Konosuke MM

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Jeff B
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Konosuke MM

Post by Jeff B »

Well I'm not one of the most well versed or verbose members when it comes to giving a review but here goes.

Out of the box this is a beautiful knife, F&F is just as you would expect from Konosuke. The handle is a little thin for my taste but is typical Konosuke. It has nice crisp lines with excellent craftsmanship and installation. The Khii Ebony works very well in both aesthetics and weight. The spine and choil were eased, not fully rounded but nicely polished and comfortable.

The knife has a very neutral balance point and feels very nimble for its weight and size. The grind starts nice and high and gets extremely thin behind the edge. It's has some meat in the spine at the heel but has an excellent distal taper that leads to a nice thin tip. The OOTB edge was very sharp and I used it the entire week only stropping it once on horse butt. Have to conclude that the heat treat of the Aogami #2 is top notch.

I was very impressed from the first cut. It dropped through potatoes with nearly just the weight of the knife and it manhandled very tall carrots with no wedging or cracking that was noticeable. Tip draws with this knife was effortless too. The very thin tip made horizontal cuts a breeze when dicing an onion. Then for me came the real test, time to quarter some cabbage. As I should have known, the MM looked at that task and laughed. It was when the knife just melted through the cabbage that I knew this knife was built for shear performance.

Food release was kind of on par and not surprising given the geometry. Release was good farther back at the heel, but as you got to the middle of the blade and toward the tip produce did climb the blade as it got wetter. It was pretty easy to tap or brush off and not really anything overly dramatic. Release was also influenced by technique too, no news flash there. Overall I would say that food release was good but there is better out there.

Reactivity was pretty calm at first from what I expected though it did start to take on a lot of patina as time went on. I have definitely used knives with iron cladding that was a lot more reactive.

In the end I found the knife to be a very good all around knife. A pretty standard Kono profile coupled with a well executed grind that performed well in every task I used it for. Very nimble but enough meat on it's bones to give it a confident feel.

Specs

Cutting Edge - 228mm
Height - 48.8mm
Weight - 187gr

Spine at the heel - 3.28mm
Center between heel and tip - 2.48mm
1cm from tip - .06mm

So much has been mentioned comparing the MM to
the FM Fuji, here are some pictures of them both.

MM top / FM Fujiyama bottom
20181108_144009.jpg
20181108_144045.jpg

Profiles
20181112_200828.jpg
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salemj
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by salemj »

Nice write up, Jeff. It provides a lot of information about exactly the topics people are interested in hearing about most. I think the only thing missing is whether or not you actually want to buy one for yourself!
~Joe

Comments: I'm short, a home cook, prefer lighter, thinner blades, and own mostly Konosukes but have used over a dozen brands.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Steel+Fire »

Good review Jeff. I have this knife and can echo your experience with its performance. I will say mine was quite reactive when I first started using it. The patina stabilizes after a few uses. I have since polished the blade and started fresh and it gave me some very cool blue coloring after cutting some cooked chicken.

My MM doesn't have much distal taper. It keeps a pretty solid thickness until the tip where the grind thins it down nicely. Out of all of my JK's this one feels closest to a German knife in hand. On the board it just feels very comfortable and solid. I agree the handle is thin from side to side and not tapered so it took a few sessions to get used to it but now it feels fine. The knife takes a very keen edge and is expertly ground. I wish it was a true 240mm as mine is about a cm short of that.

Great knife. I have been very pleased with it.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by ashy2classy »

Nice review, Jeff - thanks! We all want to know - how does it compare to the FM performance-wise?!?!?!? ;o)
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Re: Konosuke MM

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ashy2classy wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 9:55 am Nice review, Jeff - thanks! We all want to know - how does it compare to the FM performance-wise?!?!?!? ;o)
Thanks for the review Jeff! I’m curious to hear a comparison with the FM as well. The choil shots look different so I imagine that performance will be a bit different too assuming that they hold that geometry down the entire length of the blade.
--- Steve
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Jeff B »

salemj wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 8:11 am Nice write up, Jeff. It provides a lot of information about exactly the topics people are interested in hearing about most. I think the only thing missing is whether or not you actually want to buy one for yourself!
It's definitely on my "HOT" buy list! I probably would grab one right now had I not picked up the FM recently.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by slobound »

Thanks for putting this together, Jeff!

If this is on Jeff's "HOT" list, I think I need to buy one.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Jeff B »

pd7077 wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 10:32 am
ashy2classy wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 9:55 am Nice review, Jeff - thanks! We all want to know - how does it compare to the FM performance-wise?!?!?!? ;o)
Thanks for the review Jeff! I’m curious to hear a comparison with the FM as well. The choil shots look different so I imagine that performance will be a bit different too assuming that they hold that geometry down the entire length of the blade.
I actually haven't used the FM yet. Between this pass around and working so much I've been putting together a lot of quickie meals and not doing a lot of prepping. I think Jay has an FM, hopefully he can give some comparisons, all I can offer is specs. I'll try to offer a comparison after I get to use the FM a bit.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Jeff B »

slobound wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 11:21 am Thanks for putting this together, Jeff!

If this is on Jeff's "HOT" list, I think I need to buy one.
Black Friday Special baby! :D
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by slobound »

Jeff B wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 11:27 am
slobound wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 11:21 am Thanks for putting this together, Jeff!

If this is on Jeff's "HOT" list, I think I need to buy one.
Black Friday Special baby! :D
Mark sure knows how to take my money :lol:
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Bluenoser87 »

Interesting. I did a similar comparison back when I got my FM from the first batch over the summer. My FM and MM examples seem a lot more similar than yours do. Particularly in the profile traces and choil shots.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by ashy2classy »

Got my MM yesterday and the profile is MUCH different than this one. Was hoping for something closer to the Fuji profile. Anyone else notice a range of profile shapes?

TIA!
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Bluenoser87 »

ashy2classy wrote: Thu Nov 29, 2018 1:47 pm Got my MM yesterday and the profile is MUCH different than this one. Was hoping for something closer to the Fuji profile. Anyone else notice a range of profile shapes?

TIA!
Yeah, back when I got mine over the summer I noticed how similar mine is to the FM but unlike others I’ve seen. Joe’s from his review or the images on the site for MM both look different than mine. Those ones look a lot taller toward the tip.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by slobound »

Yea, my version of the MM is much taller in the tip compared to the FM. I also noticed that it was much more blade heavy and didn't start to drastically taper until about 2/3rds down the blade. That being said, in use, it reminds me of everything the FM feels like. I'm not sure that I could tell the knives apart if I closed my eyes.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by ashy2classy »

slobound wrote: Thu Nov 29, 2018 2:33 pm Yea, my version of the MM is much taller in the tip compared to the FM. I also noticed that it was much more blade heavy and didn't start to drastically taper until about 2/3rds down the blade. That being said, in use, it reminds me of everything the FM feels like. I'm not sure that I could tell the knives apart if I closed my eyes.
Agreed. The ONE time I used my new MM it was nearly the same as the FM when feeling the cutting action. The edge the sharpener is putting on these things is amazing!
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Cutuu »

I also thought my FM had a really great edge ootb.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by salemj »

Yeah, my B2 MM came with a nice edge; however, the steel is just so damn good that it actually takes a considerably better edge with little effort.
~Joe

Comments: I'm short, a home cook, prefer lighter, thinner blades, and own mostly Konosukes but have used over a dozen brands.
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Jeff B »

The MM in this pass around and my FM bought in the last batch had nearly identical profiles as you can see with the tracings, other than the FM was about 5mm longer and 2mm taller. Even with the size differences, the FM being taller and longer, the weight and balance points were very close as was the in hand feel. Great neutral balance with both.

The out of the box edges on both were incredibly sharp but with only a few passes on unloaded horse butt they became scary sharp!

I think the MM would be a very good substitute for the FM if the profile variations don't bother you. It will save you $75 over the FM too, $150 if you grabbed it during the BF sale!
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by ashy2classy »

Jeff B wrote: Fri Nov 30, 2018 7:49 pm I think the MM would be a very good substitute for the FM if the profile variations don't bother you. It will save you $75 over the FM too, $150 if you grabbed it during the BF sale!
And they're not hard to access. Mark has them in stock NOW!!!

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/konosuke2.html
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Re: Konosuke MM

Post by Cutuu »

If I could only get one knife during the BF, im glad I got the ys, especially being the similarities of the FM and MM series. But I wish I could of grabbed one during the sale.
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