Robert's 185mm W2 Ko-Gyuto

Hey guys! First...I just wanted to say, this one is really sort of special to me...and if I could talk Robert into letting me make him another so I could keep it, I would. It is very much visually, as well as physically a little brother to the passaround gyuto, and I couldn't be happier with the end product. From the handle (honestly this was very much Robert's idea! I just implemented it to the new handle shape and adjusted it slightly...the result was far beyond my expectations!), to the blade, geometry, and polish...I feel this is some of my best work.

Anyhow, enough talk, let me share some pictures!!



The blade as said is 185mm long, and just under 50mm on the heel. It is a laser in the truest sense, though the geometry does have a few tricks applied to reduce stiction as well as improve stiffness in the main body of the blade. The thickest spot on this blade over the heel is 1.73mm (it's thicker on the neck of course), and it descends in thickness in every direction from there. When Robert commissioned me to make him a ko-gyuto, his exact words were 'kitchen scalpel'. I think we reached that goal and surpassed it .

As always, I welcome your comments and critique, and thanks for looking!

 

If I ever need to get a picture for the word "awesomeness", I'll just take a random photo from the post above.

 

Wow, beautiful looking knife!! the facets on the handle look great:cool1

 

What a beautiful piece of art!!!

 

Thanks guys!

Functional art Al! This little knife works even better than it looks .

 

The fact that I ended up with this piece is a testament to the benefits of being a picky, fickle, equivocating, hounding customer.

Before this piece, my favorite from Cris was Warren's gyuto, and our previous ko-gyuto iteration was a distant second. Very fortunately for the both of us, we were held back from shipping just long enough to see this new piece emerge. It was from a few that came out of the quench with a crisper habuchi rather than the more billowing ones that folks might normally look for. Though having a big puffy line with lots of secondary effects tends to be popular in sword circles, I personally have seen and done it enough to not be so smitten; and the cleaner, tighter line was an excellent personality match for the knife profile and geometry.

Equally fortunately, this was when Cris also started with his idea for a recurve handle. He had a super-old prototype that had some promise but wasn't really my style and didn't look right on my knives, but when he returned to the idea and developed it into the first new style, I (and several others) were quickly convinced it was, at least visually, a winner. when that yielded the "tiger shark" handle that went on the passaround, it was tentatively for my blade. Totally worked out for the passaround blade though, so we tried to go for another.

Koa or more black-dyed mango? Shorter? Thinner? Half-round, half-octagon? Our tastes have clashed on a couple (not many) occasions, but there's a shared core aesthetic that I think speaks to both me and Cris, and I wanted to chase that while trimming weight from the handle (light knives need just a bit more forward balance IMO). After some exchanged thoughts and a random idea or two, then some pine prototypes, the faceted swell handle emerged. I told Cris I trusted his intuition and the result is quite pleasing.

The previous ko-gyuto iteration we were approaching for some time had the handle swapped for something different (tht final profuct turned out much better than before too), and was sold quickly enough that I wasn't overcome with guilt for changing things midstream.

I look forward to seeing this in person, and must say it's the piece I'm most excited about getting and trying out.

I could have saved the story for a later review, but felt it was more appropriate here.

 

Simply outstanding. An absolute beautiful knife. 10/10!

 

man that handle.... that now has me thinking lol,

That is a gorgeous knife Cris

 

Robert...that covers the story pretty much exactly lol! Robert and I have over 55 pages worth of PM's...with messages encompassing many subjects, but mostly centered on this knife. He originally contacted me in July of last year, and while the first version of this knife was finished relatively early, we decided to hold off shipping it as he said, mostly in order to wait for me to complete various side pieces (the Itinomon for example) so they could all be shipped together. The original version of the knife was a very nice knife!...but I think neither of us were completely happy with it. Our communication at the time was good, and we had definitely become friends...but I was hesitant to dictate to Robert in areas I felt strongly about, and I'm pretty sure he felt the same towards me. We went through a number of handles (all of which were very nice in their own right I think...just not 'right' for the project for one or the other of us), and two blades (both pictured below, with two of the handles). The end result was, as I said...a great little knife that didn't really do much for either of us lol.


The knife we finally decided on was the bottom blade, with the top handle. Again...a great knife!! Just not 'the knife' for Robert.

Anyhow, fast forward to now. We had MONTHS of being able to communicate in a relaxed fashion without the pressure of making a project work...and got to know each other pretty well I think. His side projects were worked on slowly (thankfully!!), which gave the ko-gyuto that would become his time to be born . Once he decided he wanted the new blade, communication on the project was more relaxed, and the exchange of ideas flowed much more smoothly. As he said, I'd changed a few things in what I was doing, and was developing the new handle design as it was in a quest to fix something I felt was missing aesthetically from my knives. The new design was heavier though, which was something only the largest of my knives could handle (my blades are thin and light, even the biggest of them). Robert liked the overall shape, but at its weight it never would have worked with such a feather of a blade. So, we went looking for a design that would really lighten the handles while maintaining my aesthetics.

The result of that communication speaks for itself I think!

He even got one of his side projects finished with it, lol .

 

Thanks James and Bill!!

James, you've got awhile before you have to decide lol...but let me know if that's the direction you're leaning. I have enough red mallee burl to pull it off if you choose .

 

i am leaving in that direction... bit i also like the wood in that last picture lol

 

I have a TON of buckeye burl lol. If you go that route, you'll have no shortage of options .

 

I like the mixture of xolour between light and dark, with dark being at the top as well as the spacer proportions... lol when its my turn PM me but this seems to be a much bigger er mer gerd moment then last time

 

Woah... That is indescribable. Hands down the most interesting & original handle shape I've seen. Would love to hear how it feels in hand. Really intriguing taper. And I totally agree balance should be forward on lighter knives. That's one hell of a knife Robert please post some feedback after use

 

Geo, speaking as the only guy on the forum who's handled it to date...it feels incredible. Better than any of my other handles hands down...and none of them are in the least uncomfortable. From my understanding, a number of guys at the ECG were overheard commenting on the surprising comfort of the passaround's handle, which is a cross between this and a typical wa handle (same profile, only octagonal). My knives are perfectly comfortable to me with no handle at all though, so its tough for me to give a difinitive and objective answer to you there.

The coolest thing about it though...is its sort of universal regardless of hand size. A pinch grip on my knives puts your middle finger on the choil in front of the ferrule. Your ring and pinky finger fall onto the handle. With a typical wa handle...if its small, big guy's grip suffers. If its big, little guys handa feel overstretched. The taper in both height and thickness on this very short (in length...it doesn't need to be long because of the choil) handle is very aggressive. Big hands fall farther back onto a larger part of the handle...small hands find their place on a narrower and shorter part. The constant is the spine locked into your palm, and the neck/ferrule junction locked into your middle finger. In a pointer finger on the spine grip, the whole thing feels secure because the swell is right where it belongs...under your weakest two fingers.

Overall its the best feeling kitchen knife handle I've ever felt...bar none (yes...even rivaling the westerns I've handled)...but again...I'm sort of biased .

 

Homerun!

 

oh lord I might have caught the buckeye burl bug again

 

Thanks! The handle shape/profile is mine, the idea for the dual taper was Robert's. The marriage of the two is sort of magic lol. Robert got the knife safely yesterday and says he loves the ergonomics...so I know it's not just me now lol .

 

Yeah the handle works very well for me, but I'm not much of a cook and don't know if it'll appeal to everyone. For Cris and me so far, it's a winner, but people more qualified than I will need to add their opinions as it is a bit unorthodox.

My impression of the knife is positive. It's really a beautiful shape, and the hamon is very well suited to the knife, which is insanely thin. The maker's mark is neatly etched and well positioned.


But what just blows me away is how thin the knife is. Most people have a limit beyond which a knife can be "too thin". This is pretty close to my limit. For reference, here is the tip of Cris's ko-gyuto (top) compared to that of a superlaser Yusuke "extra thin" (bottom):

For what it's worth, the coin is around 1.5mm thick and is similar to an American cent.

I have yet to cut with the knife, but I'll be getting to that soon.

So far, very pleased.

 

Mods should add something like "[WARNING! EXTREME KNIVES PORN]" to the title of this thread