Overhyped/ underrated knives

Sorry I was wrong. I just watched my old video about it and I see that when I laid knife flat on the right side and pressed on the bevel then was rising the spine of the stone. When I've done that on the other side then I couldn't lift it. This is the reason why I couldn't rise the bevel near heel. Also flat face of the blade was concaved and this will bring a lot of problems in the future. HT is good but construction is bad.

 

that concavity is what makes takedas so good! instead of raising the bevel, perhaps try to grind away the 'shoulder' so that it is not quite so aggressive but a smoother transition. if that doesn't fix it for you, perhaps this knife just doesn't suit you.

 

concavity is intentional. the crazy shoulders on the bevels are intentional. sorry man but these things arent quality control issues, the knife was designed this way. just buy a thin behind the edge laser instead. and when every piece of food that you cut into sticks to the blade like a sponge.....

 

Actually some of my lasers do a respectable job with regard to sticking. My Takeda is one of them. There certainly do seem to be some log splitter Takedas out there though, and I do not know what their appeal would be.

 

if the forge is not proper, then that's quite unfortunate and i would be quite pissed. however if it's just a thinning issue well i've said my peace on that subject.

 

Squirrel I do not own Takeda. Somebody asked me to thin it. Maybe it is a good knife, as you said, but as for me it is a wedgy monster. Man I couldn't cut potato or carrot with it. That means for me that it is a bad knife. Global cut way better than this knife. Trust me. I would also add that all things I am saying are based on only two knife I have seen. Maybe rest of them are different.

 

the steel and grind on the 3 dt itk gyutos i owned in the past was not to my liking. profile was acceptable on 270mm gyuto, but i had a hard time with push cuts on the 2 240mm gyutos i owned. steel qualities were disappointing. i much preferred kono hd steel, suisin inox honyaki, tanaka g3, and gesshin ginga swedish stainless. the reason i owned 3 different dt itks at different times was because i felt due to the hype they certainly must be high value knives. nope, they just cant compete performance wise with similarly priced jknives overseas. dt itk had terrific fit and finish and outstanding handles though. my opinions are based on 3 aeb l dt itk gyutos. never tried the carbon versions.

 

that statement confuses me however ill take your word for it. ive used around 2 dozen globals and 5 takedas and their wasnt a single global that came anywhere close in performance to what i saw with takedas. if youre looking for a thin behind the edge knife you really shouldnt consider takeda. however, if you want a knife that pushes food away with every stroke and makes your prep work more efficient then takeda is your man.

 

I remember reading the review of takeda gyuto on zknives first time, back then they were $240 for 270 mm. Now it will cost you $370. Back then all the reviews were about the edge retention which I believe still is true, thinness of the blade which still is pretty much same and good grind with some concavity which led to good food release . If you look at the older takedas you can see exposed cladding is quite high in kuro uchi . Now it seems like they are quite low and these lower shoulders are what is causing the wedging . I am sure you can still thin the blade but i wouldn't want to buy a $370 project knife . Also keep in mind since they gained quite a good reputation overseas their production must have increases dramatically .it sounds like they cut some corners to be able to keep up with demand.

 

Squirrel I am not considering buying Takeda because I just don't like them. I have Kato gyuto and petty and other knives as well and don't need Takeda. You see we are arguing here about two knives I've seen. I can give you a nice example of exactly same situation which happened last year on JNS gathering. We woke up at the morning and while drinking coffe Kim Brønnum brought his Masakage. So Bieniek took this knife and put it together with Itinomonn and Devon Thomas gyuto. All knives had similar sharpness. He cut a cabbage with all three knives and I recorded that. Masakage just stopped in half of the cabbage and Bieniek had to use two hands to split that damn vegetable. I showed that movie on Polish knives forum and you know what?? All Masakage defenders wanted to kill me. Trust me there was a war on forum because of that. I told them that Masakage was a crappy knife because I've seen that in person.. This was only my statement about one knife. This can be same with Takeda. I've seen two Takeda which were bad...

 

Overhyped: Masamoto KS. I'd get a Sakai Yusuke if I were to do it again

 

this thread is getting spicy op

Greg its day and night since i got back from Shosui. your global dont stand a chance now lmao

 

Magnus but first you had to send it to me and then back to Takeda. You should admit that it is unacceptable. I am happy that I am not using my Global, only my girlfriend. I have to say that Global were my first proper knives and then I was really scared to use them

 

Yes i didnt like the wedge shoulders at all. but i guess some like it. let them

 

so your criteria of what makes a knife crappy is whether or not it can go through a cabbage(or carrot) without needing some force? if splitting big objects is the only use for a knife then i could see where that would be a most critical point. however there is A LOT more to cutting food than that.

i have seen that video and i will say this, ive used both a itinomon and a DT, did not care for either although the itinomon had potential. i havent tried a masakage, but i bet you it is the better cutter out of the three in actual usage not just 'cabbage test'.

 

Panda I just said what I have seen. How can you say that Masakage is bettercutter if you didn't try it? My statement that Masakage is a crappy knife could have been wrong because I just have seen one knife. I red many reviews and I think that I could get one. So once again I will say that from ''what I have seen'' Takedas weren't that good before thinning,sending back to Japan. If knife cannot go through carrot then what else I can cut comfortably with it? If I a buy gyuto then it should be all arround knife.

 

Its hard for me to say whats overhyped and underrated knives as I haven't tried to many brands and makers.
Overhyped I would think is when you feel you got less then expected, and underrated is where you get more than expected.

Best value for the money and more that I expected must have been: Carter and Marko
Less than I expected: Shigefusa

I don't think Shigefusa made a bad knife, I was just amazed how reactive the steel was. I guess it could grow on me, but Im like a child, if I don't like it at once its not for me. Maybe it could in time, but I will never know as the knife is gone. But even though I never tried konosuke, masamoto and hundreds of other brands, Ive ended up with just a few makers in my kitchen. Its like buying a car, you probably end up buying the same brand without the knowledge about the other brands.

All in all, Im very pleased with the DT ITK as some mentions being overhyped, Im also very pleased with the customs of DT. Holding his knife just feels right, and for me he is one of the best makers out there. Regarding his damascus I personally think he is the best in the world. Its something about the pureness in his damascus that just hit the spot for me. I know makers like Mattias Styrefors, makes damascus out of this world, but still DTs work just amazes me. I hope one day to have a 150 feather petty and a 180 ladder gyuto from him.

 

Have to disagree, I love my KS and wouldn't give it up for a Sakai Yusuke. But we all know in the world of knives it's all about personal preference.

 

was merely making a silly guess tongue in cheek, haha.

i have no doubt the takedas you tried were not ideal and needed work which suggest there is clearly a quality control issue. however, those are only isolated instances. i got a shigefusa before and that thing wedged like crazy, but i didn't go out boasting that it was a piece of crap (it was used, but geometry was never altered as it still had stock finish), just needed thinning and then it was as good as advertised.

 

The Takedas I've used were thin behind the edge lasers. What happened?