 210 usuba and a lovely yanagi on the way as well, which replace the functions of this wonderful knife for me.

Beast of a knife really. Comes from the same workshop/blacksmith as the famous Tetsujin lines but sharpened by father Tateo Myojin and/or apprentices. Nice and heavy blade, great cutter. Lovely white 2. And also just really pretty. Nice wenge handle.

I’ve only sharpened this one on the koba. If you think of buying this one, you might want to give it a full bevel sharpening at some point. There is one small pit on the cladding towards the tip, which is visible on the pictures. Nothing alarming, just a visual blemish. It’s essentially a Tosa knife so I’d sat it’s part of its DNA. Great entry level single bevel for anyone wanting to try one.

Knife has been used a bit but maybe not as often as I’d like. Mostly for slicing protein. I paid €330 at Meesterslijpers for it about 1.5 year ago. I’m dropping my asking price to €225,- excl. shipping (depending on the costs, I might be willing to share). Quite a bargain but as I’ve said in a different topic my drawer is getting full and I’m going to Japan. 😅

Any questions, let me know!

Hello friends,

Next up is a gyuto I recently received. I had a great experience with some recent Yosimitu Kajiya purchases, especially the 270 white 2 gyuto. When I learned Ide san was doing migaki B2 as well now and does a great heat treatment on it, I wanted to try. I already heared the grind on these was less refined but I wanted to see for myself.

There’s a lot to like on this knife: the steel, the balance, the lightness, the lovely straight and pointy profile, nice tip, lovely walnut handle. But it is wedgy on dense produce and could do with a thinning and refinish.

I’ve got my hands full with thinning and polishing projects right now so I’m happy to let someone else enjoy it. It has great bones so if someone is looking for a nice affordable project knife I can fully recommend it. If no one is interested, no loss either. I’d be happy to take it on myself in a year or so.

I paid €100 (18000 yen) for the knife itself, excl. shipping and import. Willing to part with it for €80 excl. shipping.

Knife has been touched up once on a Natsuya. Some patina has formed. Any questions, let me know!

Hey guys,

I’ll be selling a few knives I don’t have time and space for anymore. Going to Japan in a few months and possibly buying a house soon as well so a few pieces have to find a new home.

Starting off with the Shindo nakiri. I got it from the recent Meesterslijpers drop and wanted to feel if I would prefer the nakiri or the bunka. Difficult decision because I prefered the performance of the nakiri slightly but I don’t currently have a worthy bunka in my line up while I have some great nakiri’s. So the nakiri is moving on.

I will be selling at retail value + shipping. So no mark up like I’ve seen here recently as that’s a practice I dislike. That said, I would hate to see it get sold a week later for more anyways, so I’m giving preference to trusted members who I think will not end up flipping it. In short: This knife will not get sold to the first bidder. I want to see it end up somewhere nice.

Bought for €89,-. I’m asking €85 + shipping. Preferably within EU but everyone is welcome to inquire. I have fixed a bend on the edge and gave it a touch up on my Natsuya. Any questions, let me know!

Hello guys,

Sorry about the earlier bait post. Luckily most of you guys are sharp as a knife and saw through the joke. Obviously I posted a famously wonky Shindo S-grind nakiri choil.

I did have a Shindo 270 gyuto before, which was a great knife but a bit too light for a big gyuto imo. I felt like a Shindo works better for smaller knives so I was hoping to score a nakiri or bunka at some point.

After two years of being too late on the Meesterslijpers Shindo drop and having my order cancelled on a recent drop on a Polish site, I finally got lucky and ended up with both a bunka and a nakiri. One of those is going to get sold, once I make up my mind which one I want to keep. So if you were too late, keep an eye on the BST. I might pop a new handle on it too.

Bunka came in reasonably sharp, nakiri was blunt. Had to sharpen it up a bit, which was a pleasant job. Thin edges are always nice to sharpen and this edge was obviously very thin.

But before I could get to that, I had to fix quite a nasty bend on the edge, which is always a bit tricky. Bends on the whole blade are an easy fix but for edge bends you have to be careful and take your time. I don’t mind a bit of wabi sabi, but I find edge bends to be a bit of a bummer. But well, cheap knives so these things happen. The bunka is alright, a bit bend but the edge is fine.

In terms of performance the nakiri is obviously a killer. Very thin, very smooth cutter. Food release is alright, not Okubo levels but for a thin knife it is quite good, I’d say comparable to Homi but smoother on the cuts. The bunka felt a little less smooth on the denser produce but I used the OOTB edge on it, I’ll sharpen that tomorrow and compare again.

It is a little light, which can be a good thing but I find that lighter knives don’t feel as good when chopping stuff like cabbage or fennel. I compared it to my Mikami, which may be a bit unfair as it’s more than double the price, but I much prefer the overall feel of Mikami. Better food release and nicer balance (to me) which makes for an overall better cutting, even though the Shindo is thinner and less prone to wedging on stuff like carrots.

For my first meal prep I preferred the nakiri but that might be because I prefer nakiri’s anyway. I think I might keep the bunka as I already have a few awesome nakiri’s while I’m lacking in the bunka department.

If you’d ask me if the Shindo hype is real or just a hype I’d 100% argue it’s real. Lots of performance for a relatively low price. But is it the knife to end all knives as it’s sometimes portraid to be? Well… also yes? But at the same time no. And that’s where preferences come into play.

I think Shindo is perfect for people who love a thin, light blade that just cuts a carrot like it’s butter. It deserves a spot in any collection. But is it objectively better than other budget carbons like, for example, Ikenami? I don’t think I can say that with certainty. It’s just different. I might prefer Ikenami, most would probably pick a Shindo. They are great because of different reasons.

And for people having fomo because they keep missing Shindo drops I’d like to emphasize that there’s lots of other cool stuff out there that might be easier to get while still being able to surprise you.

Just bought this cheap random knife a few days ago but the choil is all weird. Should I return this?

Hello friends,

I bought these two (supposedly) Shiraki made knives from an auction recently but haven’t really got round to given them a full sharpening so I was wondering how I’d like them after a good sharpening session.

I started of with the usuba. I didn’t bother going for pretty and perfect on the polish so it’s still quite scratchy but what strikes me is how flat the bevels already are. No huge microbevel to deal with either. This usuba came fully stone ready and it makes sharpening very fun and easy. This, combined with a very high degree of fit and finish almost makes me laugh given the price I paid for it.

I started with the Chosera 800 and then put it on a soft 2k-ish Vnat from @zao_vietknives first. Then I finished on my Natsuya. If anyone is looking for their first natural stones I can fully recommend hitting up zao_vietknives on Insta. That 2k is a lovely bridge between my Naniwa 800 and the Natsuya which I feel like it sits somewhere between 3k and 4k. I also have a 6k from Zao but haven’t been able to test it yet. I’m also a bit addicted to the final edge the Natsuya gives me. It’s also quite hard and a very nice stone to strop on.

The nakiri got a simpler treatment: just some passes on the Natsuya and it was good to go. Difference of night and day though compared to the cutting feel with the OOTB edge. It’s a relatively thick and hefty knife and with the fresh edge it cuts very aggressive. I have to watch out not to bite into the board too much with it.

It’s a very different knife compared to the usuba. While the usuba breathes Sakai with a lovely fit and finish, polished spine and choil, nice polish, thin edge etc. the nakiri does not feel like a Sakai knife at all. For starters, you don’t see kurouchi as much from Sakai (or at least, I don’t). Very plain fit and finish, the choil and spine aren’t uncomfortable but also hasn’t gotten that much attention. Spine is relatively thick with a very convex grind, certainly no ‘Sakai laser’. My guess is that these were made in large batches for several stores to stamp their brand names on and sold as a budget option.

And I really fucking love it. Beast of a knife really.

For dinner I seared pork shoulder. Cut some fennel and onion (the usuba was really fun to use on fennel, even did the splitting in half with no issue, which surprised me for a single bevel), which I fried in olive oil for a bit. Can of good (Galipette) apple cider goes in with a teaspoon of Ajinomoto chicken powder and minced garlic. Put the pork back in and braise. Finish with sour cream, good Dijon style (I have a very nice one from Beaune) mustard. Turn the fire down and take out the pork to slice. Put in a bag of baby spinach until slightly softened.

In the meantime I’ve been braising chunks of celeriac (Usuba was no good there but the nakiri killed it) in 2 tablespoons mirin, 2 tablespoons soy, a bag of bonito dashi powder and a teaspoon of sugar. Little bit of water and braise until the celeriac turns into soft umami flavorbombs. Extremely easy, very tasty.

End result doesn’t look pretty but is absolutely delicious. Big flavors, nice textures. The apple cider sauce recipe (which I’ve altered a bit) was meant for fish but works lovely with pork too.

TL/DR: food was really tasty and these knives are awesome. I like them both for different reasons. They’re very different in nature even though the smith is probably the same.