# Hiromoto White Steel Redeux



## Dave Martell (Jan 16, 2014)

This is a special run Hiromoto White (#2) Steel gyuto from JapaneseChefsKnife.com

These are similar in construction to the Hiromoto AS series except these are significantly thicker, the handle/bolster is more blockier, and bird's eye style rivets are used to hold the scales on. 

The owner asked me to thin the blade, etch if I thought it would look OK, and to round the bolster & handle. I did all that as well as rounded the spine & choil and sharpened it up.

I found that most of the blade's thickness came from a lot of cladding on the left side, something I've never seen before. 

The results from the etching were interesting, not super exciting like seen on some AS gyutos, yet different and still nice to look at. 

I had real bad conditions for lighting today so the pictures are pretty dark, unfocused, and kinda lousy, hopefully you can see what was done....


BEFORE






AFTER








BEFORE





AFTER








BEFORE





AFTER


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## Von blewitt (Jan 16, 2014)

That looks fantastic Dave! 
The handle & bolster look much more comfortable now.
And no doubt the cutting performance has improved greatly.
Thank you

Cheers


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## Mute-on (Jan 16, 2014)

Very timely post, Dave, as I've just been trying to get some information on these knives (the clad, white#2 available on JCK). 

Is the current AS grind significantly thinner than this (and the earlier AS grind)?

Oh, your work looks incredible, as usual :doublethumbsup:

Cheers,

Justin


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## Dave Martell (Jan 16, 2014)

Mute-on said:


> Very timely post, Dave, as I've just been trying to get some information on these knives (the clad, white#2 available on JCK).
> 
> Is the current AS grind significantly thinner than this (and the earlier AS grind)?
> 
> ...




Hi Justin,
This knife was quite a bit thicker than the AS series have ever been. I'd like to note that the current AS series have shown some knives to be thinner (than they have been in the past) yet I've recently seen two new gyutos that are thicker than the old ones were so it seems there's no telling what you'll get.

Thanks for the kind words.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 16, 2014)

Von blewitt said:


> That looks fantastic Dave!
> The handle & bolster look much more comfortable now.
> And no doubt the cutting performance has improved greatly.
> Thank you
> ...



I'm very happy to see that you like the look of it Huw. I'm sure that it'll feel and cut better now. Thanks for your business!


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## Mute-on (Jan 16, 2014)

Thanks Dave. Very helpful comments, indeed. 

Regards,

Justin


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## sudsy9977 (Jan 16, 2014)

davethat handle looks friggin ginormous.u look like u shaved off a few pounds off of thatryan


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## Dave Martell (Jan 16, 2014)

sudsy9977 said:


> davethat handle looks friggin ginormous.u look like u shaved off a few pounds off of thatryan




Huw said that it weighed in at 308g when new....I measured it just now at 277g thinned out.


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## sudsy9977 (Jan 16, 2014)

probably a lot nicer being lighter now.ryan


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## Flyingpigg (Jan 17, 2014)

How long did this take you, and what is the style of sharpening you did here? I remember you discussing in the past this type of sharpening that creates "clouds", but I forgot what you called it, nor do I remember if there were any advantages to it besides aesthetics.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 17, 2014)

Flyingpigg said:


> How long did this take you, and what is the style of sharpening you did here? I remember you discussing in the past this type of sharpening that creates "clouds", but I forgot what you called it, nor do I remember if there were any advantages to it besides aesthetics.




The very edge was the only part of the knife that was sharpened. The blackened parts show the exposed carbon core steel. The carbon steel turns black from etching in ferric chloride.


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## Benuser (Jan 17, 2014)

Very nice work indeed! What happened to the balance, after both thinning the blade and rounding handle and bolster?


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## Lefty (Jan 17, 2014)

Looks really cool, Dave! The look of the blade reminds me a bit of a Catcheside clad knife now.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 17, 2014)

Benuser said:


> What happened to the balance, after both thinning the blade and rounding handle and bolster?




To tell you the truth I didn't notice but my guess is that it remained blade heavy.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 17, 2014)

Lefty said:


> Looks really cool, Dave! The look of the blade reminds me a bit of a Catcheside clad knife now.




Yeah except not as bad ass as Will's knives are.


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## Von blewitt (Jan 30, 2014)

I recieved the knife today, the transformation is awesome, the knife performs extremely well now, far far better then it did out of the box. The handle and bolster shaping has made a huge difference to comfort also. And the etching came out really nicely, nice clouding above the lamination line.

Thank you Dave! Once again another great experience


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## Dave Martell (Jan 31, 2014)

Von blewitt said:


> I recieved the knife today, the transformation is awesome, the knife performs extremely well now, far far better then it did out of the box. The handle and bolster shaping has made a huge difference to comfort also. And the etching came out really nicely, nice clouding above the lamination line.
> 
> Thank you Dave! Once again another great experience




This is great news, I'm glad that you like it. Thanks for the work Huw!


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