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First Rate
(9/6/2010)
I have the nakiri veg knife and this knife. This blade is even thinner than the nakiri but it makes it easy to carve fat out of meat and make nice clean cuts without any effort. As long as you don't gorilla your cuts you should be able to use this as a general purpose knife around bones and whatever. You aren't going to just wreck the edge unless you can't handle a knife and then you should just get a 20 bones chopper and hack away because your needs don't warrant a precision tool like this.
I've left the nakiri with corrosive elements on it for over a month (in my makeshift backup kitchen) and it has no stain after washing. Anyhow, this knife(gyuto) has cut up numerous chops and steaks and is simply easy to guide through and remove fat/ligaments from raw meat.
Final Verdict: I have two Asai knives and I love them both. I wanted traditional handles and current gen tech in the blades, this is where I found the answer. I am about to order the paring knife just after this review to complete the set. Epicurean Edge has been a magnificient merchant with an excellent staff. I had to have a 3-way conversation with my bank, epicurean edge staffmember(sorry, forgot your name) and myself just to clear up a bank error and receive my order. This is a company that I feel is concerned with customer satisfaction and confidentiality. I give my entire set of purchases and the service received a 5 star rating.
I've left the nakiri with corrosive elements on it for over a month (in my makeshift backup kitchen) and it has no stain after washing
Final Verdict: I have two Asai knives and I love them both. I wanted traditional handles and current gen tech in the blades, this is where I found the answer. I am about to order the paring knife just after this review to complete the set. Epicurean Edge has been a magnificient merchant with an excellent staff. I had to have a 3-way conversation with my bank, epicurean edge staffmember(sorry, forgot your name) and myself just to clear up a bank error and receive my order. This is a company that I feel is concerned with customer satisfaction and confidentiality. I give my entire set of purchases and the service received a 5 star rating.
Out of the box, the gyuto actually wasn't particularly sharp but I gave it a quick sharpening session on my Edge Pro Apex to a 13.5 degree double-sided 50/50 edge. I use an AngleCube to set the angle on each stone in the progression, all the way down to a .1 micron finish. For reference, the full progression is Atoma 140 -> 400 -> 600 -> 1200 diamond plate stones, followed by Shapton Glass 2000 -> 4000 -> 8000 -> 16000 stones, finally finished on .5 micron CBN-loaded balsa and ultimately .1 micron CBN-loaded nanocloth strops. The SG2 core steel sharpened quickly and had no issues taking this edge and in my time using it thus far, is retaining it very nicely as well.
More importantly, the grind on this knife is spectacular. While it's not particularly thin at the spine, it gets extremely thin well before the actual edge. As a result, the knife handles as a laser in practice between the grind and its light weight. It's also tall enough despite its shorter length to not have knuckle clearance issues on the board. Actual knife profile is gently curved throughout without much of a flat belly anywhere, making it conducive to rock chopping if desired. Other styles (pull cuts, push cuts, pure chopping, etc.) all are handled nicely as well.
If you're looking for a versatile small Wa-handled gyuto that won't intimidate those afraid of larger knives and is very pretty to boot, this is an excellent choice!
Matt - Pittsburgh, PA