# Takamura R2 Migaki mini-review



## Jovidah (Oct 28, 2021)

I've been planning to write at least some thoughts about some of the knives I got over the last year, but I keep procrastinating it. Since I'm essentially chairbound right now with my current bout of what's probably chinese-bat-flu-2021... here goes. Sorry if it's rambling style; it's all my brain can do at this moment. Who knows maybe someone ever finds these ramblings useful when going on a google-hunt. 

Got this for peanuts at modern-cooking when they were on sale. 125-130 euros including shipping, but even outside of sale you can usually find them for around or slightly over 150. Although there's apparently some disagreement over what constitutes a laser, I think this is arguably the cheapest knife where its laser-status isn't up for discussion. You'll usually be looking at 200+ for any alternative. I got a 210 gyuto becuase they simply don't make them any larger.

*F&F: Looks great, feels.. err... less great*
First on to F&F. It's ... a mixed bag actually in my opinon. On the one-hand it's really nicely finished aesthethically, especially considering the price point. The handle is nice and glossy - not sure if it's just very finely polished or has some kind of lacquor on it, but at least it's nice and shiny. It also has sort of a 'hidden tang', in the sense that it only shows on the top; it's fully encapsulated by the pakkawood on the bottom. Feels nice that way actually. The blade also has a surprisingly nice finish. It's no fancy natural stone finish or kasumi, but it's at least polished up well enough that under most angles you barely see the grind marks, without it being so overpolished that it leads to stickyness.
It has a sort of sleek, modern appeal, and while it's of course a matter of taste, it's well-executed in that regard. It's just the polar opposite of the 'somewhat wabi sabi handmade' appeal that some other knives have.

So why mixed bag? It's not just the edge that's sharp. Sharp spine, sharp choil... heck even the bolster has hard edges. It's enough that working for a longer time with this knife in pinch grip isn't necessarily comfortable. It's not a problem at all when using a hammer grip... but I normally don't. I'm not one who really has high standards or even cares much about spines and choils, but on this knife it's actually so harsh that it stands out to me, and bad enough that I actually notice it during use - which I never did on something like my cheap Carbonext.
So... looks great, but if you're a pinchgripper you'll probably want to put some work into spine and choil. For normies who hammer grip not a problem. Another caveat is that the handle itself is on the smaller side for a yo-handle. This is probably because a larger handle would negatively impact the balance on such a light blade. I didn't find it a huge problem, but I'd prefer bigger if given the choice.

*Cutting performance: putting lightsabres to shame*
On to performance. I don't particularly care about out of the box edge usually, but this one really stood out as being able to split atoms just by pointing in their direction. While this is anecdotal hearsay, some people on German forums said it came with something like a 9 degree angle per side and the general recommendation was to just put on a microbevel to avoid microchipping. I unadventurously followed that advice and put something like a 15 degree per side microbevel on it (just a few swipes) and while it didn't really make a difference for performance I'm happy to say I never experienced any microchipping.

Then to the grind. Yeah it's thin and light. Not just thin spine, but really thin behind the edge too. Of course it's not going to be a food release miracle, but it wasn't as bad as I expected it either. Because the finish isn't overpolished like on the Robert Herder K5 (yes, I keep comparing to it becuase it's my most similar knife in my lineup) it doesn't really suck up stuff like a vacuum. Even though it's thinner on the spine than the Herder, it releases better. More confirmation to me that when we're talking food release we shouldn't just talk about the grind and give consideration to the finish as well.
But on the flipside, this thing lasers through root veg like it's not even there. Even better than the Yoshi 240 SKD I have, though the difference isn't huge. Very similar, arguably slighlty better than the Herder k5, better than Masamoto KS or Tanaka stuff (well duh, those are noticably thicker and heavier knives). I struggle to see how things can go much better through root veg than this. Lasers through everything else like it's not even there as well...
Profile is alright too. It's like 46mm high above the heel. Plenty for me, but if you're a fetishisht for tall knives this might not be your jam.

*My main gripe: the cutting feedback*
And yet... I still don't feel myself warming up to all _that_ much. I even prefer my Herder K5 over it, even though that knife has worse food release and has the similar 'ergonomics' problems. Why is that?
It's two things:
-It's cutting feedback is very soft and mushy
-Combined with its really low weight

Let me unpack that. The cutting feedback... I never gave this a whole lot of thought, and I never realized there was much of a difference in cutting 'feel' between sanmai and monosteel, but this is the most mushy feeling knife I have by far. On the board it has this soft 'dampened' feel. My guess is it's because the cladding is _really really _soft, because while I still notice some of this on all my other sanmai knives, none of them have it anywhere near as bad as this one. Admittedly this is VERY much a personal preference thing. Some people might actually like this because they experience it as a 'luxuriously soft cutting experience'. But for me I prefer that 'harsher' directer feedback... it's also why I prefer my Masamoto KS over my Yoshikane. Most normal people might never even notice it; I mostly noticed because it contrasted so distinctly with the Masamoto that I got in the same period, so it was eye opening to me.

The second part might also be why it bothers me more on this knife. I actually don't mind light knives, and I like many of my lightweighters, but the combination of 'soft + light' just... gives me a toy-like feeling. It also makes it feel a bit more delicate than it might actually be, but as a result it's not as much of a 'pick up and go' knife to me in the way other knives are (even those of the same weight class).

*Conclusion*
So what's my final verdict on it. Mixed feelings. I think to some extent I'm giving it a hard time since I'm putting it alongside some very good other knives that are mostly way outside of its priceclass. It's by any means a great cutter, and while the ergonomics aren't ideal, they are easy to fix, and my gripes about the mushy cutting feedback are really just next level nitpicking and personal preference.

At the same time... I have to give credit where credit is due. I don't think you'll find another knife with similar laser performance anywhere close to this price point. While it might not satisfy the true knife afficionado or collector, at the same time I'd say this is almost a no-brainer 'gift knife' for people who are looking to try 'a better knife' when you know they are at least somewhat gentle on their tools. It doesn't break the bank yet it's guaranteed to give anyone who isn't a knife snob that jaw-dropping experience the first time they cut a carrot... or almost anything else for that matter. It's the knife you can give to explain to them what a difference 'better knives' can make in a single cut and to end all discussion on the matter. Give them this and for a fairly acceptable pricetag, they'll _understand._

Just throw on a microbevel and presto... you'll have something that'll laser through anything in a way even far more expensive knives won't. This is a 'first J-knife' that you could happily use as your only good knife for the rest of your life.... as long as you don't pinch grip.  But if you're gifting it to normies that's usually not a big problem either.
Edge retention is probably good too, so for people who don't sharpen their own knives that's a plus too.


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## tostadas (Oct 28, 2021)

I agree with you on the sharp spine. The square edges coupled with the already thin spine are pretty uncomfortable for a pinch grip. A little bit of time with some sandpaper makes a huge difference on this one.


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## Jovidah (Oct 29, 2021)

tostadas said:


> I agree with you on the sharp spine. The square edges coupled with the already thin spine are pretty uncomfortable for a pinch grip. A little bit of time with some sandpaper makes a huge difference on this one.


Oh sure, it's definitly fixable. Probably not a whole lot of work too. The main thing I was pointing out that this was one of the few knives where I felt like I'm going to _have to _fix it at some point because it's that bothersome; on most knives I never have this problem. It also feels almost out of place when you consider that everythign else on the knife is quite well-executed. 

I think what plays a role is that, especially when you look at the sizing (no 240 available), this whole lineup is really aimed at 'regular consumers' in home kitchens, and so there's a certain expectation that people will be using a hammer grip. In hammer grip it's a complete non-issue and apart from being on the small side the grip is nice and comfy.


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## Benuser (Oct 29, 2021)

From discussions about damped feeling with a san mai construction I've got the impression it depends a lot of the amount of core steel that's visible. Could it be in this case the cladding is very close to the edge?


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## Jovidah (Oct 29, 2021)

Benuser said:


> From discussions about damped feeling with a san mai construction I've got the impression it depends a lot of the amount of core steel that's visible. Could it be in this case the cladding is very close to the edge?


The lamination line is slightly lower than on my other current sanmai knives, but it's not like it goes all the way to the bottom; the difference isn't that huge. And if I dig back in my memory, some of the knives that had lamination lines at a similar height as the Takamura also didn't have this mushyness. Hard to say anything definitive though since my sample size is simply too small. 

It got me thinking though. I don't know if the Takamura is a full san-mai or is warikomi construction. I can't really distinguish any lamination lines on the spine like I can on the sanmai knives, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. Couldn't find anywhere what construction the Takamura truly is.

Another thing I forgot to mention in the review. I'm not a particular steel-fetishist so I didn't really mention it, but this is one of the cheapest powdered steel knives on the market if you care about that sorta thing. If you're looking to try R2/SG2 on a budget I can't really think of anything similarly priced that isn't a project knife. It also increases its attractiveness as a 'gift for normies' knife for people who don't do their own sharpening; it'll last longer and better in the longer periods between sharpenings.


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