H, thank you. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Now, here's the short knife horror story...
Yanagiba Horror storyDSCF2878 by
T K, on Flickr
So, there’s a new guy at the restaurant I currently work.
A polite, quiet guy with 3-4 years of experience, eager to learn more professional advanced type of work, which is a good thing.
He brought a couple of knives to work.
And, one of them caught my eyes.
Look at the photos.
It’s HORRIBLE !
This Yanagiba is DEAD. There’s no way you can fix it.
I asked him if he did it himself.
He said, someone (at one of the places he previously worked) sold this to him.
Said this is a very high end, expensive knife. (It is NOT.)
Said the recurve near the heal is easy to fix. (It is NOT. Said so most probably he couldn’t hide it.)
DSCF2877 by
T K, on Flickr
When I heard the amount of money he paid for this knife, I felt so sad. I told him NEVER, ever, buy “used” Yanagiba. Doesn’t matter who the seller is. Just don’t.
Look at the entire pictures. You’ll know why it is unrepairable.
The fatal damage is back bevel, and entire backside is totally rounded, as if it were double beveled knife.
DSCF2879 by
T K, on Flickr
And because of this, there’s no steel left.
You can’t restore the back side. This knife is dead.
DSCF2880 by
T K, on Flickr
DSCF2881 by
T K, on Flickr
Another thing I want all of you to keep in mind is the signature sort of thing chiseled on the blade.
It says “Itto-sai, Kotetsu (一刀斎 虎徹)”. ”Kotetsu (虎徹) is a very famous sword smith in mid 1600. Itto-sai(一刀斎) is a very famous sword master in mid - late 1500.
A kitchen knife maker who’d put that sort of name on his / their knives are … sort of stupid.
(Notice there’s no relation between “Itto-sai” and “Kotetsu”?
This is like naming your kitchen knife as “Jim Bowie Excalibur”, or “John Rambo Bowie”.
Just plain stupid.
I personally avoid this type of people, 100%.