r/TrueChefKnives

I was given a gigantic Savoy cabbage and a conic cabbage from a friend's garden, so I made 5kg of kimchi!

Plenty to chop: chives, green onion, daikon, onion, garlic, ginger and a little bit of the cabbage as well. I could hear my Takada sigh as I reached for the Kagekiyo once again.

Instead of making my porridge/slurry with just water, I usually make a dashi and use that instead for more depth of flavour. I also didn't have saejot / 새우젓 (salted fermented shrimp) so I instead used dried shrimps with heaps of fish sauce.

My flat is about to smell of kimchi for the next few days as it ferments 😅

What have y'all been making?

Hatsukokoro Ginrei Silver #3 Gyuto, 210mm 63hrc.

Came today and I kid you not I’ve never frlt this way even with a new phone, I geniunely treat it like it’s made out of glass. I do not know how I’m gonna bring myself to cut anything and dull this knife haha.

I must say that I've been Shibata curious for some time now but haven't gotten around to pull the trigger. I'm halfway in with my CCK x Shibata collab but I wanted one that is Shibata start to finish. Off a random post here by the folks at CKTG I went and perused the New Arrivals selections and found what I couldn't believe I was seeing but a Sabatier Inspired design by one other than Takayuki Shibata himself.

Without a second thought I knew it was something I simply had to have. Some of you may be aware of my vintage Sabatier collection and my love for it. To see a Japanese blade that had legendary cutting quality paired with a profile that I adore I knew it was time to no longer be curious and be wholeheartedly bought in. Here is my first one:

Shibata Kashima 210 mm Gyuto in R-2 (SG2)

My favorite profile in my favorite length in a stainless steel which I'm boosting up the collection on, man the timing was just right here.

Rule 5 right to left.

Robin Dalman: extra tall stainless 240mm Gyuto
Toyama: stainless clad blue 2 240mm Gyuto
Moritsuga (Toyama) : KU carbon clad blue 2 165mm Nakiri

Choil shots are in the same order as the list.

This beauty... Very hard start and to make a fair description.

The blade is distinguished by its remarkable Hakumon hamon, revealing a soft, luminous and almost cloud-like pattern across the polished steel.

The hamon changes character with the light and viewing angle, giving the blade an extraordinary depth and sense of movement. What for me makes the blade particularly captivating is the balance between restraint and intensity.

No more New Kyuzo Togashi Honyaki any longer, which makes the piece really special and my favourite so far.

Details:

Edge length: 230 mm

Blade height: 52 mm

Thickness: 1.8mm

Handle length: 145 mm

Total length: ~392 mm

Weight: 192 g 

It is an individually forged piece of Japanese bladesmithing, where metallurgy, heat treatment, geometry and finishing converge into something that exists only once in precisely this form.

A knife to use.

A knife to study.

And, ultimately, a knife to preserve.

Enjoy!

Spent some time looking into Bunkas and became a little bit obsessed with the Hado B1D... however after a while it became apparent that stock in Europe was vanishingly thin and when there was availability pricing was aggressive to say the least.

Hado still held a lot of appeal and when I saw some of the Kirisame line was available I was sold. Took delivery of this Kirasame Bunka in white #1 and it's a banger. It feels suitably weighty in hand but gets super thin behind the edge and of course... it's a Hado so the fit and finish is top notch, all polished spine, choil and refined finishing.

Loving this pickup and I think for me this represents an end game piece for my small collection (until I'm next over in Japan, of course).

Fan of Togashi-san's work, and from what I understand, he has said that he is currently in the best shape of his life to forge Honyaki knives. No one knows how long he will continue making them at this level—or how many more opportunities there will be to own one of these extraordinary pieces.

This is the latest knife I have been incredibly lucky to acquire, and honestly, I’m almost speechless when looking at it. There is something difficult to put into words about the beauty, presence, and aura surrounding this Grail Masterpiece.

A huge thank you to a great retailer who was willing to let this one go and made it possible for me to add such a rare piece to my collection.

As I understand it, only three of these were ever made: one is currently in the US, one remains at Togashi-san’s shop, and this is the third.

What makes it even more special is the process behind it. This Honyaki was forged through dozens of attempts, with only a very small number ultimately succeeding. Honyaki is already an extremely demanding process, but achieving this particular result requires an extraordinary combination of skill, experience, patience, and, ultimately, a little bit of luck.

The failure rate is incredibly high, while the process itself is both time-consuming and expensive. Every successful blade represents countless hours of work and many attempts that never make it to the final stage.

That is also why I can’t help but wonder whether this could be one of the last ones. If the process becomes too demanding to justify the amount of time, material, and failed attempts involved, perhaps we are witnessing the end of a very special chapter in Togashi-san’s work.

For me, this is much more than simply another knife. It is a piece of craftsmanship, history, and obsession—a blade that represents an incredibly rare combination of traditional Japanese forging and the maker’s own pursuit of perfection.

A true Grail piece.
Extremely rare, incredibly difficult to make, and something I feel very fortunate to have in my hands.

For extra questions better DM.

Enjoy!

Hello again everyone

This post features my shinkiro, which I have been tinkering with for a little over a month.

I was a bit hesitant to try Aogami Super due to its hardness and toughness, fearing I would be spending way more time on the stones, but it turned out to no be so bad. The steel definitely feels tougher and you can feel that the scratches have to be compelled out, but nothing too bad.

It was not very thin behind the edge near the heel when I first got it, but the edge is now nail-flexing all the way long the edge, which is a must, for my knives at least.

I redid the finish, as I had first gone for a very contrast-y mirror finish, but I decided that a more hazy core steel was the road I wanted to take with this blade.

Stone progression for the nerds is:

• Suehiro debado 180
• Shapton glass 220
• Shapton glass 500
• Morihei 1000
• Naniwa aotoshi
• Morihei 4000
• Hideriyama suita
• Ohira(?) shiro suita
• Uchigomori fingerstones

thanks for reading and have a good one!

I received this truly exceptionally beautiful blade from another Redditor a few days ago—thanks, u/HansGoose22. I then set about crafting a suitable handle for it, and here is the result. I hope you like it as much as I do. It turned out to be a *Rokkaku-Hanmaru* style handle, made of Azobé wood paired with a brass ferrule. I gave it its first test run today. It is a somewhat heavier, robust-feeling blade that has the potential to become one of my favorite everyday knives. And yes, there is a chip in the edge, which I’ll remove the next time I sharpen it.

It gets better every time I use the knife

Thanks, chatgpt, for the ultra deep global search for this knife. I've been hunting for months and finally snagged one. Got it from Houcyou Taiwan.

Naoki Mazaki

Gyuto

Shirogami #2

Edge length: 245mm

Blade height: 53mm

Weight: 212g

Spine: 4.5mm / 2mm / 1mm

62-63 HRC

Sanmai Soft Iron Clad

Migaki Kasumi

Octagonal Cherry Wood Handle

Hi lovers of beautiful things, I have a question for anyone who can help me.

Here's my bunka after a few cuts of hot protein. The aogami #2 steel is super reactive from the first cut, creating a beautiful blue patina. The cladding, being stainless steel, has developed a dark haze on both sides. Is it normal for stainless steel to create this haze after cutting beef?

In the first photo you can see the knife upon arrival

I'm just asking to see if I'm doing something wrong since it's my first carbon knife, but I've always treated it with great care after use, washing and drying it immediately.

I don't use it often, I put it back in its case after each use, but so far I've never applied any type of oil to prevent oxidation (like camellia oil). Does it make sense to buy it?

I was hoping the experts here could help me as I am ready to upgrade my Victorinox finally after 10 years of heavy use!

I am located in the US and my budget is under $300 (closer to $200 preferred). I think I want stainless due to ease of care and have been looking for some of the less hyped knives as the hyped ones seem to be perpetually out of stock (I love the different Ashi knives available). My preference is for a wa handle as well.

So far, I think I have it narrowed down to these 3 choices, but wanted to know if anyone has any other thoughts on these.

https://uptowncutlery.com/products/tsunehisa-swedish-washiji-210mm-gyuto

https://bernalcutlery.com/collections/sakai-kikumori/products/copy-of-sakai-kikumori-210mm-gyuto-skk-vanadium-stainless?_pos=86&_fid=4b66efb2c&_ss=c

https://carbonknifeco.com/products/tsunehisa-ginsan-migaki-oak-gyuto-210mm

Always fun messing with this thing. I’ve been seeing a lot of Maksim’s post on jns and wanted to do a similar finish to his. Finger stones and paste as the final touches this time.

Hi everyone, here is one of my latest acquisitions—one I’m particularly excited about. Some people apparently call him the "Yoda of Grinders." In any case, it is a fantastic piece of work by Shotaro Nomura, and I am delighted to be able to call another knife by such a "legend" from Sakai my own.

Exec chef(me) and my CDC's knife sharpening day

A customer recently asked us to polish the kireha on this Yanagiba from Nakagawa Kajiya, with the knife finished by Shimizu Masaya made from Ginsan #3.

We took our time with the polish, working all the way up to 5,000-grit sandpaper before finishing it with Autosol. The goal was to bring out a clean, deep mirror finish while keeping the kireha looking sharp and defined.

We were really happy with how it turned out, but even better, the customer loved the result. That’s always the most satisfying part of the process.