# Knife Passaround !



## maxim

This is my first Passaround.
I am very excited about SLD (D2) Yoshikanes my self. So i will like to offer passaround Yoshikane SLD 270mm Kasumi Suji for some that never try SLD steel knives from Yoshikane.

*So here is the ruls:
*
Only members with Min. 100 posts 
You hold the knife max 1 week 
You are responsible for shipping to next person !
You are active member of this forum ! 
We will start in EU then will pas it to US members
Make short or long review of the knife after you are done with it 
Max. 15 persons can participate !
Do not modify the edge, geometry only refresh of the edge as is on the knife.

Last shipping address is to Stefan (mainaman) in US (he do not count as participator)


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## WildBoar

I'd love to try it out if you need a home cook.


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## obtuse

Count me in! I can ship to stefan for cheap because I probably live 5 miles away from him.


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## Crothcipt

I would love to try this steel, and any new maker (for me :wink.


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## Pensacola Tiger

Maksim,

I have SKD and V2 Yoshikane knives and would like to see how SLD compares, if you have room for another home cook.

Rick


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## mainaman

obtuse said:


> Count me in! I can ship to stefan for cheap because I probably live 5 miles away from him.


not that Stefan


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## DK chef

great initiative, im sure i´ll get the opportunity to try it out later on, i might go for the damascus  so i´ll pass this time, but i like the idea. im looking forward to read the reviews.

why not start a passaround for your private collection of stones for those who live nearby


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## DK chef

oh i wouldn´t qualify anyway, need 31 post more


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## Crothcipt

better get to posting. Go through all the new member section and post welcome even if you already have. Done.


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## DK chef

Crothcipt said:


> better get to posting. Go through all the new member section and post welcome even if you already have. Done.



great tip  i´ll do that


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## Iceman91

I would like to get in on this.

Mike


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## maxim

We need some people from EU too  

Iceman91 
WildBoar
obtuse 
Crothcipt 
Pensacola Tiger 

all are in


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## ptolemy

I would love to participate in the USA. Not planning to modify it any way.

You my address


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## tk59

I don't know if I make the cut but I'd like to try this knife out. I almost bought it, as it is.


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## Eamon Burke

I'd like to be in.

I'll not be able to give it a massive workout like I would at my old job, but still.


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## EdipisReks

i'd love to try it.


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## SpikeC

I would love to try this one out! I think I have enough posts, at least!


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## WillC

Would love a try on that please Maxim while its in the EU:biggrin:


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## obtuse

maxim said:


> We need some people from EU too
> 
> Iceman91
> WildBoar
> obtuse
> Crothcipt
> Pensacola Tiger
> 
> all are in


Sweet! This will be the first passaround ive ever participated it.


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## RobinW

I'm in if i can have the knife after May 15th. I'll even be a EU member by then!

Thanks


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## Candlejack

I'd like to participate too! 

Swede here.


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## maxim

So:

First it go to: Candlejack as he is first to write in EU 

Candlejack
WillC
RobinW (May 15th)
Iceman91 
WildBoar
obtuse 
Crothcipt 
Pensacola Tiger
ptolemy 
tk59 
BurkeCutlery 
EdipisReks 
SpikeC 
obtuse 

Ok space for one more !


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## schanop

Miss the boat, in aaaeeeuuuuu. dang.


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## Andrew H

I'm in! Got a yoshikane kasumi gyuto in SKD and I'd love to compare them.


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## Candlejack

maxim said:


> So:
> 
> First it go to: Candlejack as he is first to write in EU
> 
> Candlejack
> WillC
> RobinW (May 15th)
> Iceman91
> WildBoar
> obtuse
> Crothcipt
> Pensacola Tiger
> ptolemy
> tk59
> BurkeCutlery
> EdipisReks
> SpikeC
> obtuse
> 
> Ok space for one more !




Robin is a fellow Swede again (in may 15th) 
If that will affect the list, just thought it worth mentioning so it won't have to go back and forth


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## maxim

Ok We are done ! 

Candlejack
WillC
RobinW (May 15th)
Iceman91 
WildBoar
obtuse 
Crothcipt 
Pensacola Tiger
ptolemy 
tk59 
BurkeCutlery 
EdipisReks 
SpikeC 
obtuse 
Andrew H 


Sorry schanop you are to fare away from os


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## maxim

Ok Lets ship it like that in EU 

Candlejack
RobinW (May 15th)
WillC

In US you will just ship to closest member.

I hope to ship the knife on Friday or on Monday next week


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## Pabloz

Have fun y'all. Looking forward to some great reviews.


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## RobinW

Nice!

Maxim, you just saved me from living longer than necessary w/o a good knife!
Currently all my stuff is packed up in the container and i'm suffering the horrible life of living with a set of Tramontina serrated...


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## Crothcipt

:no::scared1::eeew:


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## obtuse

I think im on the list twice. Put me at the end so i can be the one to ship it to stefan.


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## SpikeC

Yay! I got in! I'll be looking forward to using it in a year or so!:eyebrow:


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## maxim

Hehe did not see that 

EU
Candlejack
RobinW (May 15th)
WillC

US 
Iceman91 
WildBoar
Crothcipt 
Pensacola Tiger
ptolemy 
tk59 
BurkeCutlery 
EdipisReks 
SpikeC 
Andrew H 
obtuse


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## Candlejack

Looks great!


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## maxim

Candlejack PM me your address


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## Candlejack

Knife arrived safe and sound with a hot hamon and a nice nimble handle. Haven't put it to the test yet but i'll review it once it's off to Robin!


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## WillC

Yay, very much looking forward to it...Thanks Maxim. I'll pm my address to RobinW in anticipation


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## maxim

Candlejack do you have any updates ??


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## Candlejack

maxim said:


> Candlejack do you have any updates ??



Yep, you'll have to wait until the package is away until i'll say a word!
Want to get the most of it!


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## Candlejack

Knife is off to Robin, working on a review!


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## maxim

Robin please post here when you get the knife ! 
Candlejack where is review


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## DK chef

maxim said:


> Robin please post here when you get the knife !
> Candlejack where is review



Yes i argee where is review?? And like Flashback we dont use spyderco sharpening sticks  I will soon post my own review of the knife without pass around


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## Candlejack

The ****, i posted one the day after i shipped it out.. will just have to rewrite it then

Well, we'll let Robin be the judge of the edge left by the spyderco.


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## DK chef

Candlejack said:


> The ****, i posted one the day after i shipped it out.. will just have to rewrite it then
> 
> Well, we'll let Robin be the judge of the edge left by the spyderco.



i don´t doubt the quality of the edge, i just know how long time it takes to sharpen with the V-sticks.


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## Candlejack

DK chef said:


> i don´t doubt the quality of the edge, i just know how long time it takes to sharpen with the V-sticks.



Actually, it doesn't take that long at all.. it's just a very annoying motion to do it. Especially with angles that aren't "supported"
But it's good to have it for portability and the price. I'm not in a situation where i can afford to buy a stone-setup right now


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## DK chef

Candlejack said:


> Actually, it doesn't take that long at all.. it's just a very annoying motion to do it. Especially with angles that aren't "supported"
> But it's good to have it for portability and the price. I'm not in a situation where i can afford to buy a stone-setup right now



i understand  anything that keeps the knife sharp is better than the dull knives a lot of chefs are using, you can come long way with 1-2 "cheap" stones. and makes the progess a lot faster, let me know if you want to try one out, i can send it to Svealand and you can try it out.


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## maxim

Yeahh maybe even 1k/6k king combo is better, if you are on really low budget.


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## RobinW

Knife has arrived safely and is in use.

As to the edge, sorry to disappoint Candlejack, but it is not as good as with stones, good but not excellent. A couple of friends were here yesterday and they were impressed (both with knife and edge), but i know there is definitively potential to get it sharper.
Will will have to do his thing as my stones are still on the ocean.

Sorry for the delay, internet connection is scarce at the moment.


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## Candlejack

Ah, i'll have to get some stones then (you're going to cost me Robin)

Here are some quite bad pics to start you off with. 

http://imgur.com/a/YqUmY

I am to lazy to paste them in, in the middle of the text to make it more exciting. So you'll have to live with it.


The nice came very securely packed, and i could probably have used the package to club an intruder down before having to resort to opening it and using the actual blade itself. I bet the package is as dangerous.


First reaction was the kasumi-finish, i am a fan of brushed steel, so this just felt right. The D-handle was comfortable and the knife was nimble. 
It's decided that the Marko i'll get (when i get the money for it) will be with a D-handle now.

It's a light and nimble (once again) knife, that is really good at slicing meat. That was my favorite part with this knife. 
It was good at chopping onions too, a joy to do it with this knife. (It's not precisely where my favorite (but now sold) onion-knife (kagayaki AS santoku. But it was too reactive for my taste.) is, but it's close enough to be counted as really good.

Fit & finish: 

The blade itself had a nice kasumi finish, there is one place on the Maki line where it's not perfect. (it's in the pics.) but that should be no problem. It's a handmade knife so it's not going to be perfect, it's part of the soul.
Perhaps Maxim chose this knife for the pass-around for just that reason too. The handle is a standard magnolia or ho-wood handle. (i really can't see the difference between magnolia and ho)
It's nothing that needs to be mentioned there, no problems at all. Nice D/drop-shape that i liked. 



Sharpening: It's not as nice to sharpen as carbon, in my opinion. But it's one of the better stainless-steels to sharpen in my opinion.
It came with a bit too thin edge, it couldn't handle the stones of the stonefruits i cut and chipped out. 
So i put a 40 degree, total, bevel on it. And it handles stones much better after that.



So all in all, it's a nice, light, nimble knife with a nice kasumi finish. (as i'm a sucker for the brushed look)
Would i pay close to 500 euro for it? Probably not, i don't have the economy for it and haven't sunken that far into the knife-swamp yet. And i'm a bit of a carbon-guy (I'm still on the "cheap fixes" haven't transferred to the heavier stuff yet, you junkies)

Put a custom handle on it, and you have a great stainless blade with a great looking handle on it. That should satisfy you.







I'll try to rewrite this a bit better, i'm not that good with writing long texts


// Daniel





(and i'll add here as a safety that the 40 degree angle was a joke, and that i never cut any stone-fruits or anything hard for that matter. I just touched the edge up before sending it on, it didn't need much work. It held the edge very good for me.

I've already played a mean joke on Maxim saying that the knife had cracked in the middle during shipping)


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## Crothcipt

Nice review, I can't wait.:whistling::spin chair:


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## maxim

Thank you very much for Review !! It is actually very nice to have sharpening prospective from a V-stick user, not all of us use stones  
BTW note. that knife do not cost 500 euro, Damascus cost that


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## Candlejack

maxim said:


> Thank you very much for Review !! It is actually very nice to have sharpening prospective from a V-stick user, not all of us use stones
> BTW note. that knife do not cost 500 euro, Damascus cost that



Oh, my mistake then. I went from memory on that, was so sure about it. 

Sorry!


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## RobinW

So it is my turn&#8230; tomorrow the knife ships out to Will.

*Stats:* As Daniel didn&#8217;t post any stats, here are the ones I could get (I do not have access to a caliper so take the thickness measurements with a large grain of salt (I used an old ruler);
Weight: 139 grams
Edge length: 270mm
Total length: 323mm
Blade height at heel: 38mm
Blade height mid: 30mm
Blade height 10 mm behind tip: 9mm
Tip height above board: 10mm
Balance point: 43mm in front of the heel
Thickness (spine) at heel: 2.5mm
Thickness mid edge: 2.0mm
Thickness 10mm behind tip: 1mm

*F&F*: Handle is good, obviously not like Mario/Pierre or other custom makers, but has a nice fit and good grip. Fully acceptable but not fancy. Horn ferrule. I would not feel a need to change it. Slimish in size.
Blade is nicely finished to what looks like a 400 grit handrub. One can (if looking carefully) see perpendicular scratch marks on the 5mm closest to the edge. Lamination line is nice and has a little &#8220;life&#8221; to it. Both sides are pretty symmetrical. Very thin cladding in the tip area. Spine is nicely rounded and the choil is ground into a smallish V-shape. The one obvious flaw I could see in terms of F&F is that it seems the top of the choil area was made a bit too small thus a small part is left unground with a black &#8220;kuro-uchi&#8221; style finish just where it enters the handle. This area is rather uneven but so small it really would not pose a problem (at least it wouldn't for me), it is hard to get a finger in there to feel it at all.
Grind (crossection) is very good. Thin behind the edge and nice bevels. The edge curve is suitably flat for my liking and has a nice subtle curve.
Kanji looks very nice and hand hammered.

*Steel*: The steel behaves pretty much like my Yoshikane SKD11 Hammered gyuto (not a big surprise maybe) in that it takes a shadow of a patina.
The edge seems to hold up well, although I must admit that I really have not had the possibility to put it to heavy use, thus I&#8217;m not really in a position to make any statements. I do know however, that my SKD Yoshikane is not particularly pleasurable to sharpen, there is something &#8220;deadish&#8221; in the feel on my stones (Shapton pro that admittedly are created for carbon steels). As I presently do not have access to my stones I have no way of comparing.

*Use:* In use the suji is wonderfully nimble and it just feels &#8220;natural&#8221; to use. It simply feels like an old comfy pair of jeans the instance you pick it up. I have another 270 suji so I may have a head start though. It cuts very well and as expected from a suji, sticktion is not an issue.

*Bottom line:* A very nice knife, nimble and comfy. F&F (with the exception of the choil flaw) is very good and the blade grind is really good. If the steel is as good as the rest this should prove a very nice buy! 

Thanks for passing it around Maxim.


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## maxim

Thanks Robin, very nice review


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## Crothcipt

very good review.:thumbsup:


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## tk59

:needpics

Seriously. San Mai, semi-stainless and no pics? You people should be banned...


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## maxim

Now it up to Will if he want to be banned or not :wink:


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## RobinW

tk59 said:


> :needpics
> 
> Seriously. San Mai, semi-stainless and no pics? You people should be banned...



Honestly i agree, but i did not think crappy blackberry pics would make anyone happy (all my stuff is still locked up in customs). Thus i'd rather let Will take some proper photos that did the knife justice.


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## Candlejack

tk59 said:


> :needpics
> 
> Seriously. San Mai, semi-stainless and no pics? You people should be banned...



I posted pics, but you'll have to click on the link yourself cause i am lazy.


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## WillC

This is with me now:doublethumbsup:,My back decided to go into spasm lat night and tody i'm serverely does on painkillers, `I'm dying to take it to the hones and get a feel for it. I feel a video coming i=on. First impressions through blurry eyes, it is sleek, nimble and the geometry kooks most promising.
Remind me...this is an equilivent of D2? stainless or carbon clad? With a nickel layer.


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## gentlecook

is this SS blade similar to the carbon knifes like Masamoto ks or another white\blue steels ?

and what you think about compare this SLD agains Heiji semi-stainless ?

thx


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## maxim

No its not similar, it is semi SS powder steel.
I cant comment on Heiji i dont have one, but also i thing very different.

I think Will will comment much better on steel, he uses blue him self


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## WillC

Well I don't want to get in trouble...:laugh: So here are some pics to kick off with.














































Convexity towards heel





Midway





Towards the tip





I hope you don't mind maxim but I started with a brass rod test. The edge is very thin with little pressure needed to ripple the edge.The edge returns nicely with no micro chipping. I carefully applied a little more pressure on one spot and it showed a tiny amount of distortion, (this straightened out on the hones). So I would estimate the steel is not more than 60hrc, its not going to have any problems with chipping or distortion under normal use. 

I have given it a full honing session, the steel gets screaming sharp! I reset the bevel to around 10 degrees per side, with no more than two or three strokes on my chosera 400, then took it to sigma 13k followed by chromium oxide.It was a joy to shapen with no frustrating bits to chase in at the tip or heel.
Its an aggressive edge presumably from a some what courser grain. Slightly more so than blue paper steel. Its not the hardest steel as I found with my edge flex test but this is likely an optimal level of HT for the steel, whilst Blue paper likes to be 62 plus, 01 gives great edge at 60/61. So maybe D2 works a bit softer, It certainly sharpens and feels like a nice carbon steel would, which can't be bad for a semi stainless steel. I will report back on edge holding. It will be interesting how this edge wears now and if it suffers any distortion or folding, necessitating another honing session. It reacts well to the strop. Would be nice to try a diamond spray on it, but I don't have any. I suspect a strop will keep this baby good for a long while, unless it got dinked or rolled over on a piece of bone.
Many thanks, looking forward to doing some big meal preps this week, maybe some sushi.

The grind is very nice, very even convexity right down to the tip, very thin at the edge, I will spend some time with it now and let you know what I think later in the week and most importantly how it cuts.


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## maxim

Very nice Will !! I am very happy that you got in on passaround and can give your pro opinion ! 
I am most interested in how steel preforms as i will not cary same knives in my store i will only sell SLD in Damascus and not Kasumi so this one is just for testing  So dont bother with FF


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## maxim

Hi Will any updates ??


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## WillC

As it goes, yes, 

Ok here is my little review. I&#8217;ve had the knife just over a week, for that I apologize but I wanted to give it a good workout and the week was too crazy to get much done except use it a couple of times.


I am cooking dinner today for 6, some old friends and their little ones, they are not meat eaters so a mixed wild mushroom pie is on the menu, with spicy roast potato and veg.

So I start my workout with a full honing session. I also hone a carbon Damascus knife along side in comparison. I took both through a progression to sigma 13k then a strop on just plain leather. The D2 I have already established as a tad soft with my rather cruel edge bend test. It sharpens like a dream and the edge in the end is not dissimilar to the harder Damascus, both were tree topping arm hair very nicely.
So it&#8217;s a joy to sharpen and gets mega sharp. This has me thinking there is some reasoning behind having this steel a tad on the soft side. 

So Onions and garlic to start. And I&#8217;ll talk about the grind. The quality and finish of the knife and evenness of the grind are very good. Polished spine, corners knocked off the choil. It has what looks like a 320 grit hand finish across the blade on closer inspection I can see it&#8217;s a machine finish, but a very good one none the less. The geometry is convex pretty much from spine to edge, towards the edge the fine scratch marks run toward the edge, almost as if the secondary bevel or &#8220;thinning&#8221; was done on a stone at the last step. It is very thin behind the edge&#8230;custom thin. 






The tip is so slender it works very well for dicing onion. A little wedge at the heel on the push cut.
On the slice a roll of the wrist makes the slices fall off the blade&#8230;.nice.






I have some baby leeks for my pie, can be a tough veg I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ll agree, slicing works perfectly and with great control, a little wedge on the push cut at the heel.






Potato, I&#8217;ve already established this is a slicing machine, being such a slender blade I&#8217;m not comfortable speed chopping against my fingers like with a Gyuto or tall Suji. So of course it slices them perfectly, but at the heel I have to say that extra bit of convexity causing a little wedge in some tougher stuff, is potato parting magic. I wanted fine slices to lay on the bottom of my pie with some egg, and barely one tiny slice lifted with the blade&#8230;again nice.






There was more, Carrot, I used the lovely slender tip to cut the carrots lengthways.
And of course it made easy work of my basket of mushrooms, so many in fact there wasn&#8217;t muchroom left on the board, a ha, ha hahh.














Oh and I abused it further with some frozen butter.






And after all that chopping. &#8230;Well, I can&#8217;t find my loupe, but can see a few micro rolls towards the mid tip which got the most use. It will no longer shave for the front third of the blade, but the heel still pops hairs. After a quick dozen on a loaded strop, it has straightened right out again and pops hairs right to the tip once more. 

In conclusion, a very fine knife, excellent finish, superb grind and clearly some thinking has gone into getting the best of the steel to make it feel and act almost exactly like a carbon steel, though soft, for my tastes now, I really enjoyed how sharp it got and how easy to sharpen. So I would say keep your fine angle on it, and use it on veg and boneless meat, give it a good strop after each use, job done.

I forgot to get a pic of the pie in all its glory, but this was all that was left






I&#8217;ll get this baby wrapped and off stateside on Monday folks. Where&#8217;s it going again?


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## maxim

Very cool Will ! :doublethumbsup: Thank you for update !


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## WillC

My pleasure, I've had fun with the knife, thanks for the chance.
I will repack this in a postal tube to go to the states as I've found them the toughest solution and easy to open/reseal as it goes around:wink:
Can you pm me the address for the next on the list please.


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## Crothcipt

Iceman91 is next.


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## Iceman91

Hey guys, received this from will 2 days ago. Will post my opinions in a few more days.

Mike


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## Iceman91

Who is this going to next? I think my time is up.

Mike


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## Crothcipt

maxim said:


> Hehe did not see that
> 
> EU
> Candlejack
> RobinW (May 15th)
> WillC
> 
> US
> Iceman91
> WildBoar
> Crothcipt
> Pensacola Tiger
> ptolemy
> tk59
> BurkeCutlery
> EdipisReks
> SpikeC
> Andrew H
> obtuse



Looks like WildBoar...


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## maxim

Any updates ??


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## maxim

Still no update ???


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## Iceman91

Sorry maxim! Sent the knife out on Monday to Wildboar, I will write up a review this afternoon!


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## WildBoar

I received the knife yesterday. Much heavier and thicker at the spine then I expected -- seems a bit heavier then my 300 mm Pierre suji. Balance is quite a ways down the blade.

We have a lot of prep to do tomorrow night and Sunday morning, so I'll give it a decent homecook workout. And if it's okay, I can give it to Travis for a couple days next week to give it a nice workout in a pro setting.


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## WildBoar

Passed it to tkerns earlier today for a little workout in a pro setting. Will mail it out Monday.

Will post my thoughts on Sunday, along with some pics alongside my Rodrigue 300 mm suji.


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## tkern

Knife returned to David last night.

Quick review: I used it to fillet salmon, portion skate, shave chives, dice potatoes. Its a strange knife, sort of in-between a sujihiki and a yanagiba. Its fairly thick with a balance point a couple inches up the blade. A very flat profile, nice grind and tall. To me it had quite a bit of knuckle clearance (though other, gorilla handed, people might disagree). I didnt sharpen it so I can't speak for how the steel is.


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## Justin0505

Man, nice job on the review and pics Will! 
This is a great thread I've been curious about Yoshikane for awhile.


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## WildBoar

Knife is on the way to Crothcipt; should be delivered Thursday.

Out of the box it looked decent enough. The handle was a nice size, and the fit and finish was above-average, but not perfect. I think RobinW and WillC summed things up pretty well in this department.

In a side-by-side with the 300 mm Pierre Rodrigue suji (in O1), the spine thickness at the heel was a bit thicker and the distal taper a bit more gradual then the Rodrigue, which led to the balance point seeming a bit too far forward for my tastes. But it did grow on me, and after using it a few times I found it to be pretty nimble, probably due to the short blade height.

The first few days we had the knife, both my wife and I used it for prep for a couple cookouts. Its main duty was slicing and dicing onions, tomatoes and other relatively soft items. She quickly returned to her Miyabi, as she did not like the balance point and had issues with onion slices sticking. I found myself having to slice almost everything instead of push-cutting, so I ditched it and used my DT ITK and Fowler gyutos in order to get everything cut up quicker. Unfortunately the fare we served was mostly sausages, white hots and burgers, so there wasnt much opportunity to carve roasts, etc.

I passed the knife to tkern on Thursday so he could give it a pro workout, and picked it up again on Sunday. Traviss comments are posted above.

I played with the suji a little more after getting it back on Sunday night. I began to appreciate the nimbleness a bit more, but the knife struggled while slicing tomatoes. In fact, only the section of blade near the heel could cut through the tomato skin without crushing. So I stropped it a bit on some CrO-loaded felt, and the edge improved substantially. It push-cut and sliced paper with ease and was shaving hair, and thinly *sliced* tomatoes and onions. But I could see a few short (<1 mm) sections where the edge was still slightly rolled; I suspect the edge would have benefitted from stropping on something a little firmer, like leather. I would have done this, but the leather on my stropping setup has pulled away from the metal plate and is curled up at the edges, and I figured it would do more harm then good. So Crothcipt, if you are reading this please note you may want to strop some more before using the knife. 

I was surprised at just how dull the edge was before stropping. I suspect the edge may roll over a bit more easily then one would hope due to either the thinness directly behind the edge (similarly to the first pass-around knife Del sent to me) or the relatively low hardness (as WillC determined). Its nice that it comes back so easily on a strop, but I wonder if the edge is too delicate with the current geometry.

As I used the knife following stropping, I appreciated its slicing ability. Since slicing motions result in the cuts finishing at the tip -- where the blade is at its thinnest and shortest -- there was no sticking and little resistance. But push-cuttting was not a strong point. It took a bit more effort due to some wedging resistance, and the edge was a little too flat.

I wish I could have done a bit of head-to-head slicing against the Rodrigue with some roasts, etc., but we did not have the chance with the types of food we prepared over the past week or so. The Rodrigue is substantially taller, is thinner along the spine, has less convexity and has a bit more flex. I suspect the Rodrigue would have won out, although that has a lot to do with personal preference.

As a home user, I just dont see using this suji as a do-all knife. It is nice that the edge comes back so well with stropping, but I think it requires stropping more frequently then my other go-to knives. For veggie prep I prefer my gyutos, and for roasts I would have a hard time picking this over the Rodrigue.

Pros working the line have a different set of criteria, so it may work great for slicing smaller proteins and doing other line tasks. And the stainless is a must for those who work in areas where carbon steel knives are not allowed. But I dont think it would work well for doing all the prep earlier in the day.

Maxim, thanks for allowing me to play with this knife. I wish I could say it fit in with my likes a bit better then it did. If they thinned the spine a little I would likely be singing its praises.

I will post some pics of this knife paired with the Rodrigue in the next day or two.


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## Crothcipt

It arrived safely today. I just opened it, and looks good. Can't wait to do some work with this.:excited::jumping2:


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## WildBoar

Give it a quick strop or a few passes on a high grit stone. Sorry I did not get it a little better before I sent it on.


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## WildBoar

Pass-Around vs Pierre Rodrigue 300 mm (O1)


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## Crothcipt

Ok first of all WOW! 

I was very unprepared for what I was thinking and what this is.
It is very light for its length. The video and pics don't do this blade justice. The scratch marks on the top part of the blade make the hamon line to pop. 

The steel is very superb.. With as fatigued the cutting edge was when I got it I was very surprised that there was no chips. That being said, I have never been so afraid to scuff a blade in my life. I did do a few passes on my 5k (highest I have) but it needs to be dropped down and given a better sharpening.

The feel in hand seems like a extension to the hand/arm. When picking it up you think the handle is heavey, but the center of mass is right were the makers mark starts from the handle, which makes no sense when holding it. It gives a very sleek, agile impression in the mind of how it will react cutting. 

I let a few people try it out on some onions, and they wanted to do a rocking motion. With the blade being 80-90% flat this isn't ideal for that hand motion. It is 100% a slicer which you can see in the vid I will post.

It was used on onions, tomato's, potato's, 3cold briskits, green onions, and a few more vegies that I can't remember right off the top of my head.

I want to say :madebooboo: on one side of the tip when going over the stone.



I took a little to much off on one side.

some more pics 




And some cutting, sorry about the lighting going funky. First time using that camera at that angel. I didn't think it would turn out as well as it did.

[video=youtube;-Gcc1Cdkxm4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gcc1Cdkxm4&feature=youtu.be[/video]
At the end I was attempting to show how flat it really is, but I was to close for this to be really effective.

Sorry for the time I took with this. It was a very busy week for me. It being the busiest week of the year for the restaurant I work at, and getting a second job has been a little new to me. If next person on the list will pm me their address I will have this off tomorrow.

Again Maxim thx for allowing me to try this out, it has been a pleasure. I would recommend this knife and steel to others.


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## maxim

Cool !! Thanks guys that is exactly what i looking for many different opinions


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## Pensacola Tiger

Received the knife today from Crothcipt.

Safe and sound.

Rick


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## Pensacola Tiger

I used the Yoshikane for a week, comparing it to a Devein Thomas "mystery carbon" sujihiki. The two knives were pretty much the same in length, profile and grind. 






I found that they were very hard to tell apart. Devin's knife was ground just a hair thinner, but that didn't translate into any perceivable difference in how the two knives cut once I had refreshed the edge on the Yoshikane.

On the stones, I found it easy to rise a burr on the SLD steel in the Yoshikane. It is very close to the SKD in the Yoshikane gyuto I have. 

A week in a home kitchen isn't long enough to judge edge retention. I'll just note that I didn't feel any need to strop it at any time. 

Bottom line, if I didn't already have the Devin Thomas, I'd probably pick this Yoshikane up. 

Thanks, Maksim, for sending this one around. It's on its way to the next participant, ptolemy.

Rick


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## maxim

Thanks Rick, got your PM


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## ptolemy

I am here, waiting for it. Been super busy lately, so not many posts


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## ptolemy

Knife arrived safely... What a beauty


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## ptolemy

Will ship out the stone tomorrow to the next in line

Few of my comments... I am a big newb with high end knives so I was kinda scared to use it. I only used it on veggies and it performed glorious. When slicing onions, there was no actual effort from bringing blade down to cutting.

I was able to use the edge to cut length wise and then gently slide down from top for dice.

I think it's too big for me, I would have much rather have 210mm even 180mm because then I could control the blade better. My board is only 12", so that may have something to do with it.

Thanks Maksim for making this happen!


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## tk59

The knife arrived today.


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## tk59

The knife is in the mail to Eamon. I don't have a whole lot to add so I'll make this brief. I also got limited use out of it just because my work is kicking my a$$. Anyway, it's pretty and quite stainless. The geometry is on the thick side which is fine for most tasks. In fact, it was a pleasure to use for the most part. The only time cutting with it didn't make me very happy was on the hard stuff where wedging was significant but not awful. As a pure slicer, I thought it could stand to have a little more curve and I thought the profile was on the narrow side. While a little more height would increase drag, it would give the knife a lot more life and that might be important to a pro. For myself, I would probably buy this knife if I were looking for a nice 270 suji in this price range. I did not sharpen it out of respect for the great condition it is in and the little use I got out of it but the steel is quite tough and pretty wear resistant based on the effort required to touch up the edge. Thank you for providing this knife for a passaround, Maxim. :thumbsup:


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## maxim

Thanks tk  
I am quite surprised that some of you think that knife is on thick side. I will probably not accept thinner knife then that.


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## tk59

I didn't think it was all that thick really. It was mostly the tip that had a bit more resistance than my other sujis. Because it's narrow, it necessarily thickens up pretty quick as you go to the spine. Like everything, it's a trade-off. You can get taller sujis with the same spine thickness that don't wedge as much or you can thin it down but then you get flexibility.


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## maxim

Any updates ??


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## mainaman

Any update on the knife ?


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## Eamon Burke

who is it going to now? someone pm me an address.


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## mainaman

BurkeCutlery said:


> who is it going to now? someone pm me an address.


Ediprecks


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## EdipisReks

the knife arrived today, and here it is next to my Konosuke suji, which i'll be comparing it to. it looks really nice! btw, who does this go to next?


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## SpikeC

Oh my dog! I do believe that I am next!


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## EdipisReks

SpikeC said:


> Oh my dog! I do believe that I am next!



cool. send me your address and i'll get it out in a week.


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## EdipisReks

after using it pretty extensively, tonight, i'd say that it's really nice, except it doesn't hold an edge very long.


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## EdipisReks

after using this knife quite a bit, i think it's quite nice. great F&F, very good geometry and profile, feels very nimble in the hand, and takes a nice toothy edge. it does lose that edge pretty quickly, though, with board contact, which i wasn't expecting, given my general experience with D2. however, the edge comes back easier than my general experience with D2, so it's probably a good trade off. i really like the handle on this knife, there is something about it that makes it very comfortable.


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## SpikeC

I received the knife today, and so far I like it!


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## SpikeC

Andrew has decided to pass on this, so is Mainaman next?


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## SpikeC

I liked the way this knife felt in hand right off, slender and maneuverable. Over time, though, the smallness of the handle proved to be less than suitable for my hand size. I like a blade that has a good flat area in the back half of the blade, and another flatish area toward the tip. This blade profile has more curve in the front which led to some accordianing of green onions when push cutting with the front of the blade, it was necessary to use the back half to get clean cuts. 
When received the edge was nicely sharp and cut well, but the edge retention was not impressive in use on a Boardsmith cutting board. I prepared some soups and carnitas, nothing excessive for a family of 2 in one week, not only did the edge loose it's aggressive feel, but the front third of the blade developed several chips. After sharpening out the chips the back half of the blade felt less sharp, as I only sharpened where the damage was. 
This is a very attractive knife, but it did not work very well for my cutting style, and I suspect that I would grind it into oblivion if I kept using it long term. 
Thanks Maxim for the opportunity to experience this knife!


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## maxim

Thanks Spike !! Yes pass it along to Mainaman then we are finished with this one


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## gentlecook

SpikeC , do you see any patina spots on the edge ?


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## SpikeC

No patina noted!


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