# #2 Blue Steel Kamagata Usuba- Worth it?



## Bert2368 (Apr 5, 2019)

Listed on ebay- 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-B...135413?hash=item1cce4b72f5:g:J3wAAOSwn7JYCrei

(Quote)

Japanese Blue Steel Usuba(vegetable) Knife 150mm made in Sakai

This usuba(vegetable) knife was made by Tanaka who is a famous maker in Sakai city Osaka Prefecture
He used blue steel #2 for this knife. It was forged and hardened by hand.

Blade length:150mm
Finisholising finish
Magnolia handle

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Blade is apparenrly unmarked, how common is it for a Japanese maker NOT to mark their work?

$9.95. Plus $25 shipping? What.

Is this a reasonable choice/price for a "learner" single bevel kitchen knife? I own and have sharpened kirodashi for woodworking, so I have SOME idea about maintaining a single bevel.


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## JustinP (Apr 5, 2019)

Well, $9.95 is the starting bid, not buy it now. Wonder what the reserve is.


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## Bert2368 (Apr 5, 2019)

No reserve.

Also, no one (except me) bid on an identical knife which closed two days ago. A lot of this sellers items are 0 or 1 bids at closing.

I just got the shipped notice from ebay on identical knife I put minimum bid ($10!) on a couple of days ago, wasn't expecting to buy a forged J knife + shipped from Japan for US $35. Wondering what I have got myself into, asking here as I'm an ignorant gaijin.

Information posted in answer to new member CulinaryCellist "how to sharpen" post got me interested in trying out this style, which I have not owned before. I had read about this type of blade on Zknife's site and elsewhere previously.


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## parbaked (Apr 5, 2019)

JustinP said:


> Well, $9.95 is the starting bid, not buy it now. Wonder what the reserve is.



It is a "no reserve" auction...


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## dwalker (Apr 5, 2019)

I bought one of these years ago just to see. Mine had kanji and the steel was good, the grind, not so much. Probably worth the $35 as a user, but don't plan on polishing it up and making it pretty without a ton of effort.


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## JustinP (Apr 5, 2019)

parbaked said:


> It is a "no reserve" auction...



My bad, didn't catch that.

He's got some interesting stuff listed.


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## CulinaryCellist (Apr 5, 2019)

Did I get you interested in a KamaUsuba Bert?


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## Bert2368 (Apr 17, 2019)

At first impression, no. Not worth it.

Knife arrived "sort of sharp", definitely not good enough.

Reviewed the various instructions on sharpening single bevel knives. Got stones ready, looked knife over carefully and discovered a rippled cutting edge and a general lack of flatness heel to tip. 4 hours of frustrating work and much steel removed later, knife IS sharp enough to use. If I had bought this locally, I would have put it right back in the box and returned it for refund/exchange for a properly made tool.

What do Japanese manufacturers do with their "seconds"? Or quality control rejects and items returned by retailers as rejected by consumers? Do they perhaps sell them off to local people who may be ebay re sellers?


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## CulinaryCellist (Apr 18, 2019)

Ouch, sorry you didn't get what you were looking for Bert :/


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## Bert2368 (Apr 23, 2019)

I am slowly, painfully whipping this knife into line. Litterally, as it had a nice bacon ripple zigzag to the edge about 1/3 of the way from heel to tip. I have worn out several sheets of sandpaper and used up a bit of the new diamond waterstone's life span.

I finally sharpened it to test the newest super cheap natural "Chongquing mountain" waterstone.

It is an absolute razor. 

Good steel, horrible grind, no kanji and the maker died a couple of years back. I would guess some things he didn't have time to throw away or rework are being sold by whoever cleaned out his shop.


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