Sakai is a place, not a company. Whether or not the "Pilot" knife company still exists, or even ever existed in the western sort of way, is an open question. Since you couldn't find it on Google, it doesn't appear to have much of a commercial presence so it's probably moot anyway. You could try asking Koki at JCK per GourmetM's suggestion, but I doubt you'll get any satisfaction. He knows a lot, but there are limits.
A good knife sharpener with a grinder or belt sander could probably grind the chips out, but your knife would lose a lot of its width. The edge profile is so flat, the rest of the geometry shouldn't be much of a problem (more about that later). Whether or not the exercise is worth it is debatable.
As for the knife itself, from your picture it appears to be a fairly inexpensive santoku. They are very popular and appear in a lot of knife lines. It should be easy to replace with something as good or better.
You may not be able to replicate the tip geometry exactly; but that may not have been original with the knife. Whether or not that's the original tip shape, it appears as though the edge was flattened by much sharpening over the years. If the bevel is wider on the left side of the knife than the right side (as you hold it by the handle), then the knife has a "left handed bias.' Since you're right-handed, a right handed bias would handle better. Like the flattened belly, the bias is probably an artifact of whoever sharpened the knife.
How long is the blade (from handle to tip)? And what's your price range?
BDL
Edited by boar_d_laze - 8/4/11 at 4:24pm
