# Takumi Ikeda 250mm AS Gyuto (My love affair with aogami super steel)



## Fritzel

Two weeks ago I purchased a much needed gyuto to put through the paces at work.

I was looking for three things:
Blue steel core
Flat profile (k-sab, masamoto ks)
Medium thickness with distal taper

I decided to take a stab in the dark at a [relatively] unknown knife, the Takumi Ikeda 250mm AS Gyuto, from Mark at ThisSiteIsNotAllowedHere.

I tried taking pictures of this beauty but my phone's camera is complete crap.
The handle I received was the same one as the picture, bubinga with a wenge ferrule. The fit and finish on the handle was perfect. There were no rough edges or gaps and the tang is epoxied in with the machi completely covered. Both the spine and choil were rounded and polished.

This is no thin knife by any means, coming out of the handle at 3.3mm then tapering to 2.4mm an inch in front of the heel then slowly tapering to 1.2mm 1 1/2" from the tip. The tip came incredibly thin, a little bit too thin. I ended up chipping it against the stainless sink when washing it (oops). Took me about 20 minutes to re-profile the tip and it came out just fine.

The damascus cladding on this knife is NOT stainless. It appears that it's layered stainless with carbon which creates an amazing pattern when the carbon develops a patina and the stainless stays relatively stain-free.

Lastly, I want to talk about the most important part of this knife, the Aogami Super core. It has a heat treating I'd estimate at about 63-64 HRC. The edge retention and sharpness of this steel is absolutely insane. I sharpened on a 1000 grit, then 6000 grit, then 6000 grit + newspaper strop. I have not resharpened after the initial sharpening 2 weeks ago, just some stropping on the 6k, then 6k + newspaper every couple days.

Here is the list of the major stuff I prepped on a weekend with this knife

10 Red onion, julienne
14 Red pepper, julienne 
10 Yellow pepper, julienne
10 Poblano, julienne
8 Onion, brunoise
2 Cabbage paper thin
4 Red pepper paper thin julienne
4 Yellow pepper paper thin julienne
A **** ton of cilantro mincing and lime cutting

20 lbs flank steak, sliced to about the size of the spine of this knife at the heel xD
25 Chicken breasts, same slicing

And I put this knife through this twice using only NSF poly boards.

I noticed today that my hair was getting quite long. So instead of using my ****** hair cutting razor I decided to use this gyuto after some quick stropping on a 6k.
Me with my haircut and the Ikeda.

Just for shits and gigs I decided to see if this could still shave arm hair. Yes. Cleanly. Seriously. This steel is the real deal.
I think I might be in love with this steel. :thumbsup:

I would seriously recommend picking this knife up if Mark has one available.

Cheers.


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## mhlee

Personally, I don't find the edge retention or sharpness that you described to be all that special.


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## Timthebeaver

Fritzel said:


> T
> 
> It appears that it's layered stainless with carbon which creates an amazing pattern when the carbon develops a patina and the stainless stays relatively stain-free.
> 
> *Really? I find this claim dubious.*
> 
> It has a heat treating I'd estimate at about 63-64 HRC.
> 
> *Do you have a RC tester? Or are you a bladesmith?*
> 
> 
> I noticed today that my hair was getting quite long. So instead of using my ****** hair cutting razor I decided to use this gyuto after some quick stropping on a 6k.
> Me with my haircut and the Ikeda.
> 
> *Cool story bro, tell it again.
> *



So this knife is basically the most awesomest thing ever?

Welcome to the forums.


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## Dave Martell

Hi Fritzel,
I see in your profile that you have the following knives...

Takumi Ikeda KS 250mm Gyuto
Mac Santoku
Victorinox beaters


Besides the Ikeda (being reviewed here) you have what would be considered low performance knives. This might be one of the reasons why your review is so enthusiastic (glowing). 

It's not that members here won't believe that the Ikeda is a good knife, as surely it is, but many of us have seen new members (like yourself) come in here and give glowing reviews for CKTG products before and we've sort of become wary of this type of action. I'm sure that you're not a shill but your review could easily be seen as that type of thing by those of us who have seen this type of thing before.

Welcome to KKF, try not to take any of this personally.

Dave


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## panda

There's been quite a bit of hostile remarks toward posts from new members. If it seems like shilling, why not let the mods investigate and just ignore..

Back on topic, can you put up some photos? I love AS steel btw.


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## turbochef422

I've actually herd it's a good performer, I think I'll pick one up myself. Thanks for the review. I'm in love with a 270 itinomonn gyuto at the moment though


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## bahamaroot

You guys sure do know how make a warm welcome.


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## TomAllyn

Dave Martell, I found this post while doing a Google search on the knife being reviewed and I've got to say that your response as the founding member is a serious turn off. As the founding member you set the culture of this forum. I'm almost glad I've never posted here till now. You should seriously consider the fact that what you say on the internet is permanent. I cannot even imagine what your response to this post will be. Regarless, what kind of disclaimer you placed at the end of your comment, I cannot imagine that anyone that ends up here and sees this as their first post would stick around.:running:


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## Dave Martell

TomAllyn said:


> Dave Martell, I found this post while doing a Google search on the knife being reviewed and I've got to say that your response as the founding member is a serious turn off. As the founding member you set the culture of this forum. I'm almost glad I've never posted here till now. You should seriously consider the fact that what you say on the internet is permanent. I cannot even imagine what your response to this post will be. Regarless, what kind of disclaimer you placed at the end of your comment, I cannot imagine that anyone that ends up here and sees this as their first post would stick around.:running:





Thanks for your input Tom, great first post. :thumbsup:


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## Bigdaddyb

I have the same knife. It is NOT to be underestimated. It's a VERY serious blade and a great value at the price point.


Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans ... are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit. &#8213; Anthony Bourdain


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## CutFingers

Aogami is great stuff. Enjoy it.


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## Benuser

Welcome! Your blade would benefit a lot from a Naniwa Jyunpaku 8k "Snow-White". By the way, I found Dave's welcome most adequate and measured.


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