Sukenari Ginsan 240(non-damascus)

[Chefspence]

Thank you gastro for the ability to try this knife that has always interested me. I was always drawn to its flat spot, the profile, overall, and it's general appearance. Since I had tried the original Kono GS, and found it almost too light, and certainly too flexible, this knife caught my attention as a well suited all rounder of sorts. Had a great price point too! The "Goldilocks" right? It's true, it's a great knife.
First, F&f are fantastic. The aesthetics are simple but elegant, especially with the kanji. Deep enough to really enjoy. It's not heavy, yet has some heft and weight forward balance to give it authority and confidence. The grinds were much better than I expected. I had heard that it's not particularly thin behind the edge, but I found it to be much better than that, and in fact the thinness is in line with most other knives I've used that aren't laser class yet still thin. Particularly similar with the Ogata Shungo I thought. Though i admit I don't have the keenest eye for edge thinness. They(knives), for the most part, all are thin somewhere at or behind the edge. I think it's a bit thinner than my Megumi. So, without babbling too much, great grinds imo. The tip, yes isn't incredibly thin, though for my style, I don't require that. Again, as with the grinds, I think most scrutiny is almost too particular here. In person the tip looks just fine. The star, for me, is the profile! One thing I love about my Gihei is the flat, though it sure can't rock well. The Sukenari defies what I know so far for flatter knives, in that it sweeps up quite a ways instead of remaining flat to give you the ability to do more than push/pull cuts and short rocking motions over green onions and what not. It really can get up there. The performance of course is more middle of the road, but still excellent to me. Food release is so-so, but that doesn't worry me as much as it used to, and there are others I've used that are far worse, looking at you misono ux10 santoku! In paractice, I had quite a few knives in front of me for this. I was tinkering with veggies and had a lil party. The sukenari, Kono hd, Kuro laser, shibata, and Kamo R2 were all there. I was mostly testing performance and resistance through cuts for this gathering. The sukenari is not in the same league as the lasers, as expected, but no slouch either. It was right along side the Kamo. I know I'm gonna get some shit for this, but I liked it better than the shibata.... I know, I didn't expect that at all. I don't know what happened, but the shibata was a let down...on certain things. I'll do a review of that too, but when it comes to the sukenari I was pleasantly surprised at its performance. It didn't do well on horizontal cuts of carrots, but very well on onions, cabbage, sweet pots, and reg pots. Overall, it may not be the most stunning looking, but this knife is an exceptional package and one I could see owning and using regularly, especially in a pro environment. If you are a pro, and you don't think lasers are your choice for a busy pro setting, this is a top contender I think. I think this fits nicely in the role of light workhorse. Middle of the road...maybe, it turns out middle of the road is pretty damn good! All you'll need in a working knife, in a wa handle to boot at an affordable price...if they existed.

[Kit Craft]

NO, you ruined it for me with the carrots. I eat an abnormal amount of carrots. I am assuming it snapped and launched them? I too dig the profile.

Thank Spence, for the good read.

[MisoSatisfried]

I've always been curious about this one as I love ginsan. Great write up Spence, I appreciate it!

[kjpfo287]

Sukenari is becoming a top brand I am big on geometry then stell quality and they do both super well I have a 270 zdp and 270 R2 and i love them because they are undersized around 257mm each ....i hav found i need some tip thinning om them but that's just my OCD