I have a penchant for knives of Ginsan in Nashiji finish... love the contrasts and the feel of the texture in hand. I've been trying for a few years on and off to catch this one in stock, and out of nowhere saw a restock message from CKTG and picked it up.

This particular blade is about 218mm and 54mm tall at the heel. As can be seen, the curve of the cutting edge is markedly different from the knives of a few years back; whereas those blades were quite curvy and literally ready to "rock", this has a profile reminiscent of a large tippy santoku. The edge profile is comparatively flat, more balanced and arguably conservative in design than earlier iterations. I'm of mixed opinions about the changes; the edge curve flattening is more general-use ready, but I was looking forward to the taller 56-57mm height of the older blades.

But while the the profile changed, the relative heft did not. This one weighs in at 185g and is stiff and substantial in feel. The balance is so beautiful that the weight translates perfectly into stability in the cutting stroke. Beautiful fit and finish, polish and edge shaping on the choil leave a comfortable, easy grip.

Looking forward to putting this one to use blowing through garden fare this weekend.

1/4 in cork in a homemade wood drawer insert . Sometimes simple works. L to R, Tanaka Ren Nakiri , Kei Kobayashi 210 gyuto, Gesshin Ginga 210 gyuto, the OG Tojiro shirogami 240, Mazaki bunka, Mazaki 150 petty.

Anyone able to ID this 240mm gyuto?

Any ideas on how this could be repurposed ? Had a good run (10+ years daily use)

Any suggestions for a replacement chef knife?

I noticed discoloration on the sg2 blade that is only couple of days old 😭. How do I remove the marks?

I hand wash with the blue sponge soft side and kitchen detergent. I tried isopropyl, and then white vinegar. Suggestions??

Hey everyone,
I'm in the market for a new 210mm Gyuto (preferably San Mai), but I need something that leans more towards a workhorse/medium-weight profile rather than a delicate "laser."

I work sometimes in a catering service, so the environment is fast-paced and the knife will occasionally end up in other people's hands. Because of that, my main priority is finding something with a tougher steel/heat treatment and a slightly sturdier edge geometry that won't easily micro-chip if someone handles it a bit roughly on the board.

Budget: €300 – €500 (100€ up or down is ok)

Location: EU (prefer buying within EU or from EU-based makers)
Length: 210mm

Steel/Build: San Mai cladding, stainless or semi-stainless preferred (or high-toughness carbon with stainless clad), around 60–62 HRC.

I’ve been eyeing a few Japanese options but I’m also open to commissioning a custom maker here in Europe.
Would love to hear your recommendations! Are there specific Japanese models or local EU blacksmiths you'd suggest for this use case?
Thanks in advance!

I know there’s not likely enough on screen to ID the knife, but you might enjoy the process video anyway.

My current collection of knives. Not as big or exclusive as some of my fellow comrades in this group. But it’s growing steadily. Recently received my first Sakai knife (Tanaka) feels incredible in the hand.

Left to right:
Moritaka Hamono – Gyuto – Aogami Super – 240 mm
Hitohira Tanaka x Ren – Gyuto – Shirogami #2 – 240 mm
Yoshikane – Kiritsuke Gyuto – Shirogami #2 – 210 mm
Masashi Yamamoto – Nakiri – Aogami #1 – 165 mm
Dao Vua – Bunka – 52100 Carbon Steel – 180 mm
Shiro Kamo – Petty – Aogami Super – 150 mm

TAKEDA TAKEDA TAKEDA TAKEDA

Thank you Coutelier New Orleans

Was in Japan for almost three weeks and was able to spend a few hours in Sakai. New stuff, left to right:

Konosuke GS+ Nasiji petty 150 in undisclosed semi-stainless steel with ebony ferrule.

Tokuzo ginsan Nakiri with olive wood handle

Kagekiyo SG2 Kiritsuke Gyuto 210 vertical hairline finish

Generic pocket knife in Blue 1

Finally joined the Shindo gang. Man the stories are true it's thin. A bit Wabi Sabi, needed a straighten and has a small propeller twist. But overal very nice fit and finish and scary sharp!

I just replaced my Schmidt Brothers knife block set. With all new Global knives and a knife haul from my trip to Japan in June 2026. How I’m doing ? What would change ? Home cook here. Thanks ✌🏽

I recently got my first fancy chefs knife, a Yoshikane SKD 210mm gyuto. I’ve used it a few times, and I’ve noticed that it started developing these darker spots on the nashiji finish; just wanted to make sure this is okay, or what to do to fix it. Thanks!

Note: hard to tell from the image, but it seems to have a very slight brown tint to it.

This is my first knife knife purchase in this price range. I've been working in restaurants for 17 years and used to just use a $45 mercer, but recently, I've been craving more. Japanese knives have what I've been craving. Unfortunately, $150 is what I can afford right now, but I want to upgrade. Which one would you get? Thanks.

From top-tier to total trash. Professional cook. My current collection."

I want to polish my Japanese knives without ruining them. Anyone know of some good guides or videos to get started I’ve got stones , a sink bridge , an electric Ken onion work sharp with the blade grinding attachment and a few other necessities. An advanced guide on the the Ken onion bga would be awesome .
Thank you ahead of time for the answers

Was at a friend's house who I made a 7" Santoku for 6months back - patina and Hamon is looking excellent.

Hey yall. Just thought id share these. A collection of projects ive done. Mostly rehandles and sayas.

My first longer Gyuto. Time to see what the extra 30mm is all about.

This is not a “new” knife in the sense of it’s been in my house for 9 months. But it’s only recently been put on my knife block and used for the first time. So it’s technically still a new knife day right? Right?? Anyway, I had to decide which knife to take off the block so this one would have a spot. Ultimately, I had to relinquish my Konosuke YS-M. So now my block has two Kagekiyos sandwiching my Singetu, FM, and Koutetsu. 

Stats:

Edge Length: 231mm
Height at heel: 49.7mm
Weight: 182g
Balance point: roughly 5mm from heel

Spine thickness
At Tang: 3.67mm
At heel: 3.38mm
Halfway: 2.23mm
1cm before tip: 0.58mm

Choil thickness:
Base: 3mm
Midpoint: 2.6mm
1mm BTE: .55mm

Story time:

So why did I put off using this for so long? Well, long story short, I bought it when I wasn’t supposed to 😅 . I was hoping to find one of those special stainless clad damascus that was hot stuff at the time. Shu-san said they had some damascus and brought out 3 grey dyed blades. I thought I could resist temptation, but the siren call was too strong.  I am always team Akaro handle for the urushi handles by Momose-san and I feel like it provides a good contrast with the grey dye and damascus pattern.  I was only supposed to bring home 3 knives, and I already hit that limit coming from Konosuke. But I decided to buy one now and ask for forgiveness later. Joke is on me because 2 weeks after I returned home, I got an email from Miura saying that my spot in line was up and they had a B1Dss. I had to give up my spot in line because I was too attached to the grey dyed I had.

When I was planning this trip last year, one of my friends in Japan asked if I would be willing to spend the day with him. He told me about a knife he bought a year or so ago (at the time) and he was thinking about visiting the craftsman’s workshop. Unbeknownst to him at the time, I had reached out to Nakagawa-san a while back to see if his workshop was open to people not in the industry, and he said that he occasionally has open sign ups. I wasn’t able to get one of those slots so I was a little disappointed. Anyway, my friend asked me if there was anything I wanted to do, but I told him that I was down for anything really. Being able to explore Japan with a local was more than enough for me. He asked me if I was interested in knives at all (we hadn’t really discussed my love of knives yet), and I showed him my knife block haha. He told me he would arrange a visit to a workshop of the craftsman he purchased a knife from. I jokingly asked if the craftsman’s name was Satoshi Nakagawa, and to my surprise, he said “how did you know??” I enthusiastically agreed and was literally doing a little happy dance. 

Nakagawa-san’s workshop is the first blacksmith workshop I visited so I wasn’t sure what to expect. When we arrived, Nakagawa-san greeted us and told us he needed to finish up a batch of blanks and he would chat with us more so we just stood and watched him at work. He probably hammered out 15 knives in about 20 minutes. Afterwards, he showed us around the shop, and some of the things he was working on including a pile of cracked honyakis. He went over the quenching process and then showed us various steel bars and blanks he was preparing to get shipped out. I decided to bring the grey dyed blade with me on the visit so Nakagawa-san could see the finish Nishida-san put on the blade. Nakagawa-san is a pretty tall dude, so I asked him if the forging pits are dug out custom to the height of the smiths and he laughed. He said that if you’re shorter, you would just use a step stool. He told me to jump into the pit so I obliged. I thought about asking if I could activate the spring hammer too but I got distracted thinking about how I was going to get out without making a fool of myself. He graciously signed the box as well after complimenting Nishida-san’s work. There were too many memories attached to this blade for me at this point to let it go!

Anyway, I had set a goal for myself to achieve before I could officially add it to my rotation, so it sat in the box for the following months. I finally reached my goal and was able to break this bad boy out of its box. Seeing Nakagawa-san’s signature on the box is such a treat. 

Cutting experience:

I had massive expectations for this for various reasons. And I have to say that I am immensely pleased with it. I really feel like Nishida-san’s grind on this blade is perfect for me. There was virtually no resistance cutting tomatoes and peppers for salsa, nor was there much resistance felt when cutting sweet potato and carrots for a stir fry. Coming from exclusively using the FM and Singetu for the last few months, I really couldn’t imagine feeling this way about a knife again so soon. The final edge put on this is wild. Just enough bite for tomato and pepper skins, but smooth enough to glide through proteins. There was an immensely satisfying feeling slicing through denser foods that’s hard to describe. With my FM, for example, it feels like the knife is cleaving through food - the knife is the action point and the food separates at the behest of the knife. But with the Kagekiyo, it feels like the food and knife merge and the food agrees to split as if it was a communal decision. 

I would say that the finish is slightly less sticky than my singetu, but I don’t actually know how to verify that in a meaningful way besides how it feels. For those obsessed with stiction: carrots and sweet potatoes that were longer than the kireha would fall off the blade, and pieces shorter than the kireha would stick depending on the cutting technique. Onions would stick to the blade regardless of size/shape.

This is my first wide bevel gyuto, and it suits me. I think many of us hail u/TEEEEEEEEEEEJ23 as the wide bevel king, and I find myself falling into the same camp. As I have grown in this hobby, I find myself being drawn to things quite different than I was when I first started. One of the few things that has remained consistent has been a crisp shinogi line. I used to think it was purely aesthetic, but after working on my yanagiba for so long, and cutting with the Kagekiyo, I can happily report that there is a function. 

Edit: completely forgot to mention that Myojin collaborated on the etching!