Konosuke Mirror Knives and some thoughts on Japanese knives

Hello folks, thanks for sticking around as I find myself swamped with knives to sharpen, a ridiculously good thing.
Like Geddy Lee said, "Things that I once dreamed of, have become reality"

This is a mirror knife by Konosuke, the reflection is of the Kityama 8,000 grit stone I finished the knife on.  I think it is a cool picture and a very nice knife.


Over the last 2.5 weeks I have sharpened over 500 knives and many were Japanese (not talking Global or Shun or MAC).

There is a repeating pattern, almost every Japanese hand made knife I got was damaged in some way. I think we all know that those wonderfully hard knives that take an astonishing edge come with a price. Unless handled carefully they will chip.  I think some Chefs who use them do so at first without realizing that they can't be handled in the same fashion as a Henckels or Wusthof.  No cutting butternut squash, especially with one of the knives pictured here.
While beautiful and truly sharp, they are somewhat fragile, they are very light, so much so that it may throw some folks off who own them.

However, it was an honour to sharpen them and I truly appreciate the Executive Chef trusting me with his whole set of these wonders.


Now back to knives and damage, I rarely, if ever see a European knife like a Henckels with any damage unless it is a broken tip. No nicks in the edge.

Globals and Shun also often come to me with nicks in the edge and I don't know if it is a "Knife" Issue or an  "Owner Issue". Clearly there are many obvious cases of neglect but not always.
Just a little twist of the blade while it is stuck in something semi frozen or very touch is enough to take a piece out of the knife. Not so with Grohmann and similar steels like Henckels, the steel is softer and has a little flex.

Now it is easy to repair for me but this doesn't make it any easier on the owner who has paid a lot of money for his/her knife.

I am not completely bought up on the whole Japanese knife thing myself, I don't like the handles, I find the fit and finish less than perfect but that is understandable, people, gifted people often, are making this knives by hand so if it is not absolutely perfect, it is not a big deal. The blade is the most important thing and that is going to be a killer for sure.

If I could have any knife though, I would go for a Bob Kramer.


Here is another shot of the Mirror knife. I did this on 3 stones, all Shapton Glass, 1k, 2k and 16K.
Believe it or not, it produces an absolutely awesome edge. I was in NYC when I was first introduced to the Shapton Glass, 500, 1k and 16K finish and it blew me away. I ran out of 500 stones, have gone through 5 of them so I just went to the 1k instead.

Thank you for being here, I really mean it.

Peter Nowlan