Island of Misfit Knives: Goko Western

[Lepus]

A while back Mark got in some full tang Gokos with no handles. Tim, Brian, and a few other people made handles for some of them, but eventually Mark threw up a few as is for those of us who would like to do the handles ourselves. I picked one up in September. The knife looked fine on arrival, but I didn't have spare time to put on a handle, so I tried it out briefly without any real handle. Once I knew the knife was at least alright I cleaned it up and it went back in the box for later.

Later is here and I recently finished the handle. Weight now is 195 grams, which makes it about as heavy as an Ashi laser. Above the kanji the knife is 1.8mm thick and it largely holds that, actually thickening up a bit at one point to around 2mm, until it gets to the last 30 or so millimeters and hits the grind. Height is 48.1mm. The grind is lightly and gradually convexed on both sides for some 20-25mm up the edge with the left side just a hair flatter. The profile is pretty mundane with a bit of backbelly, a medium flat spot starting just under the pinch, and a typical slow sweep curve, nothing too remarkable there. The edge out of the box was actually excellent; I think Tim said CKTG sharpened some of these, so I don't know who did it..

I took it to work yesterday to give it a first real pass and it's a great performer, which I might talk about more after I've had some more time to use the knife. It won't rewrite the book on lasers but it might get a chapter. But I did realize something pretty quickly...



That's a patina. In fact that's a lot of patina. I don't remember if this knife had the cladding type listed, but I had thought it was stainless clad. I found a few cached pages from the customs Mark sold and one of the reviews mentioned the knife was reactive. While I was finishing the handle I did notice a sort of dried liquid pattern that I cleaned off when I finished the knife, which I had assumed was just a little errant tung oil, but I now suspect it was a lacquer.

As surprises go this was a very welcome one. The reactivity on this knife is decent, bordering on dreamy. It patinas readily, but not terribly quickly, and it is taking a nice layered patina. It has added a lot to the knife.

At $300 with custom handles these were a pretty solid deal. At $150 plus the cost of a little wood it's incredible. I like the idea that the knife is one of a kind and was limited in demand and availability. It is a little niche not many people will get to explore. I look forward to rolling the dice again with other poorly known makers or other oddball knives as my wallet permits. If you're comfortable with your collection (and of course don't mind the possibility of getting something you might hate) I would highly recommend buying into limited releases.

[Cutuu]

No pic of the handle? It always cool to step out and get something different, well when its something you like

[LaVieestBelle]

Lepus, I own the twin to this knife. And the patina experience was identical.

Back in 2014 I bought my first couple of knives from Mark. One was listed as a 240 White #1 stainless clad Goko gyuto with a custom western handle from Adam.

I went with stainless clad because was a newcomer to the world of reactive knives, just dipping my toes in. Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw a water spot high on the blade that had instantly become permanent. A blue tinged patina quickly followed over the next few days. Around that time I remember Mark shooting me an email asking if my blade was reacting. Yes!!!

What I thought was a problem turned into a very pleasant learning experience about reactive blades, and the patina on the knife today is actually pretty fantastic.

BTW way, this blade did not have the nashiji finish shown in all the current CKTG Goko listings. The kanji is identical to yours.

[jbart65]

I've been meaning to pick up a Goko, but I've been leery of the weight. I might grab a petty instead. Gokos were just starting to fade from all the earlier buzz when I joined CKTG. They are still a great value, though.

[MisoSatisfried]

Nice score Lepus!

I've been meaning to pick up a Goko, but I've been leery of the weight. I might grab a petty instead. Gokos were just starting to fade from all the earlier buzz when I joined CKTG. They are still a great value, though.

We must have started around the same time. I had it on the list as my first knife for quite a while and now, many knives later, I oddly have yet to actually try one.

[Lepus]

You should both try one. I've used the wa handled nakiri as well and it's great. The originally had mediocre plastic ferruled handles. When Mark started putting all wood handles on them it brought them up into a higher price bracket, but I think they're quite competitive. I need to try the gyuto, myself.

I wanted to get a good picture of the whole knife today with some sunlight but it rained all morning and afternoon. Tomorrow I'll give it a show.

[salemj]

That was a nice little story (and LaVie's addition was nice, too!). Enjoyed the read...and I too am curious about your handle!

[timos]

these knives lend themselves well to being adjusted.
Relatively easy to thin them, easy to convert to Wa shape or reduce handle weight, easy to relieve the back belly for a pointier shape too...the bolsters are pretty much solid and easy to square up to accept the new handle.
I think I did around 15 or more of these and the grinds were all consistent.

[Lepus]

The big version.