# Review: Ittetsu Kurouchi Nakiri 180mm



## ModRQC (Jun 28, 2021)

*I sort of have a sweet spot for this particular series under the Ittetsu branding from owning one 180mm Gyuto for a while, which for the price was ridiculously good, especially when you’re after something a bit more artisanal. 










That sweet spot admittedly is quite limited: when I look at 210/240mm Gyutos of that series, I really don’t like the tip and general profile. I liked the 180mm Gyuto because with the shorter length those same aspects made more sense; it also had a healthy flat spot for length and 188mm at edge for 46mm high which really is just about ideal. In use it was a tough knife that could develop a great dirty patina without asking much in return. It had a shy shinogi and high wide bevel that was a good compromise of separation and release, and came thin and sharp OOTB. Average but sound HT, sharpened well and kept that edge nicely for use at home.















If not that, then the Nakiri was always the other one I thought would be nice to try: slender profile seemed nifty and it just stroke me as a knife both fun and purposeful. Still, I never indulged until I recently decided that I needed another project knife, and that a Nakiri would make for a refreshing change. All my good memories of the Gyuto inevitably led me into buying this one.

In fact, where low price and more artisanal making are concerned, my experience is pretty limited: I tried like half a dozen knives of the low-tier factory made westernized Gyuto kind, but very few of the low-tier artisanal kind. I think only the Moritaka Gyuto I owned would fit that category and match the price. If fetching a little higher up then I can think of another maker that fits the category well: Mazaki. And funnily enough, the Mazaki was the first and only Nakiri (184/54) I ever bought until now; not only that, but Mazaki was also a “true” Kurouchi Nashiji just like this one here. Mazaki’s work is admittedly much more impressive, but those Ittetsu are not bad for the money. 















I had sold it because I didn’t see myself using it much over the various Gyutos I have, but still I missed working with that shape sometimes. Perhaps things will turn out differently with this one.*


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## ModRQC (Jun 28, 2021)

Unit my vendor had that was the tallest AND straightest had a big scuff on it, so on top of a permanent coupon I have with them, I asked for a very reasonable credit which they gladly obliged to see it go. So our starting picture is the ugly side, and I couldn’t care less with the project I had in mind.







*MAKER*​*Ittetsu*​*TYPE & LENGTH*​*Nakiri 180mm*​*STEEL & BLADE*​*Shirogami #1 Iron Clad*​*FINISH*​*Kurouchi*​*WEIGHT / BALANCE*​*199g / +40*​*HANDLE MATERIAL*​*Walnut Monopiece*​​​TOTAL LENGTH​330​BLADE LENGTH​199​EDGE LENGTH​*180*​​​HEIGHT AT HEEL​*48*​HEIGHT AT MID BLADE​48​HEIGHT 35mm TO TIP​46​​​*SPINE*​*THICKNESS*HEEL​*3.4*​MID BLADE​2.1​TIP (START OF UPSWEEP)​*2.1*​​​*WIDE BEVEL EDGE THICKNESS*​@ 18 (Shinogi) / 10 / 5 / 1mm overHEEL + 10mm​2 / 1.2 / 0.6 / 0.1​MID BLADE​2.1 / 1.3 / 0.6 / 0.1​TIP (START OF UPSWEEP)​2.1 / 1.4 / 0.7 / 0.1​
_A slight change to my usual specs grid for the Nakiri shape; I’ve also introduced thickness behind the edge at the shinogi, allowing me to also display how wide the primary bevel really is at the same time._


*Handle: 0.5/1*
_Fit vs. Balance_

I’d really like to give this handle full score this time around. It balances this Nakiri and my former Gyuto just right, it’s well sculpted and a good size for this blade, and it suits that series really well with its plain looks. However, with an Ittetsu fit is likely to be so-so. Both instances had flaws where the insert is concerned. Too wide a hole, some glue overflowing, some spots with not quite enough to fill the hole.






While I could avoid it on both occasions by cherry picking, obvious misalignments are not rare with these. For sure, having the insert quite wider than the actual tang probably doesn’t help in that respect.

Furthermore, the wood doesn’t have the grain character it could have OOTB: it almost looks and feels synthetic. If one wishes for it to feel right and look more natural, sandpaper is a must.


*Blade: 0.5/1*
_Acuteness vs. Comfort_

Forging, cutting and grinding to shape is a tradeoff with these guys. It’s deliberately crude with that distinctive artisanal appeal, but it also typically presents with lots of small, not so deliberate flaws that are the lot of low tier blades. I think however that they rather successfully pay heed to what matters the most: having some forged taper, a proper HT, a functional finish, and a good final grind.





_In the bottom picture, balance is at the steel kanji_

Where comfort is concerned, these knives are actually getting very decent results out of very basic operations carried roughly: they just kill the angles at the choil and spine. They do that one pass. They don’t really check that it’s consistently done, and they certainly don’t care about polishing that work, which is liable to leave a couple of rough “burrs” here and there from the grinding. Yet it works quite well as a result.

For example you’ll see this Nakiri has quite such a “burr” on the right side of the choil, hairy and messy spot. Yet, I didn’t feel it at all in a natural grip, even as I was trying to by sort of wiggling my finger position to see if it would rub at it. On the other hand, the chamfer of the spine is still relatively sharp, but in prolonged use, I still couldn’t feel any discomfort with my grip. The very same applied with my former Gyuto from them. It just gets the job done without really being much of a done job.


*Finish: 1/1*
_Craft vs. Usage_

Kurouchi here is pretty resistant to normal use and washing, as long as that rag isn’t too coarse. If you lightly etch it, it will turn blacker, and the oil slick disappears, but it still looks nice. If you etch any longer, it might just be removed entirely and become a Nashiji indeed. See project pictures of the Gyuto in the foreword.






Primary bevel is cut well enough to be pretty easy to follow on the stone without scuffing the finish much. It may not be so crisp however as to make it easy when pushing the shinogi up for thinning. Kurouchi plays nicely enough with food release too, being very smooth but wavy from the hammering. Belt/blasted finish on the primary bevel is a bit too rough to my liking, but it doesn’t really impair flow or release much. All in all, I feel this unit deserves its full score here for the price.

I really like this finish, the oil slick color of it, the rough hammered pattern left behind, and the Nashiji scaling showing through it. I like it enough that I prepared that little extra of the best side.






* 
Grind: 1/2 *
_Geometry vs. Performance_

Could have been a full score, but it’s time to discuss two relatively major flaws with this unit. I guess it could have been discussed in the Blade section too, but think it’s more appropriated to do so here as it affects performance much more than it detracts from the overall crudeness of the blade.






First major flaw can be easily seen on the starting picture that I’ve reintroduced above, but also to some extent with the spine shot below: there’s a rather chunky lip of steel protruding on the left side of the tip. Second flaw is closely related: the edge was not sharpened much from the start of the upsweep there, and went to hell in short order from there. And for a good reason since the blade was already thickening and beginning to merge with the front end into the upsweep. End result being that tip work with this unit was just terrible, where I knew a proper Nakiri tip could be amazing to work with. All that could be remedied, but it would be some heavy work on the stones.






Ok then… Profile is a bit curvier edge than I expected, but since I like my Gyutos with that kind of a profile from heel to mid blade, I didn’t have any difficulty with my cuts using this one neither. Taper is mostly happening from the handle until before mid-blade, very typical with J-knives and about a copy/paste of the taper of my former Gyuto. Nice thickness at the pinch makes it really sizeable and comfortable to use. Good weight to it too, blade heavy balance really blends well in use.






Geometry is as I said in the foreword, wide bevel with a rather shy shinogi, providing a good compromise of separation and release. I was a bit disappointed though because my narrower Gyuto had in fact wider primary bevels than this one and mostly felt rather laser-ish in cuts. This unit has narrower primary bevels to a wider blade, which might yield some improvement with food release, but isn’t a feeling in cut I particularly appreciate. My benchmark is always a regular yellow onion, halving it to assess wedging potential, and a dice to see if it goes through like there’s nothing there, and how well the tip works. Here wedging wasn’t so much of a problem with the shy shinogi using some momentum, and of course the tip work involved was rather difficult but I dismissed it from my assessment. However, I could feel the shinogi transition more than I cared for in the dice, not in any displeasing way but I had to wonder how it would act with bigger carrots or potatoes, and since release wasn’t particularly more impressive out of it, all in all I think a wider bevel suits these better.









Yet it’s thin enough behind the edge to perform very well as is, and with this unit we get about perfect symmetry, which really isn’t always the case with these knives, but they’re usually good enough still. I settle with half the points because I don’t think it’s usual for Ittetsu to present with such major flaws as those we find here with the tip neither.


*Overall Score: 3/5*


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## ModRQC (Jun 28, 2021)

*Personal take: luckily with this unit, all that mattered to me is that the steel was sound, the geometry made sense as a starting point, and that the handle provided a fitting balance to it. It’s a project knife, and the project in fact is already carried out as I’m writing this. This is a double publication, and you can find the project **HERE**.*


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## tostadas (Jun 28, 2021)

As usual, I love all the effort you put into these reviews including quality photos and full measurements. One thing, maybe check on the thickness behind the edge measurements, particularly at 1mm. At least in measurements with my own calipers, 0.2mm thick at 1mm behind the edge is about the thinnest I've found on factory edge knives. 

Anyways, keep up the good work! Looking forward to the next review


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## ModRQC (Jun 28, 2021)

My caliper is cheap, which could explain some. I make a point with a sharpie 1.5mm up the very apex and pinch there. Then I measure a full 5mm and 10mm from that point for the rest. Leaving some room over as you can see, where 1 becomes 1.5, 5 becomes 6.5 and 10 becomes 11.5 from the very apex. I guess if I count edge bevel out measuring 1mm up from where it stops, I might rather get 0.2-0.3 as a standard.

Sorry if it looks like disinformation really doing my best for it to make sense and be consistent across all knives measured. 

Plastic caliper, seems to be consistent over 0.2 but I sometimes get weird stuff when below. I usually repeat measurements to make sure. If I have a proper caliper one day I’ll let you know what I get.


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## nakiriknaifuwaifu (Jun 28, 2021)

hehe

rectangle chop good 

nice


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## tostadas (Jun 28, 2021)

ModRQC said:


> My caliper is cheap, which could explain some. I make a point with a sharpie 1.5mm up the very apex and pinch there. Then I measure a full 5mm and 10mm from that point for the rest. Leaving some room over as you can see, where 1 becomes 1.5, 5 becomes 6.5 and 10 becomes 11.5 from the very apex. I guess if I count edge bevel out measuring 1mm up from where it stops, I might rather get 0.2-0.3 as a standard.
> 
> Sorry if it looks like disinformation really doing my best for it to make sense and be consistent across all knives measured.
> 
> Plastic caliper, seems to be consistent over 0.2 but I sometimes get weird stuff when below. I usually repeat measurements to make sure. If I have a proper caliper one day I’ll let you know what I get.


All good. The 1mm measurement of the knife is also highly dependent on the final edge that you end up putting on, and is likely irrelevant after a couple full sharpening sessions anyways.


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## phoka (Jun 28, 2021)

Thanks for another detailed review. I also enjoy reading your project thread. Nice work!


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## thebradleycrew (Jun 28, 2021)

Appreciate the reviews, as always.


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