210mm Gyuto(hiki!)

This knife was a bit of an experiment for me. In the past, I always liked smaller knives...I have a small board at home, and don't have huge hands. I also tended to prefer sleeker profiles, with less heel height. These preferences have changed as I've grown more accustomed to having quality knives for cooking around the house, but when I made this knife, those things clearly still had a hold on my creative processes on some level.

Overall stats:
Weight - 173g
Balance right at the ferrule (its a tad handle heavy in my opinion...the blade came out a good bit lighter than I expected for various reasons)
Edge length - 210mm (8.3")
Heel to belly (flat part of edge) - 115mm (4.5")
Overall length - 355mm (14")
Height at heel - 40mm (1.57")
Height at midblade - 33.5mm (1.34")
Height 5cm from tip - 19mm (.75")
Blade: W1 drill rod.
Spine thickness is 2.35mm above the heel, 2.27mm midblade, and .50mm 1cm from the tip.
Thickness 1cm above the edge is 1.14mm above the heel, 1.10mm midblade, and .5mm 1cm from the tip.



This blade started life as a part of 1" W1 drill rod. Breaking that thing down by hand wasn't pleasant. It wasn't the worst thing I've done by hand...but it was damn close.



Blade profile. The handle wood is, if I recall...a piece of buckeye burl, with nickel silver and box elder burl spacers. I got it from Myron at DreamBurls, as part of a sale he was doing of wood from Stefan Keller's collection.



A couple closer pictures of the handle etc.


Choil.


In hand!


That's a lot of onions folks! @sachem allison did me the kind favor of testing this knife for me for a few weeks (and eventually ended up owning it1). It had a different, much bulkier handle back then though.


And an art shot of the hamon while polishing, lol.

 

This looks outstanding . You have have my attention.

 

Thank you sir!

 

I wonder how it feels in hand with pinch grip. While I really like the look of knife, that area on the heel looks questionably. Would be nice to hear how it feels from Son.
Oh, and an awesome handle. Again

 

Thanks! Like I mentioned...that wood came from @Dream Burls, and was from the collection of @apicius9. The handle finished out like live granite/marble. The pictures don't capture the variance in the colors of burl. I was fortunate to happen on that piece!

I was actually just talking on the phone with Son last night about the choil (as it's come up a few times here in the last two days). What he told me was that it's actually very comfortable in use, because it allows your middle finger to find a much more natural placement in a pinch grip. He said that initially he was skeptical...but in use he found it measurably less fatiguing. I'm hoping he makes it by to comment for himself...but he's working 15hr days plus...so it might take a bit, lol. We were on the phone at 11pm my time, which was like 1am his time if I recall, and he had to be back to work at 3am.

The guy's a machine!