First impression Hezhen Yanagiba - 110 Layers Coreless Retro Series Sashimi Knife

[@rexseven6907]

A couple years ago, I bought a 210mm deba and 270mm yanagiba from Hezhen. Retro series. Rosewood handle and X9CR18 blade. Quality was very good except for a small bent tip on the yanagiba that I stoned off. Hardness was right on and the edge was sharp. I don't use them much, but they have held up well for me. Really nice looking knives.

[@chefpanko]

Thank you for sharing your experience, always good to see what others think of it.

[@tylermelton1746]

So I own the kiritsuke yanagiba version of this knife and here's a bit of extra info on the knife. Obviously is real Damascus and the steels used to make the Damascus are 10cr15comov (Chinese version of Vg10) and 9Cr18MoV. I have sharpened the knife since and it takes a really nice edge. The hande is really nice, I can feel the white copper spacers too but not enough to really make it uncomfortable. The black parts on the top and bottom of the handle are buffalo horn not g10 wood is north American iron wood and they claim the white part is white ox bone. I don't know how true all of that is but I know that the black bits are real buffalo horn from working with handles with buffalo horn ferrules. Quite challenging to Sharpen however just because, at least on the kiritsuke yanagi version the taper on the blade and the "twist" in the bevel is quite prominent. What u mean by that is that due to the way a yanagiba of any kind is made with the taper from heel to tip, to get an even bevel the angle along thr bevel needs to change. Basically thr bevel angle at the tip is lower than thr bevel angle at the heel for any yanagiba with a taper and most yanagibas in general. That only reason I don't like that in thr knife I have is that it make the blade extremely hard to polish well on stones. So that's my only complaint, there is too much angle variation to have a really good even stone polish done on it without finger stones. All in all an amazing knife that I love using. My kiritsuke yanagiba version is also a 270mm blade

[@luisoliveira7107]

Thanks for the good work chef panko, I bought my first xinzuo steel 1.4116 model chef waiting for it to arrive, your videos are very helpful to people who want to buy quality knives without spending so much money

[@chefpanko]

Thank you for the comment hope you like the knife when it arrives!

[@chopsddy3]

Wow. That is beautifully ground! I would love to see it glide through a soft piece of fish. Don’t leave us hanging. 🫵😁 Thanks. I enjoyed this immensely.👍

[@chefpanko]

haha, thanks for the comment! The good news is a full review will definitely come. 🙂 The bad..... 🤐🤐🤐 it will take a while since I have to upload the other 15+ full review videos from the other knives. 😅

[@drrayeye]

Great first impression! In many ways, it seems like a great companion to the 110 layer deba I have. Same handle, same damascus design, and same attention to detail.

[@chefpanko]

Thanks! As you may know, the Deba was not in stock so could not get that from Xinzuo but who knows I might get to test it when they are back in stock (This Yanagiba was also a later shipment since it was not in stock too).

[@theredbar-cross8515]

The material at the handle bolster (the black part) is almost definitely G10, a nylon polymer material that is very often used on outdoor or folding knives in the US. It's ideal for the application since it has very high tensile strength, while still being stiff. Chinese makers often use it as well. You won't find many Chinese handles using natural animal-based materials like horn in their handles because of legal restrictions on horns/tusks in China.

[@chefpanko]

Good to know! I never look at the specs when I do the first impressions videos as it takes away the surprise element and I need to base everything as I go so real-time no research only based on my experience with the knife style that is in front of me. As this was a Yanagiba it is a knife style that I'm well aware of since that was my main knife for years when I used to work at the restaurant. So it was surprising and refreshing to see as my past with Chinese-made Yanagiba's, and Deba's were all not good. Some of them had horrendous concave, like sure a Yanagiba needs to have a concave but some of the Yanagiba have more like a halfpipe than a barely visible concave. Also before the knife was sent I told Xinzuo are you sure you want me to review the Yanagiba? And explained my journey to him and he was convinced that the knife would be good as they spent extra attention on the grind. One thing to note is that the mirror finish will eventually have to be destroyed when we sharpen the Yanagiba beyond the first factory edge. (You can get away with a few sharpening sessions on a higher angle but eventually, the edge will be too thick and need a complete flat grind on highering the Shinogi line so that it gets gradually thinned on each sharpening session). Getting the mirror grind back is too much effort and not practical for sushi chefs as you will spend a lot of time getting the finish back and trying to fix low spots.

[@theredbar-cross8515]

@@chefpanko Looks like Xinzuo (do you mean Hezhen?) was pretty confident of their product. That's good to see. I'm also not surprised that the older models weren't up to par. Single bevel knives are not something that Chinese knife makers have any experience with since all Chinese knives are doubled beveled.

[@chefpanko]

@@theredbar-cross8515 Hezhen is a sub-brand from Xinzuo (did a Q&A with the co-founder on my website link is in the description), never tried any other single bevel models from Xinzuo/Hezhen other than this one so can't judge on those. But with other brands from China, I have tested multiple single-bevel ones that had extremely bad anatomy, steel was getting dull very fast or was not sharp tearing the fish, etc. So gave up trying to find a Chinese-made Yanagiba, Deba, and all other variations with single bevels. So refreshing to see that the double bevels have improved and that the single bevel in this case, the one in this video looks very promising. (But we are talking like 3/4 years back so a lot has changed since then, but after those early experiences I never bothered trying or looking for one that was made in China). Also, with the speed they accelerate in terms of Xinzuo/Hezhen, they suddenly came out of nowhere with newer versions and improved blade grinds (for a few years the blade grinds have been stagnating and pretty much the same with all other Chinese-made brands which is just on the acceptable level nothing extraordinary or exciting it just passes the basics but now with the improved grind out of nowhere, it is quite crazy to see how fast it accelerates with the updates).

[@theredbar-cross8515]

@@chefpanko Never knew that about Hezhen! Yeah, some new Chinese companies have a culture of never being satisfied, and so they keep trying to new things, not all of which go well, but they keep trying. I wish more Japanese makers would adopt similar mindsets and try new designs. Kurosaki Yuu is one of the few guys who seems to really innovating.

[@chefpanko]

@@theredbar-cross8515 Yeah in the past I did not know either and always told others in the comment: ‘Hezhen is pretty much similar if not the same as Xinzuo in terms of QC and heat treatment’ ‘The 10Cr15CoMoV from Xinzuo and Hezhen is currently one of the best I have tried compared to other brands.’ That was on November 11th, 2020. (The article is also on my website with my discovery of the Xinzuo/Hezhen brand will add a link in a separate comment so that YT does not delete the comment). But it is finally clear that Hezhen is a sub-brand from Xinzuo with a different focus.

[@jekciso]

I'm going to buy that

[@chefpanko]

Let me know what you think once you get it :)

[@guyharrison909]

So does the concavity affect cutting performance? Also what would the steel be equivalent to VG10? AUS10?

[@chefpanko]

Yes, with Yanagiba's there are a few important aspects to understand the importance of one of the aspects which is the concave part. The length needs to be long enough for the purpose/application. The purpose of a Yanagiba is to slice Shashimi importance of the length is that it needs to be long enough to avoid any downward pressure. So when you draw the knife from heel to tip through the fish there is less need for downward pressure and you let the knife do all the work for you. If your Yanagiba is too short for the application you need more downward pressure and that destroys the cells of the fish since the more downward pressure you apply the more the fish will tear. In the Japanese professional kitchen, there is a huge range of cutting techniques applied to enhance flavor, texture, and appearance. And that included using specialized for each task. While I won't discuss all, as it would be a long explanation. The blade is never pushed or cut but is drawn/pulled smoothly back without adding any pressure or downward force. (Let the blade do the work for you). There are even many Yanagiba variations for each type of fish and traditions of the region in Japan such as the Takohiki which was in the past mainly used in the Kanto area. Or the Fugubiki wich whose sole purpose is to slice blowfish ''Fugu'' they modified the Yanagiba to make a Fubihiki the difference is that the blade thickness and spine are thinner so that you can cut paper thin of the flesh from a fish. Now the concave part: ''Sogizukiri'' also called ''Sogigiri'': is used to slice very thin fish, improving texture (Example: Nigiri slices). Since we want total control without any extra force, we sushi chefs use the fingertip grip, We can also feel how smoothly the knife goes through the fish, and if we miss pulling out a pin-bone, we can stop and pull it out without risking chipping a high Rockwell (62+) blade. (if you add speed, then only add ''speed'' but don't at any ''pressure'' or ''downward force'' with speed). How do you know you added too much speed and force? Many restaurants now even prep nigiri and sashimi slices beforehand. If the kitchen paper beneath the salmon is soaked in fish juices during the shift, you know you tore the salmon flesh. (Reduce speed, force, pressure, downward force, or your knife is dull and go back to a controlled speed; do not sacrifice quality for speed). Why is the concave so important? well, it created air pockets on the surface while applying this technique. This means less drag and rolling of the fish on the concave part. But If the concave is too pronounced it will roll the fish and that increases drag. The same applies to Hirazukiri slicing (a slicing technique to slice thick cuts of sashimi) (Example is at 00:54 pause the video and see the top right picture). It is used to slice like that from heel to tip. As you can see the bottom part got torn due to the concave on that knife which was a brand called Huiwill and was also made in China ''DO NOT BUY''! (Also the steel was horrible besides the extremely bad anatomy despite looking the same but upon further inspection, they missed every single detail). The same for the Deba of that same brand Never have I seen a Deba so bad (ok there were 4 more Deba's that were bad that were made in China never bothered making a video about them as it was a waste of my time). There are more slicing techniques with a Yanagiba but these 2 explain the importance of the concave. In terms of steel performance, I would say similar/equivalent to to the VG10+VG1 coreless knife. This knife is a 10Cr15CoMoV + 9Cr18CoMoV coreless knife. So based on the same methods but with their own equivalent steels. Which on paper should have a finer steel grain which adds its own benefit compared to just VG10 or just 10Cr15CoMoV. Sorry for the long reply, did not know how else to explain the importance of the concave.

[@dimmacommunication]

So hezhen is a sub brand ?

[@chefpanko]

Yup, Hezhen is a sub-brand from Xinzuo.

[@jiahaotan696]

Maybe it's time for you to learn some very basic Chinese! :P Xinzuo - 'Xin' means "trust"(trustworthy) 'Zuo' means "made" Together it means "made by a trustworthy (company)" Hezhen - "he" means "harmonious" among other things "zhen" means "arrive" and "to attain a high level" Together it could mean "harmonious perfection" I think it would be good to start by learning the four (sometimes said as five) basic tones of standard Mandarin, of which there are a good many KZbin videos available to instruct you.

[@chefpanko]

haha, maybe it is time!!! But how do you rate my current Mandarin pronunciation out of 10? (I think I did pretty good :P.......)

[@jiahaotan696]

Waiting for the full review! I need to see this thing cutting stuff and how sharp it is. Your Mandarin is pretty good. I'm actually ethnically Chinese, but usually speak English 99% of the time, so my "mother tongue", Mandarin, is actually fairly bad compared to the Chinese and Taiwanese... enough to get by and critique you, lol. Xinzuo is read with 'xin' and 'zuo' both in the fourth tone Hezhen is read with 'he' in second tone and 'zhen' in first tone.

[@chefpanko]

@@jiahaotan696 I take it! First time I heard that it is pretty good! :)

[@jiahaotan696]

@@chefpanko Have you been to HK yet? You'd probably need to learn Cantonese for HK LOL but I think you will be kind of understood if you go to Taiwan or mainland China with some help from Google translate. haha

[@chefpanko]

@@jiahaotan696 Yeah I have been to HK if I want to eat where the locals eat I must have Google Translate to translate the menu! I have been to China once and then never again due to Visa problems (which a Visa company may have figured out as to why I was declined so when I plan to go I might finally get my Visa sorted). Never been to Taiwan and really want to visit Singapore. Heard that for food Taiwan is recommended! I definitely plan to explore Asia more, as I can always go around Europe since I'm from Europe. My road trip plans with friends in USA were canceled due to the pandemic and we never planned the trip after so many places I wanted to go! Also saw many KZbin travel channels in India which seems like an experience to me!