Takamura Knives - Uchigumo R2, Magaki R2, Tsuchime Chromax

[@KitchenKnifeGuy]

Watching this right now. ❤

[@nadm]

Thank you buddy. I watched yours tonight with my family.

[@tet5uo]

Nice vid! I'm excited to get my new Takamura Kurogouhan Tsuchime Gyuto that's on the way to my house next week!

[@Alex25CoB]

Merry Christmas, Greg and family!!! Thanks for all your great content and effort you guys put in these videos😊

[@nadm]

Thank you so very much. Merry Christmas.

[@KitchenKnifeGuy]

Haha I too use Costco magazine paper for the paper test. Just got ours today actually. Great video.

[@nadm]

That is awesome!

[@robertdavis171]

I do too. Nice to use exactly what Greg does.

[@deydrm]

I was considering to purchase the Takemura Chromax Santoku. I saw the Chef Knives To Go video for it and the guy commented that it came sharper than average. But in your test 153 bess on the rocker edge isn't that good to me. I wonder if your knife is an exception. Now 100 bess toward the rear is decent. I have a few Japanese chef knives. The sharpest one from the factory is a Yaxell Gou,101 layer damascus,sg2 steel,200mm gyuto. I don't have a bess meter but it cuts a paper towel and sometimes will grab a single hair and cut it. I haven't used that knife yet,only on a few vegetables to see how it cuts. I have been using the Yaxell Gou dimpled Santoku for years now. I had to do a slight reprofile when I first started using it. It got a couple of microchips on the bevel,and I wanted to reduce the edge angle by a few degrees. Now the Santoku has a thicker behind the edge grind compared to the gyuto and it doesn't cut quite as well. I did my best on the King 1000 and 5000 as I could after reprofiling the edge on a DMT diamond plate. My Takayuki 45 layer Swedish damascus AUS10 gyuto is sharper and much thinner behind the edge. I can tell the difference in hardness between the Aus10 damascus and the Yaxell sg2.It takes many more passes on the whetstone to get a burrr on the Yaxell sg2. So I'm wondering if the King whetstones will even sharpen the Chromax if it's truly 64HRc+? I'm on a budget and can't afford buying new whetstones. Maybe just a Suehiro Cerax 1000 is all could could afford. Any thoughts? Another thing. I have a small collection of pocket knives. Budget ones that are made in China. A couple of them have Bohler K110 D2 made by Petrified Fish. The other are D2,and a couple of 14C28n Sandvik. The D2 steel in these knives are as hard as the VG10 in my other Japanese chef knives. In my experience the 14C28n Sandvik steel,and the Chinese 440c stainless steel,is harder than the German Zwilling and Wusthof,top tier,high carbon steel. How do the Chinese make these cheap knives with steel this hard? Only half of my folding knives cost over $50. One,the Bohler K110 Petrified Fish Deep Sea,cost $65. the other half of my knives are under $35.00. Guess what? A few of them are just as sharp as my expensive Japanese chef knives! Jake on Canadian Cutting Edge(CCE) youtube channel has tested many of these knives for factory sharpness. His average is around 140-160 bess.But he has tested some knife brands that have scored under 90 Bess. Knives that cost $52.00 made of D2 steel. A couple of my cheap folding knives can cut paper towels better than my Yaxell Gou Santoku. Now they're not as sharp as the Yaxell Gou Gyuto,but they match my Takayuki Swedish damascus Aus10 gyuto. The latest generation of Chinese folding knives from Civivi,Petrified Fish,Bestech, and Two Sun,are coming with models that have bevels that are under .16 behind the edge. And they cut very well. Under 120 bess is not uncommon for these knives which are under $70. And the edge retention on D2(some tested at 61hrc!) and 14c28n,even the 440c testing out at 58hrc, is respectable. In light of what I know about these cheap Chinese knives,which are actually made pretty well in quality, 150 bess for a chef's knife doesn't impress me much. I'm pretty sure that over half my folding knives would beat 135 bess. And I've only used a ceramic rod and strop to touch up the factory grinds.

[@nadm]

I am telling you the score of 153 is fantastic. Obviously getting something that is the score of 100 is phenomenal. But please do not under mine. Eight 153. Also, we were testing one part of the Blade. You could literally move a millimeter and it be sharper. They are tried and true. They are always sharp and they last a long time. For the price you really just cannot beat it.

[@jeffhicks8428]

The stones you have are made for traditional Japanese style wide bevel low alloy knives, not really for stuff like SG2. But it will cut it. You just need to adjust your technique and finish with lots of gentle edge trailing stokes. As far as abrasives and machinability/edge retention/tenaciousness go, hardness isn't what's important. What's important is what the steel is made of. Don't listen to myths about steels. Any steel that you see used in a mass produced kitchen knive can easily be sharpened with regular abrasives, like the stone you have. The Chromemax steel, while it is harder it's actually easer to grind/dull/sharpen/machine than SG2.. Why? Because SG2 has 50% more carbon and critically it has 2% vanadium vs 0.5%. Chromax doesn't have enough to produce actual vanadium carbides, SG2 does, but only a little bit. Basically the only steels you won't be able to grind on normal abrasives are vanadium steels. Nobody makes kitchen knives out of those steels. All in all, harder steels are actually EASIER to sharpen. Understand what I'm saying, sharpening and grinding/abrasion are not the same thing. Harder steels are harder to abrade, but it's only about 1.5% for each rockwell C value and it only applies for each steel. Meaning 65 rc 52100 is about 10% more abrasion resistant than 59 rc 52100. But 52100 will never have the abrasion resistance of a steel like even VG10 much less SG2 at any hardness. Because it's not the hardness that makes it resistant to abrasion, it's the composition of the steel. As far as the bess test. It's not especially meaningful, it's basically a gimmick. It is not a practical test, it is quantitative but it doesn't measure practical sharpness of a blade or even the keenness of the edge. What it measures is apex acuity in one single point of the edge for each test, with a lot of variability and margin of error.

[@deydrm]

@@jeffhicks8428 I'm thinking of getting the Suehiro Cerax 1000 whetstone and see if I can do a better job sharpening my knives with it. From what I've seen on KZbin,the King 1000 is a true 1000 grit stone. While some say the Cerax 1000 is closer to 2000 grit. But the Cerax 1000 is supposed to cut more and takes less passes to raise a burr. The King 1000 takes many passes to sharpen a dull knife. And it wears fast,requiring flattening the stone alot. Now I should have gotten the Cerax 1000 a few years back. The thicker version is now around $90. So if I get one,I'll get the thinner version for $32. Do you have any experience with the Cerax 1000?

[@jeffhicks8428]

@@deydrm You are correct the Cerax does cut quicker than the kings it is a modern stone, but it is also soaking stone with high friability, meaning it it must be soaked before use and will quickly created a lot of mud. Great for wide bevel knives and can handle stainless steels with ease. I would not say the grit is accurate. A soaking stone like the King or cerax finishes very differently from splash and go stones like say even a shapton pro 1k, which is known for being more like a 800 grit generously. Generally the finish from those stones have a more "sand blasted" look to it and it's generally courser looking ie less polish than you will get from a splash and go. What is best for you depends on your needs. I would tell you that a chosera 400 is a much harder and less friable stone which cuts much faster than any of these and the finish it leaves is very nice most think it looks higher than 400 and the edge it leaves is very good. Yes, I have too many stones. I literally have a home depot storge crate full of whetstones. If you just want a 1k stone for create sharp edges, I suggest the shapton pro 1k. Sp are the hardest and least friable stones around but they still cut very good. Not having to soak the stone is very convenient and having a stone that makes very little mess in use is also nice. It's also nice to rarely have to maintain the stone by flattening. Again, it all depends on what you need to do and what you like. I will tell you, the cerax 6k is one of my favorite of those kind of softer soakers for a fine shapener. The finish it leaves is about the same as 1k chosera or maybe 2k sp. For $60 the 400 chosera is one of the most commonly used and universally praised stones. Most folks could easily live with just this stone and loaded strop. I am more of a fan of stones like this. If you look on Amazon, you can 15 mm versions of the chosera stones for good prices. You can usually buy them straight from amazon japan as well. Anywhere between $40 to $60 for any of them. The scratch pattern chosera stones leave is superb. They are known for this.

[@nadm]

@@jeffhicks8428 I will just say that I’ve been able to sharpen knives down to a 15 on the BESS. I’m very proud of my technique in style. This video does not incorporate any type of sharpening. This was in unboxing. I don’t really know why we’re talking about sharpening on this particular video. I was just showcasing some knives.

[@dadadadave100]

Merry Christmas Greg

[@nadm]

Aloha my friend. Merry Christmas and happy new year!

[@ragu168]

Very nice 👌 thanks

[@olan5668]

Based on your experience, which top 3 knives (brand/blacksmith and the blade material) is the sharpest BNOB or after resharpen

[@nadm]

Takeda was the sharpest OTB at a 50. I have a Shibata that hasn't been tested. It's hard to actually say because there are a lot of them have come in at 100. Berry, if you ever come in lower than that. I got my Anryu and Kurosaki ridiculously sharp after I sharpen them, but the Matsamoto gets incredibly sharp as well.

[@dylanmorrison951]

Just got my takamura r2 130mm petty in today. Crazy thin has a bit of flex to it. Wicked sharp a few passes on a leather strop and it slices bounty paper towels like a tomato.

[@nadm]

I know right. I love it. They are amazing. Some people complain about chipping but I've never seen it happen.

[@BGRUBBIN]

Ya some one chipped my 210mm chef R2. Right at the curve. Took me months to slowly take it out.

[@brendanbell7626]

I love your videos however please which your breathing I’m a knife nerd and love your knowledge keep it up champ.

[@nadm]

Yes, we are keeping the asthma in check. I did go through a bad season recently. We are losing weight. Trying to watch it with me right now. I guess more congested. Call Tom pulmonologist on it and we work out all the time he perfect. We just lost 20 pounds. Thank you for your concern. I love you very much. Perry. Merry Christmas. Thank you for your continued support.

[@brendanbell7626]

Awesome job keep it up it’s never easy to do but you’ve done it before all the best and have a great Christmas looking forward to your new vids in 2023.

[@dannytran173]

Where can you typically find a uchigumo if you can get one?

[@nadm]

That is one of the most difficult things in the world to find. I took forever to do it myself. I don't think I sold mine. If you wanna reach out to me through messenger, I can give you a price if you want to buy mine. I'm only selling it to keep funding the channels. It's beautiful. It's one of the best ones I've owned. I have a lot of knives and I've got to keep supporting the channel if we're going to keep trying to do this. We spent $60,000 on the channel and we've only gotten back five. I'm doing the best I can. Let me know if you want to reach out and we can figure out a way to make you a deal that we will both like. It is not a cheap knife. I need to apologize for taking so long. I've had a surgery on my knee and some other things going on. We've had the court case for my car accident. We had to deal with that as well. We've also had some other major things happening personally. Deaths in the family and lots of arrangements to be made. Also, I'll let you know that I will be having another major surgery in June and will not be making it to the Blade show. I will be out of work for two weeks because I'm having all the extra skin cut off of my body. We do apologize for an interruption of videos if it were to happen. Will try to shoot some head for you guys so we can fill the space. That being said, thank you for checking out the show. Thank you for your support and your comment.

[@Cr8nhavock]

@@nadm I don’t have instagram or facebook - do you have an email or other means to reach out to regarding the uchigumo?

[@nadm]

@@Cr8nhavock [e-mail]

[@lr99gt]

How do you compare the sharpness of the Takamura R2 vs Fujiwara Denka? Do any of the stainless knives come close to the level of sharpness of the carbons?

[@nadm]

Only the Takamura and the Kobayashi really do get the knives pretty damn sharp and basically a sharp is a carbon steel knife. I would typically always prefer the carbon steel knife because it's just a little easier to sharpen. But only because those to grind the knife so thin and their heat treat is so good. You still have the same problem with chipping.

[@JosephGiuffre60]

Get to the point

[@nadm]

The videos made for all people. Not everyone wants it to be a short as you apparently. There is a fast forward button and the ability to slide through to the video in different spots if you need to. Other people like more information. We didn't make the channel for one person.

[@dimmacommunication]

I have the one on the left, only complain is that they are laser thin ,so when buying one should keep it in mind. R2-SG2 has really nice stainless ability so no need for cladding :) it's the same as VG-10 Second generation hitachi powder steel if I remember correctly

[@nadm]

Soft steel to protect inner core.

[@nevahenuf]

Yeah it is really thin and it makes me nervous for other people to use. It's great that it's stainless but cutting anything that could flex or chip it I avoid.

[@nadm]

@@nevahenuf gotcha!!!

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

The two are not the same, but pretty different: SG-2 is a powder-metallurgic steel, VG-10 is an ingot steel. SG-2 can be hardened to 65 HRC (anything below 62 would waste its potential), VG-10 to 62 HRC. SG-2 contains more elements that make a fine grain structure with many small, extremely hard carbides such as Molybdenum and Vanadium than VG-10. This knife's blade is super-thin and sharpened to an extremely acute angle of 11* per side. This would hardly be possible with VG-10.

[@dimmacommunication]

@@einundsiebenziger5488 Yeah I know SG-2 is powdered. I confirm my SG-2 knife is razor thin

[@craiglawson4390]

Horizontal cut is dangerous and a total wast of time. You have been brainwashed .

[@nadm]

I don't understand the context of your statement. I don't know how it's applicable in this video. You're more than welcome to elaborate. We are gathering information and sharing it with others. It's not what you say but how you say it. You're more than welcome to convey it nicely. I'm trying to speak to you nicely. If you have something you want to teach me, then please elaborate and try to teach so we can share it with the community.

[@harryhthenorwegian476]

This was a great channel to begin with. But now it has become an advertising and promotion channel for various junk. Uninterested so now i unsubscribe...

[@nadm]

I don't understand the comment. KZbin sets the advertisements. This particular product is good product. Please advise me on what your comment means. I can look into making it better but I don't necessarily understand. KZbin is part of a partnership program and they have a list of partners that they advertise their products on your KZbin channel. I did select that. I did not want political things on my KZbin channel, but other than that they have the right to choose who they are advertisers are.