Knives..what are your favorites?

[S21FOLGORE]

No Country for Old Steel
(The future of White steel & RIP Hitachi steel)



[Disclaimer] There are no firearms in this video!
“Hitachi steel” no longer exist.
The company with so much history and story was sold to Bain Capital (Boston, MA, USA), back in the summer of 2021.

The new company’s name is “Proterial”.

“So what?”
Some of you might ask.

I made this video because of the comment someone left on my 2-year old video.
(I don’t re-watch my old videos. The only reason I read that comment was because of Youtube notification.)
Basically, the comment says how he’s close to Shinich at Watanabe blade, and how his (Watanabe blade) heat treatment is precise, even Hitachi steel takes Watanabe’s data as reference for R&D.
Which, I don’t care and am not interested at all, EXCEPT for the last part.

Does this person know the fact that Hitachi Steel no longer exist?
Does he know that White steel is NOT making any real profit to the company?
The design philosophy of this product (white steel) is the product of the days gone by.

It is NOT an easy steel to forge (heat treat) properly.
It requires years of experience AND a lot of practice.

It is NOT an easy steel for the end user, either.
It gets corroded VERY easily and quickly.
It will chip easily, if you’re not careful.
It won’t hold the edge that long.

Just like, the original 1911 in .45ACP which …
…requires a lot of practice and experience, to use it safely and efficiently.
…isn’t the easy option for the shooters.
…AD / ND can happen very easily if the person is oblivious
… holds only 7-round (in original magazine).

They are full of anachronism.


The biggest downside is it takes unnecessary (by today’s standard) amount of training and practice, which isn’t required with most of other options.
The whole reason it stayed in production, even though it hasn’t been really making money, is because of the “Japanese mentality”.

Now, the top of the company who’s making decision are no longer Japanese people, there’s a good chance of White Steel line getting discontinued in near future.

The link to Proterial “YSS (Yasugi Specialty Steel) date sheet
https://www.proterial.com/e/yss/search/shirogami1.html

Video I posted 2 years ago
https://youtu.be/JMrHE6HqgvI?si=C2mELAIJQNEqqEdu

[S21FOLGORE]

Natural Stone that you can actually afford / real world Yanagiba Hi Performance sharpening




Demonstrating how I use these natural stones for real world working knives.
Yes, there is a way to try, to experience the world of natural stone sharpening, without breaking the bank.

The inspiration


Warrior Poet Society channel
https://www.youtube.com/@WarriorPoetSociety

Music
Artist name: Lance Conrad
Song Name: High Noon (light version) (instrumental)
License#: 6211712683
file:///Users/macbookpro/Downloads/Audiio_Lance%20Conrad_High%20Noon%20(Light%20Version)%20(Instrumental)1715297830734.pdf

[S21FOLGORE]

Two knives under 7 minutes
Natural stone sharpening #2
Two stones, newspapers, that’s all you need.


Quick follow-up of the previous video.
Demonstrating how to use natural stone in the real life.

Don’t waste your time & money.
You don’t need anything fancy.
1000 and 6000-8000 grit stone, and some newspapers, that’s all you’ll need.

[S21FOLGORE]

There are better cases for the sushi chefs…
You just didn’t notice (Thinking outside of the box)



I HATE those knife rolls and knife bags you see all the time on internet.
Why anybody seriously buy these things is beyond me.

I just recently realized that I’ve always had nice transporting case/bag.

[Disclaimer]
There are no firearms in this video.

[S21FOLGORE]

TOC knife, by Jack Carr x New West Knife Works

Jack_Carr_TOC by T K, on Flickr

Just received yesterday (July 24th. Wednesday).
TOC stands for Tactical Outdoor Chef knife.
It’s a collaboration between Jack Carr and New West Knife works.

Typically, knives advertised as “Outdoor Cooking Knife (kitchen Knife)” are real P.O.S.
(And quite often, the designer of these knives have never actually used the blade.)

Not this one. And this is “half tactical, half camp kitchen knife”, NOT a 100% cooking knife.

I used it for making my dinner tonight, and took some video.
I have only one good photo, at this moment.
But, this one was so much fun to play with. I will write more, later.
(And definitely make some videos.)

[S21FOLGORE]

TOC knife#2 July 27th. Saturday

Three more pictures.

I’m working on the video.

Sheathed
Sheathed_1 by T K, on Flickr

Size AND Blade Profile comparison, with
Takamura R2 Santoku (180mm)
Chris Reeve Sikayo (6.5-in)
Size_3 by T K, on Flickr

You can probably tell, why I don’t use Santoku, and why I’m so happy with TOC.
THAT CLIP POINT is so nice!
Yes, I know I’m a minority (who likes really sharp, pointy tip)
And that preference is NOT about aesthetics, but about the function, the way I use my knives.
(Will have to go to work now. I’ll post the video once it’s uploaded.)

Swedge Grind
Swedge grind by T K, on Flickr

[S21FOLGORE]

Video uploaded

[short knife film] TOC knife day one, Jack Carr + New West Knife works

[S21FOLGORE]

Pro Sushi Chef’s knife story [Sugimoto 2524 slicer and Tsukiji Masamoto Deba]



Experimental video
Shot entirely on GoPro (Hero10, if it matters to you) at my work, WITHOUT permission.
Lighting is terrible.
Audio is pretty much unusable.
Framing / composition too boring, nothing to talk about it.
Trying to save otherwise useless footage.

[S21FOLGORE]

Paper cut “test” is a total bul&sh*t



Quick demo & explanation of “why paper cut test is total Bu&^ Sh*t”.
And my “rolled up towel cut” is NOT a test, it’s just a demonstration.
I don’t need to cut anything to “test” an edge.
Murray Carter’s three-finger test, sharpie test, that’s all I need to check the edge.

[S21FOLGORE]

TOC vs Takamura R2 Santoku vs Spydiechef, cutting Salmon, Avocado, Tomato



Preparing my lunch with TOC (Tactical Outdoor Chef) knife(blade designed by Jack Carr), along with Takamura R2 Santoku, and Spyderco Spydiechef.

This is NOT a test. Not even a comparison. This is just a “slice of a life” kind of story of a guy who happens to be a sushi chef and a big fan of adventure story.

Originally I was going to make this video with the sharpening sequence of this knife (which I already recorded and started editing), but I changed my mind.
This video works better without putting too much stuff in it.

Shot entirely on Fuji X-H2, with just one lens, vintage Canon FD 24mm f2 (with Metabones Speed booster, as always).

I normally shoot my videos with 50mm, 85mm. Sometimes 35mm. Rarely go any wider than 35mm, but for this video, I needed 24mm. (The widest angle lens I own.)
Turned out pretty good. (35mm would have been too tight. I also have 28mm which might have worked just as well. But, overall, I’m happy with the way it looks.

[S21FOLGORE]

Pork cut test, again, with TOC, Takamura R2 Santoku, Spydiechef.(+ Small Sebenza 31)




I cut Pork, Onion, Carrot, and Garlic with those knives.

What I noticed, while cutting foods using these knives back to back,…

Spydiechef has worst food drag of the bunch

 TOC is the king when it comes to "meat cutting', which doesn't surprise me that the knife being crossover of "tactical" and "kitchen".
 (Keywords, penetration, cutting through fibers, protein, fat, connective tissues)

Overall winner is, of course, Takamura R2 Santoku. (For cooking duty)

Small Sebenza is surprisingly capable, for its size.

IF you don’t have a dedicated kitchen knife with proper geometry, forget about slicing vegetables thin.

[S21FOLGORE]

Are 420HC, AUS-8 still relevant in 2024?



Steel snobs live in the world of internet.
And they don’t cut anything, well, other than paper and tomato.
(Because they want to preserve their precious knives’ edge. Because at the moment the edge of your knife touches on the sharpening stone, the resale value goes down drastically.
They don’t use the knives, don’t want to use them.
Yet, they talk about edge retention all day long…