Spyderco Forums

swigert wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 4:50 pm

They need to come with a sayas.

Pelagic wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 10:04 am

That's a severe oversimplification, admittedly, but the guy acts like toughness is the end all be all when it comes to blade attributes. He deals with and loves a lot of 52100, which is a great steel, but he's so dead set in his ways that he doesn't care to expand his horizons. He tends to look at any of his failures or setbacks and write them off as someone else's fault.

The Deacon wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 14, 2019 1:38 pm

They are beautiful looking knives. Guess I should be glad they're carbon steel because, if they were stainless, my bank account would be down by about $1300.

bearfacedkiller wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 14, 2019 2:15 pm

They are making them in BD1N as well. Sorry about you wallet. :)

Cambertree wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 14, 2019 8:35 am

I'm haven't looked into these knives too closely, as I'm well fixed for nice handforged Japanese kitchen knives.

One thing I'm curious about though is, are these knives Kata-ha (chisel) ground or 50/50? It's hard to tell from the photos, but the ones I've seen look 50/50 ground, which is good news for leftys.

Regarding the bladesmithing process, Japanese bladesmiths forge in large batches as Hmr said. The master often does the forging and heat treatment, and apprentices or other specialists usually grind, sharpen and fit handles to the knives. They don't make one knife at a time from start to finish like modern Western custom knifemakers.

Checking my notes from when I was in Japan in 2014, Kenichi Shiraki in Sakai, who Murray regards as one of the finest Japanese bladesmiths, puts out 2000 knives from his shop per month. He works at breakneck speed, a master at the peak of his craft, but he's the only one doing the forging of those knives. At the same time, others will be prepping the knives with clay for heat treatment, and grinding and sharpening knives. Then they are sold to a middleman who will have handles fitted to them and sayas made.

Another maker of sickles (kama), Mr Tsurumaki in Sanjo, who does most of the processes by himself, said he makes around 50 kama every three days, about 5000 a year in total.

I had no reason to think they were lying, after watching their work and seeing their shops, nor would I presume Murray is lying or exaggerating. I know Murray, and he takes pride in his business and promotes it accordingly. He also has a kind of 'public persona' which he uses to do this, and which is maybe a little different to how he is in person. Maybe some of us would act differently in that position, but I wouldn't call him 'arrogant'.

fixall wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 14, 2019 5:06 pm

It's definitely a 50/50 grind.

fixall wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 13, 2019 3:51 pm

A little bit of a bummer today... Cutlery and More accidentally sent me the 7.5" Bunka Bocho instead of the 9.5" Gyuto I ordered.

On the plus side, they were super easy to work with and the exchange should happen really quickly.

So far the Bunka seems (can't use it obviously, lol) like a phenomenal kitchen knife! Like really phenomenal! Super, super thin behind the edge with a perfect distal taper. It has great area to choke up on behind the blade with a fantastic handle (I was originally worried the handle would be too big for my small hands). Fit and finish is divine.

I can already tell that the Gyuto will likely be my daily driver and will be kicking some knives out of the kitchen.

fixall wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 25, 2019 5:01 pm

I've had my Gyuto for about a week now and it's every bit as good as I hoped it would be. :D

Super slicey with an awesome grind. A great handle and balance... And it's light enough that my wife feels comfortable using it (I think that's a good thing?). I'm very pleased with this purchase and can't wait to put it to work over the holidays!