# Next Up: Kochi Kiritsuke-tip Guyto Blue #2 240mm



## pitonboy

Next passaround will be (assuming interest) will be the Kochi guyto with a kiritsuke tip, 240mm, Blue#2 steel from JKI. I think this is a great cutter, stiff spine, not a laser per se but a great knife. See Jon's site for more details.


Passaround rules as per usual, keep it a week or so, sharpen it if it needs it and you know what you are doing, ship insured. List will be about 15 tops, non-North American participants will be welcomed but will probably make a second list following the first one


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## add

Outstanding, thanks for another tremendous pass around.

Would love to put in for this one and get an up close look-see.

Thanks Pitonboy!


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## kalaeb

I would like to jump on this one as well.


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## mhenry

Me too please. Thank You


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## pitonboy

Sorry, if you are interested, please PM me your mailing address.:O


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## The Edge

You just beat me to doing a pass around with this knife. I don't think anyone will be disappointed with it, at least I'm not.


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## obtuse

can I join?


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## pitonboy

This is one of those knives that perform better than expected




The Edge said:


> You just beat me to doing a pass around with this knife. I don't think anyone will be disappointed with it, at least I'm not.


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## Crothcipt

I will join on this one too, if you will have me.


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## JasonD

I'd love to take part as well. Kochi's been on my radar for a while now.


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## GlassEye

I think I might like to try this one.


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## ThEoRy

I could give it a shot.


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## pitonboy

Still seats available on this flight!


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## Gravy Power

I might as well dive in...


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## pitonboy

Kochi Passaround list, In Order

obtuse
add
kalaeb
Gravy Power
GlassEye
EdipisReks
JasonD
ThEoRy
brainsausage


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## obtuse

I received the knife yesterday. It feels very solid (rigid), hefty, yet nimble. The feel of the knife is amazing and the finish is pretty cool too. I will cut a bunch of stuff today to give it a good workout.


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## obtuse

The knife will be on its way today. Sorry for the delay, I had a very busy week. I will post my experience as soon as I can. add, I will send you the tracking number when it's available.


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## Phantom9309

Any chance I can join this pass around? I've been looking for my first $300+ knife and Kochi is at the top of my list. I'd love the opportunity to give it a test drive. Thanks!


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## obtuse

Here are my thoughts of the Kochi.
Here's the quick summery, I think I'm going to buy one in the traditional gyuto shape.
Out of the box I was immediately impressed by the feel of the knife and the fit and finish. The knife feels very solid, yet not clunky. The kurouchi finish is very well done and the bevel is polished beautifully. All the usual creature comforts are there, rounded choil and spine. The toasted chestnut handle is very nice as well, it feels exceptional in the hand. As far as cutting goes, it's a winner. It moves through food as well as my Konosuke HD and Fujiyama gyutos. I cannot comment on sharpening, but the steel had a very nice edge and held it for as long as I had it (a week). My only complaint about the knife is the profile. There is a huge curve to the tip of this knife, this makes the tip very uncomfortable to use. I suppose it could be desirable if you did some serious rocking.

That's it for now


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## add

Aaron- the Kochi arrived here a couple days ago, safe and well packed, again! Thanks.

Ben- thanks a bunch for doing this.

Observations to follow...


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## add

Ben, thanks for the Kochi opportunity. :thumbsup:

OK, I'd list this one in the "mighty gyuto" category with my Yoshikane 240 as reference.

This is a badazz kitchen knife.
Large, solid, and some Japanese rustic mojo mixed with charmed refinement. 

Stiff?
Oh, yeah baby. Proverbial railroad track stiff.
But this is a cutter by being fairly thin behind the edge.
Actually, I was expecting it to be a bit thinner there based on descriptions of these.

Very good performance on the board with various root veggies.
Soft tomatos, raw chicken breakdown, and fruits were also easily worked over.

Relatively thick at the top of the spine with a narrowing right off the handle, but after that... really not much distal taper along the top to speak of. 

The profile tip makes this unique over the traditional gyuto.

A reverse tanto style point that, in theory, makes for a stronger tip for jab/stab cuts. Really didn't have a use for this until _after_ the knife has been shipped out and wifey brought home a thick-rinded spaghetti (winter) squash... which would seem to have been an ideal use with the added strength at the tip to start the halving with a stab cut. 

Well, either that or poking it into some sheet metal, which I think the Kochi could do with ease. 

But the tip itself was also thin enough to be a useful worker on the board.

The knife held some nice cutting sweet spots. 
Yes, the profile at the end does sweep a bit, forcing the rocking motion higher at the handle. But I didn't find it to be that distracting, just a bit of getting used to.

Another star was the nicely done, evenly polished bevel.

Fit/finish I'd deem good but not great in comparison to the Yoshi.
Spine is rounded but not evenly and the transition and step-down work to the Kiritsuke tip seemed a bit hurried. Perhaps some more time could have spent here. 

Kurochi finish was even, not course or flaky, and appeared to be very stable.

Really liked the charred chestnut handle. 
It is not fine sanded or filled- leaving a natural suface texturing that offers really good purchase even when moist.
Some black charring (?) did come off during periodic wipe downs. Perhaps the chestnut has been stained as well... 
But the handle IS larger in diameter, quite Bunyanesque. Though it is proportional, imho, to the blade size/weight; it may not be to everyones taste.
A fingernail easily catches on the ferrule to handle meet up. The handle size and horn ferrule matchup could both be easily remedied with some simple DIY sanding.

Steel was lightly reactive and on the polished areas only.

Overall a very nice knife... it would seem the 210mm or 240mm would be seductive models in this line too- for folks looking at kurochi finished "mighty gyutos".

Knife was oiled up, though not sharpened and shipped last week to Kalaeb.
Seemed to hold it's edge just fine for the time I had it.
Came with some small areas of black patina and left with smattering of faint orange (sorry, out of scotch-brite pad).

Ben, a very cool knife and gesture. Thanks again! :knife:


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## kalaeb

Knife received, will use it for a few days then pass on to gravy.


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## pitonboy

Glad you liked it, Wayne


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## kalaeb

In route to Gravy, due there by sat, Monday at the latest. Will post a quick opinion when I get a break.


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## Gravy Power

kalaeb did you sharpen this? Either way I've learned I have a long way to go when it comes to putting an edge on the knife. It's screaming sharp compared to anything I'm currently working with. Truly awesome cutter. I have very limited experience so I can't really give nearly as comprehensive of a review, but I'll take one of these on my bench, probably in a 210 mm, any day.


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## kalaeb

Gravy Power said:


> kalaeb did you sharpen this? Either way I've learned I have a long way to go when it comes to putting an edge on the knife. It's screaming sharp compared to anything I'm currently working with. Truly awesome cutter. I have very limited experience so I can't really give nearly as comprehensive of a review, but I'll take one of these on my bench, probably in a 210 mm, any day.



Yes, I did a basic progression from shapton pro 2k to gesshin 5k, co balsa, and plain leather. I don't sharpen well, it was mostly the steel.


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## Gravy Power

Off to GlassEye. Should be there on Thursday.


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## GlassEye

Knife arrived today, played with it for few minutes before I go to work.


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## EdipisReks

hey GlassEye, i tried to send you my address, and your inbox was full.


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## GlassEye

EdipisReks said:


> hey GlassEye, i tried to send you my address, and your inbox was full.



Fixed.


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## EdipisReks

I received it. Hard to believe that my Kochi was ever this tall.


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## EdipisReks

worked on the Kochi today, and used it a bit. the knife had thickened out some, so with pitonboys permission, i thinned it out a bit. no drama, though there is some waviness in the grind above the edge that should be taken into account as the knife gets thinned over time, to prevent holes. anyway, after the small diet, boy does this knife cut purty! just sinks through onions, with very little effort. a great grind combined with some heft really works great. it's tall enough that it doesn't wedge carrots, like my now much shorter Kochi does (i'll take pics of the two knives side by side, before i send it off to the next user). edge retention hasn't been an issue, but i haven't exactly been doing 100 pound bags of shallots, here. f&f was pretty much the same as mine was, which is quite nice. sticktion is okay, not great, not bad. pretty standard for this kind of knife. the profile definitely has a taller point and more belly than my Kochi, bought in 2011, did. it works out just fine, though. really nice knife, but it really begs to be constantly thinned, to keep that fantastic cutting performance. i do prefer my V2 Kochi, to the Blue #2, but there isn't much in it. i just really like V2.


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## GlassEye

I noticed that waviness, as well, didn't look like it had ever had a proper sharpening with thinning. The heft and grind are really great, I liked it better than the Ginga I was comparing to, so I will have to order a custom at some point. The profile had way too much curve up at the tip for me, and a bit much curve along the flat area as well, I found the tip almost unusable and gave me some incomplete cuts. The kuro uchi seemed quite durable and stable. The steel seemed rather nice, I only gave it one pass on the Takashima Awasedo to touch up the micro bevel, the knife was not sharp enough for me while I had it, but I never had the time to deal with it, and I knew the wavy blade road would have to be dealt with, as Edipis said. Overall I really liked the Kochi, I might try to order one less tall, with a much flatter profile, when I can.


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## JasonD

Well I've been really busy so pardon my silence so far. I've had the Kochi for about a week and I'm sending it out to ThEoRy this morning. I have to admit initially I was unimpressed with how it cut. I mean, it wasn't bad or anything but it just wasn't what I was hoping it would be. A couple passes on 2 loaded strops and it came alive. Cooked an entire belated Thanksgiving dinner with it, and while there was significant wedging in the monstrous sweet potatoes, it behaved like a total champ otherwise. It really opened my eyes to how substantial a knife can be and still cut beautifully. I didn't mind the profile, and the kanto style tip is just cool looking, haha. I didn't love the blade-heavy balance, but that just goes back to my preference for western handles. If they did a western version of this thing, it would be at the top of my list. I don't know if this was a pre-existing issue or if it's the humidity changes, but the fit between the ferrule and the wood of the handle isn't perfect.. caught my towel on there more than once when wiping the blade down. Didn't really bother me, but thought I should mention it.

Thanks again pitonboy for the pass-around! This was my first and I had a ton of fun getting to play with someone else's toy.


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## brainsausage

Just recieved this from Theory yesterday. Took off my left hand middle finger knuckle whilst prepping for veal stock. So it's definitely got a good edge on it...:slaphead:


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## ThEoRy

brainsausage said:


> Just recieved this from Theory yesterday. Took off my left hand middle finger knuckle whilst prepping for veal stock. So it's definitely got a good edge on it...:slaphead:



Nice... :cool2: I mean uhh oops :O sorry lol. Also, I mailed that thing like 10 days ago that took a while..


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## pitonboy

Knife back home now. Anyone interested in buying it?


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## mhenry

YES!!!!




pitonboy said:


> Knife back home now. Anyone interested in buying it?


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