Yoshimi Kato SG2

[cwillett]

I watched the recently concluded pass around of the 240mm gyuto from Yoshimi Kato with some interest. The 210mm version of the same line checks a lot of boxes for me. Very thin, light, stainless, and really gorgeous. My other knives are carbon and nashiji finished, so something quite different is appealing. After using the Takamura Chromax 210mm gyuto, I really like the idea of a thin knife in that length and the Kato seems to fit the bill well.

The passaround revealed some issues with the damascus cladding and stickage. But at the end those issues may have been worked out, either due to a fresh edge or the cladding getting smoothed out over time.

Can anyone offer any opinions on the knife life (210 version or other) regarding the stickage issue?

[cedarhouse]

I've no insight on that particular knife but the phenomenon you are referring to, textured cladding "breaking in", is something I have heard of before.

With damascus cladding, it is common to etch the cladding with an acid to accentuate the different layers. The steels used will differ in resistance to the etching. The layers that are more receptive to the etch become roughened and porous. This can create added drag. Wear on the knife "burnishes" this roughness.

...but again, no personal insight with this particular knife.

[Jeff B]

At 1.7mm spine thickness and nearly 52mm tall there is very little room for convexing at all. I can easily see there being a big problem with stickage given those kind of stats. Even the HD2, in comparison, is thicker and shorter leaving room for some convexing.

But as Ryan said, I have no personal insight with this particular knife.

[Eversor13]

I bought one of these knives, and it is admittedly beautiful. I posted this below to the pass around thread:

"I ended up removing the finish on the knife using a 400 grit and 800 grit mx pad, and as expected, it works much better. Before removing the finish I had to use a rather forceful push cut to get the knife through a halved apple (terrible....). After removing it, the knife crisply chops (with a slight pull) through a halved apple. Still not as amazing as some other knives I have, but much much better. Here are some pictures of the before and after if anyone was wondering what it looks like (these were taken before the 800 grit step, but the knife looked roughly the same after that step). Definitely not as striking but at least the knife is actually usable. Anything to do to bring back some of the finish? I would be fine with how it is, but I might as well ask.

"

To be frank, I found it quite bad when moving through an onion or an apple when I got it, after the first centimeter it would get stuck pretty bad. After the sandpaper it is much better, but the damascus is not quite as beautiful (it was striking out of the box). Now it is actually usable.

Compare the Yoshimi Kato SG2 to 2 other Takefu village knives I own, an Anryu B2 and a Kurosaki Hammered R2, and the performance that I've experienced isn't as good. Out of the box the Yoshimi Kato was noticeably more difficult through product, and I would actually say, one of the worst performing blades I've used. After the sandpaper it is very clearly a more beautiful knife than the other Takefu knives, but probably performs around 80% as well.

I would say, if you're really into the look and aren't against the idea of potentially needing to rub down the cladding, then this is still a pretty good performing knife. If you're into this knife for laser like performance, I'd look elsewhere. Others, let me know if I'm off base on suggesting doing something to the cladding.

[Robstreperous]

I received the passaround knife last.

After I sharpened it I was pretty happy with it. It slipped through onion and pepper, did a fine job slicing chicken (cooked boneless breast), dropped through tomato and was nice and controlled through lemon grass and pretty decent rocking some herbs. After it was all done with these its edge was still in pretty nice shape.

Fit and finish was, as others have commented, very nice.

Now, when I received it --- completely different story. The edge was in really rough shape. It wouldn't even slice rolled up paper towel. As in I mean it failed totally to do more than put a dent in the towel.

It sharpened really easily 600 / 1500 / 3000 / 5000 and then... we were off and running.

It's a good knife and I'd personally consider buying it at the listed price on the site. Almost, but not quite, a laser in performance but also a bit firmer and more controlled than many lasers. The only thing I can mark it down on would be food release. Not the worst I've used but perhaps a bit stickier than most.

[jbart65]

I handled this knife new and out of the box. Stickage was awful. I rubbed it with a new kitchen sponge and stropped the edge. That helped a lot. But it would still stick on horizontal onion cuts.

Fast forward several months to last week. I got it from Rob expecting trouble, but he had good things to say so I was cautiously optimistic. I used it for a few meals and I was pleasantly surprised. Still looked fantastic but cut onions and carrots much better. Stickage still occurred but far less often and not severe at all. It flicked better thru onions and I realized that it’s a very good pusher and rocker. It can chop low and soft ingredients but that’s not it’s forte.

I suspect these knives vary quite a bit with stickage because so few other owners complained. And as with this knife the stickage will continue to recede with use and sharpening. A bit of a tradeoff, yes, but damn is it gorgeous. I’d call it a workhorse laser. She’s thin but she’s sturdy.

[Drsmp]

I had a bunch of Miyabi Blacks - also gorgeous with heavy etching. You could actually feel the rough surface of the raised etched areas. The knives were very sticky. I used an upper grit micro mesh -around 6000 - water and very very light pressure to sand off the rough high points. Just let the pad do the work and stopped when the blades felt smooth. The knives were dramatically better cutters and still looked great. With use they got even better. Gifted them to my son , he’s almost a vegetarian and preps a lot of produce daily. They still look great and the Damascus drag issue is resolved.

[jknife]

I have just purchased the Bunka version of this knife and it was incredibly sticky otb which resulted in me finding this forum. I have decided to use an incremental approach.I have stropped the knife (flat and grind) for about an hour and it is much better than it was and just as beautiful. I think it still needs some improvement though. I'm thinking the next step will be to use stropping compound. Unfortunately I don't have any and having just spent a lot of money on knives (Three haruyuki gomas for my sons grad,Takada NAS Nakiri and a Hasegama cutting board) I'm tapped out so it will have to wait. Still quite usable for now.

[Louisssss]

I have this knife coming in yje mail and if I'm not satisfied with the sticky sides, I have a bare leather strop and a leather loaded with green compound strop, you think using the green compound loaded leather on each fave for 10-20 mins each should help? How about bare leather?