u/RJCT_

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Kisuke Manaka x Kazoku / Meesterslijpers

Sharpened and ground by Berend de Boer (Meesterslijpers in-house sharpener)

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Aogami #1 iron clad

Ebony with horn

Somewhat of an unexpected pickup. I’ve been trying to get one of the JNS Manaka's, but I couldn’t seem to catch a drop. I saw the Meesterslijpers Instagram post the second they uploaded it. I wasn’t sure about the Manaka x Kazoku line because I hadn’t heard much about the knives ground by Berend. After missing all the JNS drops, though, I couldn’t leave this one behind.

No hate towards Berend at all, of course. I just thought he was less experienced with grinding knives than Maksim or the people at xingou. He’s been sharpening knives for years, so he clearly knows what he’s doing. He also recently spent time in Japan learning from a lot of different sharpeners. Maksim from JNS was at Meesterslijpers recently too.

Meesterslijpers has also been dropping a lot more in-house finished knives from well regarded makers. Those Wakuis looked very nice, and the Nakagawas definitely piqued my interest too. If anyone has one of these, or any other knife done by Berend, I’d love to hear some opinions.

About the actual knife: I was looking for a Manaka before the fire in his workshop. I was hoping to see some pop up again after the new workshop opened. The finish looks amazing. I’m usually a big nashiji kurouchi lover, but Manaka’s tsuchime looks incredible. As a lover of tall knives, this is the perfect bunka. I don’t think I’ve seen many bunkas this tall. It has a little more belly than I personally prefer, but still has a nice flat spot. The spine and choil are very nicely rounded and feel comfortable in hand.

The grind on these is very nice too. I haven’t had the chance to cut any hard vegetables yet, but it flies through softer produce. It gets quite thin behind the edge and has a really good cutting feel. In a way, it almost feels like a wide bevel knife. OOTB sharpness is good as well, around a 7.5/10.

The handle is nicely made and fitted. Not much else to say about it. You can’t really go wrong with ebony and horn, imo.

To compare it to the other Manaka releases: the finish is really nice on this knife. The spine and edge aren’t mirror polished like the xingou versions, and the kasumi doesn’t quite match the JNS kasumi. But they’re also sold at a lower price, so it seems like a fair trade-off. The kasumi still looks really nice imo.

I’m happy I caught this drop and managed to pick up the only bunka. Performance is great, and the knife looks stunning. There really isn’t much out there like these Manakas.

NKD

Hitohira TD (Tadafusa)

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SLD

Walnut handle

Picked this one up as a sort of project knife. I recently broke the tip of my Ittetsu honesuki, which is more of a honesuki-shaped petty since it isn’t that thick. The plan is to thin and fix the Ittetsu and use it as a petty, while the Tadafusa will be used to break down birds.

I’ve also been meaning to try my hand at doing a kasumi finish. The Tadafusa seems like a great project knife: not too expensive, but also not super rough.

I haven’t broken down a chicken with it yet, but I used it to cut some veggies and brought it to work to try it out on some fish. OOTB sharpness is pretty good — after a quick stropping, I’d rate it about a 6.5/10. Obviously it’s a bit on the thicker side, but it cut onions and cherry tomatoes with no problem. It’s actually quite thin behind the edge.

The finish on this knife is surprisingly nice too. The spine and choil aren’t rounded, but they’re not sharp either, so it’s very comfortable to hold. I’m a big fan of the Nashiji finish on these Tadafusas. The handle feels a bit cheap, but still well made. It’s a bit taller than most wa handles. You can’t really go wrong with walnut IMO, and after some oiling and waxing it looks very nice.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Tadafusa, and I can’t say I disagree. This is a super solid knife and performs above its price range. This SLD line would make a great beginner knife.

For those with experience doing kasumi finishes, I’m open to tips. I don’t have any jnats or finger stones at the moment.

Currently I have:

King 220

Shapton Pro 1000

Shapton Pro 2000

Suehiro Ouka 3000

Suehiro Rika 5000

I was thinking of using this progression for the finish:

220 → 1000 → 3000 → 5000

I’ve also been looking to get a stone in the 8000–10000 range to sharpen my single bevels, and I’d probably finish the kasumi on that stone. I’d love to pick up a jnat sometime in the future.

Show me your knife rolls, professional or not.

My current roll:

- Ittetsu - Shirogami #1 - 270 Sujihiki

- Kagekiyo - Shirogami #2 - 210 Yanagiba

- Motokyuuichi (hatsukokoro kurosagi) - Aogami Super - 210 Gyuto

- Takamura - SG2 - 180 Gyuto

- Hatsukokoro Shirasagi - Shirogami #2 - 150 Deba

- Mac Pro - Aus8 - (super) flexible 180 Filleting Knife

- Victorinox Rosewood - 5.3700.16 - (semi) flexible 160 Filleting Knife

We work in a very small team so most kitchen tools are other than knives are shared and kept at work.

I'm mostly filleting and processing fish. In the weekend we do more fine dining style small catering dishes (last photo) . The takamura and yanagiba is mostly used there.

Broke the tip of my honesuki :(

Haven't really fixed anything like this before.

It's a very tiny piece so not sure what's the best way to fix it.

I'm thinking of either just rounding the tip more or removing material from the top to keep the k tip. (like the last photo)

I have a king 220 I'm sure this stone can do the job?