# Yaxell Zen



## The Anti-Chrysler (Mar 19, 2013)

I'm not a professional reviewer by any means, so please bear with me. I have been bitten by the knife bug recently, and have greatly increased my collection in very short time.
Last week, I was looking around, and I realized that I didn't have a sujihiki. So after a very short bit of looking around, I bought a Yaxell Zen 255mm Damascus VG-10 suji from NagomiJapan.
I love the look of damascus and hammer finishing.
Paid extra for the expedited shipping and received it today. About $115 shipped. 
It was in a nice presentation box, and upon examination, the fit and finish was pretty good. The finish on the blade is a little better than the finish on the handle. In fact the blade itself looks flawless to me. Nice, even grind, good polish, hair-popping sharp. The handle has some very fine sanding scratches, and about a <1/32" gap between the micarta and the bolster that is filled with epoxy. You have to look close to see it.
When you get a new knife, obviously you need to find something to cut. So with that in mind, I grilled up a small pork loin for dinner. 
The knife cuts grilled pork loin as well as I could have ever hoped, which it should coming right out of the box. Time will tell on the edge holding, but by the way it sings, it seems pretty hard.















What I like:
Purdy. In fact, it's beautiful.
Wicked sharp OOTB.
Looks like it's high quality.
Very attractive price.
Good size for slicing.

What I don't like:
The handle has just a touch more girth than I would prefer, but I don't have particularly large hands, so YMMV.
The handle isn't quite as nicely finished as the blade. A niggling qualm on a knife at this price point.


To sum it up, if you're in the market for a tsuchime suminigashi VG-10 suji on a budget, it's hard to go wrong with this one.


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## wsfarrell (Mar 20, 2013)

Nice looking knife. Thanks for the review!


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## The Anti-Chrysler (Mar 20, 2013)

Thanks! 
I know the pics could have been better, it's kinda difficult to get good pics indoors with an inexpensive digital camera.
One other thing I like about this knife is the stamped kanji. It annoys me when a painted kanji starts wearing off.


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