Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

See what's happening with current or completed "Pass Arounds". Forum members occasionally send knives or sharpening stones around to a hand selected group of participants for short term use and feedback/reviews.
MisoSatisfried
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by MisoSatisfried »

I believe I have some VCI paper as well. 👍
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J david
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by J david »

Chefcallari wrote: Sun Dec 10, 2017 12:03 am If there's room id love to be in.
You are in. Pm me your address and I'll get the order updated.
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by gastro gnome »

Yeah Cutuu, I wouldn't be concerned. I sent out my Sukenari on 9/18. It's curently on the 6th participant and it has almost been 3 months. With the delays that inevitably come up, I'm quite sure that Lepus's timeline sounds more accurate then February.
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by J david »

This passaround has begun. The knife is on the way to Altadan. We added Chefcallari but the order won't change. Since he is about 45 minutes drive from me, he will go last. The list of addresses in order are in the box. Enjoy.
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Altadan
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Altadan »

Arrived a day earlier than expected, in excellent condition.
excited to begin tonight
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by slobound »

Looking forward to everyone’s thoughts on this knife
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Altadan
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Altadan »

Well, I wish I took more pictures of it when it was still sooo bright and soo shiny :shock: :shock: :shock:
Honestly, I was mesmerized by that mirror finish on the edge.

Now I cut through a couple onions, carrots, sweet potatoes and shrooms, and a head of garlic cloves, and it is... tarnished? No, no. Just patina. It's coming into its own :)

First impressions:
Firm, strong, confident blade, but not "beefy". The light short handle compliments it nicely.
It's rather flat, and will chop onions or garlic with pleasure, but when it comes to thick carrots and sweet potatoes, G&G is preferred much more.
So far I'm loving the low tip, but I'm only one meal in.

Over,
Dan
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld
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Kit Craft
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Kit Craft »

Altadan wrote: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:58 pm Well, I wish I took more pictures of it when it was still sooo bright and soo shiny :shock: :shock: :shock:
Honestly, I was mesmerized by that mirror finish on the edge.

Now I cut through a couple onions, carrots, sweet potatoes and shrooms, and a head of garlic cloves, and it is... tarnished? No, no. Just patina. It's coming into its own :)

First impressions:
Firm, strong, confident blade, but not "beefy". The light short handle compliments it nicely.
It's rather flat, and will chop onions or garlic with pleasure, but when it comes to thick carrots and sweet potatoes, G&G is preferred much more.
So far I'm loving the low tip, but I'm only one meal in.

Over,
Dan
Not sure how you cut the carrots but I normally do brunoise and eat loads of carrots. Carrots like to wedge and stick to the blade when you square them off for match sticks. Any insight into how the knife reacts to this sort of carrot work? Carrots can make or break a blade for me as we eat so many. Potatoes too.
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Altadan
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Altadan »

I was chopping them into (mostly) round slices for salad, as well as big chunks for a stew.
I'll try brunoise soon :)
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Kit Craft
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Kit Craft »

Altadan wrote: Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:16 pm I was chopping them into (mostly) round slices for salad, as well as big chunks for a stew.
I'll try brunoise soon :)
Bah, I actually never cut carrots that way. Even for salad and stew I square them even if I am not going to dice them. Hey, I need as much practice as I can get that does not involve a peeler and or a paring knife. :lol:

Thanks, though! Can't wait to hear back after you use it a bit more. This one is of interest to me, though probably won't make the list as I have my eyes set on a different knife that will eat up a lot of funds. :lol: Still curious though.
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Altadan
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Altadan »

Alright,

this has been my second passaround, and it's been terrific. J david, thank you very much for letting me handle your knife for a week. This passaround culture doesn't cease to impress me :D
Like art, I hope one day to be a patron of one of these too :ugeek:

I was first on the list, and the knife came to me... brand new? (J david?).
One thing's for sure, she was spick and span clean, and the edge's mirror finish was nothing less than mesmerizing :shock: I own a Tanaka, a Masutani, and a Shun Premier; The Shun is the brightest of the bunch, but it's nowhere near the mirror this Yahiko Hairline had!

First impressions:
first thing that struck me was how flat the profile is. The tip is quite low, and the flat spot at the back seems to never end. This would surface again later when I would try to rock n' slide. The Yahiko does it well, but did not seem to lend itself towards that movement out its own volition.
Here's the tip of the Yahiko peeking from behind the Tanaka Sekiso's profile, for comparison:
Capture1.JPG
Capture1.JPG (40.61 KiB) Viewed 9249 times
Capture2.JPG
On the Right: Tanaka, Left: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline

Seeing she was (like?) new when I got her, I was apprehensive of just this, but J david prompted to just use her don't abuse her, so I just went about cooking our daily stuff; various pots of chicken with onions, potatoes, sweet-pots, etc. We had an evening with a chuck roast with carrots... salads, tomatoes, bla bla bla. Nothing too special or challenging, like squash, cabbage, or whatnot.
The next thing that struck me was just how quickly she reacts. Yes, there's green behind my ears, ok? Look, the iron-clad B2 of the Tanaka was nowhere even close to this Hairline. What a head of garlic will do this one is just... ah! Is it the finish on the W2? Is it W2 in general? Whatever it is, it was fantastic!
Capture3.JPG
There was a moment there, on the third day, that I noticed the patina's color was rather... meh. Orange. I don't believe it was ruse (being neither tactile, nor leaving any residue on paper-towel), but it bothered me enough to give it cork and baking soda. That got it almost back to new. After that it was more garlic! haha (my wife really got tired of me showing her the colors on this knife :lol: )

In any case, Everything I put it to task on it did beautifully. In fact, it fell through certain veggies much more easily and smoothly ( :o ) than my Tanaka. It is thinner at the spine, clearly, and so it goes for the rest of her geometry. What struck me even more was how many foods that tend to either climb up the Tanaka, or outright get stuck on it, would just fall off the Yahiko - or need little more than a flick. I haven't got enough experience to say what caused this. In my mind, I can envision the Yahiko having ever so gentle shoulders that simply shrug food off, figuratively speaking.
Oh, on that note, yes, shoulders. Whether or not they are there, I am not qualified to say, but what I can say is that with carrots and sweet potatoes, a chop or even a push cut was not the right technique at all, while a glide and guillotine would just pierce, cut and separate everything so beautifully, it was a pleasure to listen to!
Kit, you asked me about the carrots. Here are a couple videos dedicated to you :P

https://youtu.be/Qlibv_IS0bU
https://youtu.be/gGPnkJSlX8c

What more can I say?
The stock handle on the lent this knife a deeply forward-balance, but being as light as she is, that only played to her advantage.
The tip was very easy to use on either onion or garlic, and being so low made it all the more easy to control, even on a 240.
Capture4.JPG
Capture4.JPG (35.02 KiB) Viewed 9249 times
Bottom line?
Had I tried both the Yahiko Shirogami Hairline and the Tanaka Sekisso in a shop, I'd be hardput to choose. The Yahiko is a superb chopper, and a stunner when wearing purples and blues.
In the end, there's something about the versatility of a little more curve that I would probably go for, but I am seriously ogling the nakiri or something else from that line to complement my existing gyuto. We shall see.

Thanks once again to J david,
Merry Christmas, happy new year, and may y'all enjoy your new knives when you open them ;)
Dan
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld
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Altadan
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Altadan »

Here are a couple more photos, just for kicks.
The Yahiko Shirogami Hairline is a simple, understated beauty that'll blow your mind with her patinas and performance
Capture6.JPG
Capture5.JPG
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Lepus »

Really great comparison. Thank you. I am tempted to buy this knife before it even reaches me.
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by gastro gnome »

Man, that is a tall knife. I had to go back and check the specs.

Great look at this cutter.
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by Altadan »

Lepus wrote: Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:53 pm Really great comparison. Thank you. I am tempted to buy this knife before it even reaches me.
Lepus, I doubt you would regret it.
Check out the customer review mdl130 wrote for the 180mm. I think it transfers very well. wonderful knife
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by MisoSatisfried »

Slobound has me all excited to try this beast! 😁
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by gastro gnome »

The knife has arrived safe and sound.
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by gastro gnome »

I should get around to post my experience with the knife.

The edge as received was very good so I did not sharpen and have no insight into how it responds/performs there.

I initially was surprised by how heavy the blade felt in hand. I had to weigh it and found it was over an ounce lighter than my Gihei but had a similarly marked forward balance. This made it seem heavier than it actually was and translated to a lot of chopping and push-cutting potential. The profile echoed this. It could rock, but that didn't seem to be what the knife was designed to do (and not what it wanted to do when in hand).

I was also impressed by the distal taper. It may have been similar to the Gihei in the relative percentage taper but in absolute terms, the Yahiko got much thinner around the tip. That would lend itself to detail work, but I think I prefer a more neutrally balanced knife for that (helps me feel a bit more in control).

It's interesting that I found some differneces in use than Altadan did. The only fully reactive knife I have is not in regular rotation and I have only handled a couple of others so I was interested to see if I noticed a big difference with the finish on the hairline. While there had been some patina development, I really didn't notice much more as the week went on. So it didn't seem like it needed to be fussed over. I wonder now in retrospect if I cut that many foods that might have been reactive (to have reached a different conclusion than Dan) or if I just try to wash and dry quickly with any passaround knives.

Dan also find that foods did not stick (at least compared to a Tanaka). I found foods quite clingy and climbed up the blade as I cut. I don't think of food release as something I really value a lot, but I did notice it. If I were to use the knife regularly, it might be something that bothered me a bit, but in limited use it was totally fine.

All in all, I found it to be a forward-balanced knife, with good grinds, a thin tip, and a flat profile. I didn't find it to be too reactive but found food release to be below average.

I appreciate the opportunity to play around with this one David.
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by J david »

Glad you enjoyed it! I'm going to send around my blue steel hammered KU Yahiko soon. You may want to give that one a try as well.
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Re: Yahiko Shirogami Hairline 240 passaround

Post by slobound »

I am way behind on putting together my thoughts on this knife! I really enjoyed this Yahiko hairline. This knife had the most distal taper I’ve experienced to date and thins so nicely to the tip. It had a pretty good patina built when I received it and I didn’t notice much additional reactivity when using it for the week I had it. I felt the knife to be a touch forward balanced and very comfortable in hand with good fit & finish. I, personally, could see myself buying this knife and worthy of a re-handle. One of the best all around performers I’ve used and found myself comparing it to my Tanaka (which I absolutely love).

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