Knives I Recommend Part 2 Yoshihide

Continued from Knives I Recommend Part 1 Shigefusa.

Sanjo Yoshihide is my private brand made by Yoshida san at Yoshikane Hamono.
I chose Yoshikane because his knives are free forged, have similar geometry (distal taper spine) like Shigefusa and he can make semi SS and (semi)SS knives because he has a gas forge which is capable to go higher temperature.

He can make the free forged knives at more affordable price because he uses laminated bars.
(Do not misunderstand it to laminated sheets which are not free forged and just stamped out - these are used to make less quality double bevel knives and do not have the distal taper spine)

Yoshida san has 2 different laminated bars now.
SKD is semi SS and is JIS  SKD12 or ANSI A2. It has a soft SS clad.
SLD is (semi) SS (some say SS to it some say semi SS) and is JIS SKD11 or ANSI D2. It has a Sekisou (Damaskus) SS clad.

He made knives with VG10 before but he thinks A2 and D2 are better (Easier to sharpen and better edge retention).

So my recommendations:

1. Semi SS SKD knives double bevel
1.1 SKD Gyuto Migaki (Kasumi) wa handle  180mm to 270mm
Very good knife as workhorse in pro kitchen and also home kitchen because it is semi SS and does not have to be cared like a carbon knife.
Sharpening is relative easy (but not as easy like a  carbon steel knife) for a semi SS knife and gives relative very good edge. Edge retention is very good.
It has a very good  price (It is lower than the Suji in same steel and same lengths)
The spine is distal tapered and has similar geometry to a Shigefusa.

1.2 SKD Petite Migaki (Kasumi) wa handle  75mm to 180mm
Same as the Gyuto. It is also very good if you want to try the SKD steel.
You can have it in petite form as also as a paring knife as you can see in the picture (the lines).

1.3 SKD Suji Migaki (Kasumi) wa handle 210mm to 270mm
Also a workhorse. It is a bit higher in price for same length as gyuto but it is worth every Yen.

All these knives above can be made with a western handle.
There are 2 types of handles

This is the "stock handle" and it made by black reinforced wood. It can be used to petite too.

This is a Bubinga handle. It is bigger and I recommend it for bigger knives.
I am working now to reinforce and buff it to make the look better.

These western knives are made by welding the bolster to the blade. The price is only about 10% to 30% higher than the wa handles (Shigefusa full bolster western handle are up to double the price of wa handles because it is made by free forging)

2. SLD (semi) SS knives with Sekisou (Damaskus)

There are 2 finish for this steel. The SLD Migaki Sekisou (Damaskus) and the SLD KU Sekisou (Damaskus).
I recommend the SLD KU Sekisou (Damaskus) for all the double bevel knives. It is  not only for the better look (the contrast is higher) but because Yoshida san hammers the blade more to make it flat as possible resulting to more thinner spine and  blade.
The blade must be more flat after free forging because you cannot grind to much steel off after heat treatment to make this finish.

3. Other special order knives by your sketch.
As I wrote here The Story of the Chopper you can custom order any knife to Yoshida san. But the order must be more than 3. If you have an idea to make your knife get 2 friends who want it too.

Knives I Recommend Part 1 Shigefusa

In general I recommend all knives made by Iizuka san and Yoshida san.
But I think it is better to make a list of highly recommended knives and why.

This list is just my opinion but hope it will be something informative.
(The length indicated are blade edge length for double bevel and handle to tip for single bevel knives)

1.Shigefusa (hagane steel is "spicy" Swedish carbon steel):

1.1 Double bevel

1.1.1 Suji Kasumi wa handle 210mm - 300mm
Shigefusa Suji is a knife which you do  not see in shops. Suji is for cutting protein so you will not have any trouble with carbon steel if you maintain the knife right. Though Kitaeji suji can be made a bit thinner the hagane is the same for kasumi and if you order a bit thinner than stock knives you will have a winner.

1.1.2 Petite Kitaeji/Kasumi wa handle 150mm, 180mm
This would be a utility knife for professional kitchen and for many home cooks the 180mm can be a main knife. The price for 180mm Petite is lower than the price for a 180mm Gyuto so it is a very good knife to try Shigefusa. Also the kitaeji is at affordable price.

1.1.3 Santoku Kurouchi/(Kitaeji) wa handle 165mm, 180mm
This is the most low price Shigefusa knife per mm. Kurouchi will protect the jigane from rust.
If you want to try a kitaeji it is also at affordable price similar to the Petite.

1.1.4 Gyuto Kasumi wa handle 210mm to 300mm
I get most inquiry on this knife. It is what everybody want to have.

1.1.5 Gyuto or Suji Kitaeji western handle with bolster 210mm to 300mm
The bolster of these knives are made with the same bar through free forging.
It is  not welded so you can see the kitaeji at the bolster too. Only few blacksmith can do this. It is a beauty. It is very hard to make so Iizuka san made a price correction.

1.2. Single bevel Knife

Here it is very difficult to recommend Kitaeji or Kasumi. I never read a report that Shigefusa Kasukmi single bevel bend over time. But in Q&A with Iizuka san he states that Kitaeji is better.
So I would say if you  are using your knife very often that it is worn in 3 years I will recommend Kasumi (many pro in Japan buy Kasumi) and for those who does not wear it so fast I recommend Kitaeji.

1.2.1 Yanagiba Kitaeji/Kasumi 240mm to 360mm
This is what Shigefusa knives makes it special. Many Japanese Chefs praise them.

1.2.2 Usuba Kitaeji/Kasumi 180mm to 240mm
This is also a knife many Japanese praise but I dop not know if there is a big market overseas.

1.2.3 Mioroshi Kitaeji 180mm to 255mm
Mioroshi Deba is a Deba but thinner. Iizuka san does not like to make thick knives so he corrected the price for Deba.
If you are not cutting big hard fish bones this will be a perfect knife.

1.2.4 Kiritsuke Usuba type Kitaeji/Kasumi
It looks so nice...

To be continued for knives from Yoshida san

Q&A with Iizuka san

Continued from Shigefusa's Workshop.

After the workshop tour I made some Q&A with Iizuka san.

My first question was about double bevel geometry.
I asked Iizuka san about razor gyuto and what he thinks about it.

The answer was:
"Razor gyuto and flexible slicer are made with steel only and do not have clad. All knives I make have clad. The clad is not elastic and if I make my knives thin like razor gyuto or flexible slicer they will bend."
He continued:
"I make knives with clad because it is far better to sharpen by hand and the hagane can be heat treated harder for sharper edge and better durability."
"Many chefs like the stiff feeling of the knife and the spine is tapered so you can do small work with the tip part too. I think the distal taper spine is more versatile."

I asked about what he thinks of honyaki.
"The biggest concern for clad knife was the bending after years because of different stress of jigane and hagane for single bevel knife. Honyaki solves this but it has also many inferior characteristics. One is difficult to sharpen. Other is the failure rate at heat treatment if you want the steel hard. I solved the problem making kitaeji clad. Kitaeji is a mixture of layers of carbon steel and very soft steel. Because it contain carbon steel the stress is lower and does  not bend after years. It is also very easy to sharpen because it has very soft steel."

After that answer I said that your kasumi single  bevel knives has reputation too not to bend after years.

Iizuka san smiled and said that he take care of heat treatment for kasumi knife too that they do not bend after years but he said kitaeji are better.

I asked how many times he bend the carbon steel and very soft steel laminate to make the layers.

The answer was five or six times. If bend less it will be uneven and if you bend to much you do not have the patterns. So the kitaeji has 32 to 64 layers.

The steel of Shigefusa knives are hard that you can scratch soda lime glass (I think it is 63 to 64 HRC) .
I asked whether such hardness is needed for thick knife like Deba and what he thinks of chipping.

The answer was:
" Many professionals who cut fish like the sharpness and durability of my Deba. It may chip against hard fish bones but you can still cut after that. If the Deba get dull you cannot cut a fish anymore. These professionals want to finish a shift with only 1 knife."

I asked Iizuka san why he does not make razors? (He has learned from Iwasaki Konosuke)
The  answer was:
"Iwasaki san is better in making razors so i do not make it. To make razors is very difficult. You will hurt if you do not make it correct an customers will say "ouch".
I make kitchen knives for fish and fish does not say "ouch"". And he smiled.

He showed me some staff which are in this room an I made some pictures.

360mm Yanagi

Most long  Yanagi are 300mm or 330mm. 360mm are not so common.

360mm Yanagi and a Petite with western handle

Note that the western handle bolster is free forged from the same steel bar
as the blade. Very few blacksmith do this type of bolster.

Shirakata san's 1000year nail

I found this nail and  asked if it is  the famous 1000 year nail by Shirakata san which story is in Japanese school book.
Yes it was an Iizuka san is friends with him.
You can read it here with English translation (PDF):
1000 year nail

I got great hospitality at Shigefusa workshop and thanked Iizuka san and his family because it was time to leave.

The last picture is how Iizuka san and family send off in front of his house.

SKD12 Patina

I got question about how the semi SS SKD12 perform.
Below is the chemical composition of SKD12 used in Yoshihide SKD migaki knives.

	C	Si	Mn	P	S	Cr	Mo	V
SKD12	0.95 ～1.05	0.10 ～0.40	0.40 ～0.80	<0.030	<0.030	4.80 ～5.50	0.90 ～1.20	0.15 ～0.35

It has a Cr content of about 5% and such steel are called semi SS.

Some wanted to know how it react when you cut various things.


Here are some pictures with help from Maksim san at JNS who made pictures for me after using his knife at pro kitchen.

Maksim got very nice natural black patina to the SKD12 Hagane. The clad (Jigane) is SS so it does not change color.

Close up of the edge:

 
For comparing when it is new:

I am a  bit shy to post it but here my blade used (abused) in my home kitchen.
(It is  my wife's favorite knife who used only SS knives before) 

I hope I could show how SKD12 reacts.

Kitchen Knives in Progress （Shigefusa Hizukuri）

Here are pictures of Iizuka san's Hizukuri (hot forging) of Gyuto for my customers.

Steel bars for Gyuto.

The steel bar have been put in the charcoal furnace and it is waiting time.

Iizuka san takes care that the steel is heated uniform

 Now it is time to hammer the steel

Hammer the steel to Gyuto form