# Griffin Gyuto (after Carter thinning)



## Phip (Jul 7, 2019)

I bought this William Griffin gyuto used for $250 on KKF in 2018. The rustic look was too much for me to resist, and the specs looked pretty good as advertised: 1095 carbon steel, 50 mm tall, 235 mm length, Kurouchi finish, good distal taper, and a hollow grind with a burnt oak handle secured with a brass pin. The form fit saya looks to be mahogany. But after getting it, my enthusiasm dwindled because the knife was super thick at the edge. I cut a few things with it, but potatoes and carrots were split, not cut, with the wedge shaped profile. So to the drawer it went as I was unable to devote a day or two thinning the beast.

I took pictures to sell it in April 2019, but couldn’t bring myself to post it because I still liked the look and feel of the knife. Then it occurred to me to check if Murray Carter was still thinning knives by other makers. He’d done my Aritsugu gyuto 10 years ago, so maybe he’d do the Griffin. I called, Carter’s staff said of course, and the next weekend I drove 45 minutes to Hillsboro, Oregon, to drop it off. When I pulled it from the saya the guy in the office said, “Yeah, it needs thinning.” 

A few days later it was done. “Murray spent a lot of time on this one,” was all they said. I looked and was amazed. Carter transformed the knife. For $40.

Compare the before and after pictures of the grind and the edge. They’ll tell you more than I can. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t weigh the knife before I took it in to Carter, but it’s now just 211 grams. I suspect he took off at least five if not ten grams and left the knife with scratch pattern two or four times finer than the original. The length is now 230 mm, a rather nice length. The height is now 47 mm with the balance 1” from the handle. And the edge retention seems average for a good quality knife, but perhaps not as good as some of the best like Hinoura. An added surprise was that after all that work the friction fit saya still fit. Nice.

The work Carter did was needed and appropriate in my opinion, even if it reduced the overall size of the knife. Without the significant thinning, the knife would not perform as an all-purpose gyuto. Cutting performance has turned around. Before thinning the edge would get sharp but the range of foods it could cut neatly and effortless was limited to thin things. After Carter’s work, dicing onions is effortless and tearless—no more wedging on the cross-section cuts. Hard vegetables slice instead of cracking. Food release is better than it was, and pretty good overall. There’s nothing now in daily prep that has me reaching for another knife (unless we’re talking about bones). William Griffin made a beautiful knife, Murray Carter made it work for me.























https://www.griffinbladeworks.com/


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## Carl Kotte (Jul 7, 2019)

Very good read! Thanks!


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## Jville (Jul 7, 2019)

Grind looks nice. Looks like it has some heft, but still gets thin "enough" behind the edge.


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## Phip (Jul 7, 2019)

Yes, Murray did a superb job of keeping the original heft of the knife while reprofiling to get it thin behind the edge. I couldn't be happier with the outcome.


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## milkbaby (Jul 8, 2019)

Congrats, sounds like you're happy now with the performance which is a big benefit! Nothing worse than a knife that isn't being used and enjoyed...

Your pics seem to be out of order tho. First three "after" pics, then two "before" pics, then another two "after" pics. It definitely looked beefy behind the edge before regrinding.


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