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Hi I live I tx and wondering if Yoshihiro knives are any good. If any one uses them if they are really hand made or production knife .
Yoshihiro knives
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Or directly from Yoshihiro and they have coupons, sales, ect. if you subscribe to their news letter. I have a couple of their knives a VG10 petty that is very nimble and a kasumi ikasaki (squid knife) that is wonderful to use. They heat treat on the VG10 is quite good and holds up well. The steel on the ikasaki is Blue#2 if I recall correctly. I did a wa conversion on the petty as the western handles run on the small side for my tastes.
They market some really excellent accessories as well.
They market some really excellent accessories as well.
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Lol don't set such unrealistic expectations. Even in a "one man shop" where the maker puts his name on the knife, you have no expectation that more mundane tasks are not done by an apprentice. In a place like Takefu village, you might have a couple different masters with their expert hands on it over the course of the process. That's not a bad thing!
If you want start to finish, even the handle, made by one person, buy American custom made knives but it will cost and performance can range from great to just meh
If you want start to finish, even the handle, made by one person, buy American custom made knives but it will cost and performance can range from great to just meh
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@MillionsKnives - True dat! even Murray Carter has apprentices to help keep up with the the work load. He even has an apprentice line that is excellent quality at a lower price point. If you watch videos of Master Doi on youtube you see him at the forge with piles of forged blanks all around. He doesn't make a bunch of blanks then go and grinds, straighten, polish and handle them himself - BUT - he forged the damned thing and that's what sells.
Look for a good used knife from a custom maker. Tsourkan, HHH, Michael Rader (cha ching$$), Bill Burke (cha cha ching$$$), Devin Thomas, Del Ealy, Bloodroot Blades off the top of my head. Will Catchside in England makes some seriously gorgeous knives. BUT be ready to plunk down a purse full. Even in the used market I paid $1k for a Rader Chef and sold it for that a year later. That's another snag - as you go up the chain the resale value is pretty much - well basically if you turn it you've rented the knife.
The Itinomonn 240 kasumi gyuto I bought last month is an excellent knife I highly recommend it for the price point.
Look for a good used knife from a custom maker. Tsourkan, HHH, Michael Rader (cha ching$$), Bill Burke (cha cha ching$$$), Devin Thomas, Del Ealy, Bloodroot Blades off the top of my head. Will Catchside in England makes some seriously gorgeous knives. BUT be ready to plunk down a purse full. Even in the used market I paid $1k for a Rader Chef and sold it for that a year later. That's another snag - as you go up the chain the resale value is pretty much - well basically if you turn it you've rented the knife.
The Itinomonn 240 kasumi gyuto I bought last month is an excellent knife I highly recommend it for the price point.
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Do you know if there traditional Japanese knifes or production or hand made
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@BrianShaw I'm envious of where you live! I'd visit Japanese Knife Imports often if it didn't require a plane ticket to do so...
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They are hand made in a production sense - see my post above. Not factory made, but shop made. I think the western (Yo) styles are blanked, heat treated, ground, bolsters pinned on then polished and handled. The Wa styles are forge welded, heat treated, ground, polished and handled. The difference being the steel - Hitachi and Sandvik both make san mai " sandwich stock - that is a hard core with soft stainless "damascus" cladding sandwich. Those are blanked by water or laser jet. If you look at one closely you can see the core steel along the spine. Not that there's anything wrong with that approach. I have a really nice Goko and my Hiromoto AS are blanked from sandwiched steel and some Carters are too.
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Ok cool thank I was think one of their blue limited or custom but wasn't sure how good they are I use shun blue and kikuichi now but wanted something special lol
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I was considering purchasing a few Yoshihiro knives, but stopped. I visited Yoshihiro's website, added a knife to my shopping cart. Out of curiosity I clicked on "engraving", and it said "add 4 Chinese characters". Not that I was going to have this engraved, but I thought WTF? Chinese characters? why not Japanese characters?
Suspicious, I clicked on "About Us", and nowhere does it say these are actually made in Japan. It says things like "Japanese technique", "Japanese style". I have worked with the Chinese in the electronics industry for years, and these are typical words Chinese use to make you think the product is made elsewhere, especially when copying a product from places like Italy, US, Japan, etc...
Here is some of the words they use:
Our company has inherited the Japanese tradition..
Yoshihiro Cutlery is a company specializing in handcrafted premium Japanese kitchen knives..
With a history spanning 100 years... (but they don't talk about a history)
I'm sure these are nice knives, but I would bet $100 dollars these Yoshihiro knives are made and massed produced in China, and if they are, they should cost 1/4 of what they are charging for them. With pricing mark-ups like this, it's no wonder they can afford to have a store in Beverly Hills Ca.
First time poster. As I was searching google to find out exactly where these knives are produced (which I never did find out), I ran across this forum, and this thread in particular.
Suspicious, I clicked on "About Us", and nowhere does it say these are actually made in Japan. It says things like "Japanese technique", "Japanese style". I have worked with the Chinese in the electronics industry for years, and these are typical words Chinese use to make you think the product is made elsewhere, especially when copying a product from places like Italy, US, Japan, etc...
Here is some of the words they use:
Our company has inherited the Japanese tradition..
Yoshihiro Cutlery is a company specializing in handcrafted premium Japanese kitchen knives..
With a history spanning 100 years... (but they don't talk about a history)
I'm sure these are nice knives, but I would bet $100 dollars these Yoshihiro knives are made and massed produced in China, and if they are, they should cost 1/4 of what they are charging for them. With pricing mark-ups like this, it's no wonder they can afford to have a store in Beverly Hills Ca.
First time poster. As I was searching google to find out exactly where these knives are produced (which I never did find out), I ran across this forum, and this thread in particular.
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These are most likely made in China
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RobertB - Chinese characters refers to the Kanji that are the engraved characters. Because of the history of the Asian countries in the dynastic period and how that played out, for example both Japan (Kanji) and Korea (Hanja) have an element of their written language that is composed of 'Chinese characters' in addition to the more recent and now more commonly used phonetic alphabets. The character based aspect of the written languages can carry with it a stronger invoking of culture, history, ancestry, etc.
I'd venture to say more people will have an idea of what they mean by using 'Chinese characters' vs 'Kanji'.
I'd venture to say more people will have an idea of what they mean by using 'Chinese characters' vs 'Kanji'.
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Also their ebay site says Saki (mispelled Sakai) Osaka. Where a lot of big knife brands are.
And when you have an Asian company trying to have a US based location, the top locations they'd be are probably somewhere relevant in Cali or NY...where there is likely a greater concentration of people who would use the products...makes sense to me.
And when you have an Asian company trying to have a US based location, the top locations they'd be are probably somewhere relevant in Cali or NY...where there is likely a greater concentration of people who would use the products...makes sense to me.
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I don't doubt they are made in Japan
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I don't doubt that either, but I must admit that I had the same thoughts as RobertB when I read their web site. There is just enough being said, but a lot going unsaid. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/surprised.gif
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I think some of that is because they don't announce who is making their knives. My guess is it's more to deter competition than to be mysterious. A competitor could get to the same knife maker and launch their own line for example
I mean look at what these guys did, they took over an expired name, hired a maker, and launched their business that way http://www.forgecraft.co/
I mean look at what these guys did, they took over an expired name, hired a maker, and launched their business that way http://www.forgecraft.co/
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