All About Pocket Knives

Here I thought I was out of Seki knives to share and along comes these Christmas presents I am giving my two adult children for Christmas. I took advantage of JKD’s 30% off Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
These are two chef knives. Gyuto Gekko. Gekko is Japanese for moonlight. The handles are made from mahogany and the blades are VG-10 core w/ 15 layer stainless Damascus jacketing the core. The hammered effect on the blade is beautiful. I gave my kids their first chef knives set a few years ago, Henckels and they are showing the wear and tear of many years of use.
The big one has about a 7” blade and the other one is a paring knife. Gorgeous gorgeous.
SSk

Food should feel honored to be sliced by such knives.

Beautiful cutlery there Ssk! After years of using German knives for food prep I bought a Shun pair, chef's and paring. I would never go back. A joy to use. They do require that they are never used in a chopping vertical motion, always in an elliptical stroke, lest one rolls the exquisitely thin blades.

S2K wrote:Beautiful cutlery there Ssk! After years of using German knives for food prep I bought a Shun pair, chef's and paring. I would never go back. A joy to use. They do require that they are never used in a chopping vertical motion, always in an elliptical stroke, lest one rolls the exquisitely thin blades.

TJ, that’s what I told my kids, once you’ve used a Japanese chef knife you will won’t be satisfied w/ anything else. I have Henckels Miyabi as well as Henckels Germany. You are right about the way you can use these knives. But the Japanese do make ones that are for heavier tasks and can handle anything a Henckels Germany can, I have a few of those as well. The sale is still on at JCK if anyone is interested.
SSk

Ssk, thanks for the heads up on the sale, I'll take look. I find that with the correct technique I can move quickly though most cutting tasks with the Shun , probably due in part to lower mass of the knife. I also have a small cleaver for those few tasks requiring more oomph such as breaking down poultry.

Your children might be like mine and fed up with receiving a knife for every birthday and Christmas in the last 40 years. But i have no doubt that they will be thrilled with these. Unless that is, you gave them a $40,000 Kramer Chef's knife last year.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Your children might be like mine and fed up with receiving a knife for every birthday and Christmas in the last 40 years. But i have no doubt that they will be thrilled with these. Unless that is, you gave them a $40,000 Kramer Chef's knife last year.
kj

I haven’t given them knives in a long time. I know they don’t share my passion for this. I have given them each a nice pocket knife and chef knives. This year a new and nicer couple of chef knives and I am giving them both a Lansky sharpening system. We will have some together time as I teach them how to properly sharpen a knife. I don’t want to see them using the primitive sharpeners that they have to sharpen these beauties.
I haven’t heard of Kramer Chef’s knives. I could never spend 40k on any knife, I don’t care how nice it is.
SSk

Thought I would add a Few more Mcusta Tactility From Top to Bottom
(1) Micarta Handle VG-10 Steel
(2) Black Micarta Handle, Damascus
(3) Korian MGV Handle ,Damascus Steel
(4) Quince Wood Handle ,Damascus Steel
(5) Cocobolo Wood Handle ,Damascus Steel
(6) Ironwood Handle,Damascus

kennedy knives wrote:Thought I would add a Few more Mcusta Tactility From Top to Bottom
(1) Micarta Handle VG-10 Steel
(2) Black Micarta Handle, Damascus
(3) Korian MGV Handle ,Damascus Steel
(4) Quince Wood Handle ,Damascus Steel
(5) Cocobolo Wood Handle ,Damascus Steel
(6) Ironwood Handle,Damascus

Gary, Hard to pick a favorite from all of those. I like the black Micarta w/ the Damascus, but ironwood is one of my favorites too. All very nice knives. Thanks for sharing.
SSk

Well Seki knife fans it’s finally here. JKD just posted the “specials” that are available for the holiday season. Here is the address: http://japaneseknifedirect.com/Custom%20.html
The have some real beauties. Koki said these are from their custom knife makers and from the “show”. I assume it’s a knife show in Japan just for this. Oh how I would like to go to that show.
SSk

SSk, I just returned from Japan via your post. Wonderful, exquisite knives. And tho I'm not in a position to order, I consider the prices very reasonable given the execution of these handmade knives. Thanks for the reference.

Quick Steel wrote:SSk, I just returned from Japan via your post. Wonderful, exquisite knives. And tho I'm not in a position to order, I consider the prices very reasonable given the execution of these handmade knives. Thanks for the reference.

QS, I agree the prices seem very reasonable to me. I ordered two knives from this new selection. I won’t be able to post them until after Christmas. My wife will inspect them when they come in and then wrap them and I will get them on Christmas. Believe me, this makes Christmas more exciting picking out a knife, knowing it’s here and anticipating seeing and handling them for the first time on Christmas morning. I love it.
I really thought hard about buying those Higonokami knives at the top of the page. Very impressive.
SSk

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:Here I thought I was out of Seki knives to share and along comes these Christmas presents I am giving my two adult children for Christmas. I took advantage of JKD’s 30% off Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
These are two chef knives. Gyuto Gekko. Gekko is Japanese for moonlight. The handles are made from mahogany and the blades are VG-10 core w/ 15 layer stainless Damascus jacketing the core. The hammered effect on the blade is beautiful. I gave my kids their first chef knives set a few years ago, Henckels and they are showing the wear and tear of many years of use.
The big one has about a 7” blade and the other one is a paring knife. Gorgeous gorgeous.
SSk

Dang you...SSK. Thought I was over dropping bigger bucks, on knives...just got mine in the mail...because of you. It is one darn nice knife!
Super fast delivery, from Japan.Your kids will definitely like those! Is there a Knifeaholic Anonymous chapter in SA?

Doc B wrote:

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:Here I thought I was out of Seki knives to share and along comes these Christmas presents I am giving my two adult children for Christmas. I took advantage of JKD’s 30% off Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
These are two chef knives. Gyuto Gekko. Gekko is Japanese for moonlight. The handles are made from mahogany and the blades are VG-10 core w/ 15 layer stainless Damascus jacketing the core. The hammered effect on the blade is beautiful. I gave my kids their first chef knives set a few years ago, Henckels and they are showing the wear and tear of many years of use.
The big one has about a 7” blade and the other one is a paring knife. Gorgeous gorgeous.
SSk

Dang you...SSK. Thought I was over dropping bigger bucks, on knives...just got mine in the mail...because of you. It is one darn nice knife!
Super fast delivery, from Japan.Your kids will definitely like those! Is there a Knifeaholic Anonymous chapter in SA?

Doc B, You can drop some big money on Japanese knives, but there are some that aren’t so expensive. Either way they are all worth it. The chef knives I bought for the kids weren’t that bad. 98 for the big one and 67 for the paring knife. I consider that a steal on such fine cutlery.
The JKD specials that they brought out for Christmas actually have some very decent prices too.
I don’t think you will ever regret buying quality.
Since joining AAPK, I have been buying a lot more knives than I have before. This forum is especially good at opening your eyes to knives you never considered before. It is addictive.
SSk

A G Russell Cattaraugus commisioned for the Knife Collectors Club 1990 made in Seki Japan

r redden wrote:A G Russell Cattaraugus commisioned for the Knife Collectors Club 1990 made in Seki Japan

46010000692_ce92e9045c_b.jpg

Randy that one is beautiful. What an interesting take on the sleeve board whittler. I’m a big fan of Russell’s Cattaraugus knives. I love the jigged bone on this one.
SSk

Thanks Mark I am extremely impressed with the quality of this knife IMO it's much better than any of the GEC offerings I've owned, and you know what a GEC fan I am.

Hey everyone, Just noticed that JKD just added 40 more knives to the site just today. Find them from the home page by clicking on Customs or by clicking here: http://japaneseknifedirect.com/Custom%20.html. Looks like all are very limited production run and some one of a kind.
SSk

Here are a few images of just a small number of the knives that have just been posted up. Many have only 1 available.
Don’t delay, they sell out quickly.
SSk

Here's a nice Browning Made In Japan Looks like a Moki Or a AL-Mar Very Nice Stag

kennedy knives wrote:Here's a nice Browning Made In Japan Looks like a Moki Or a AL-Mar Very Nice Stag

Gary, I had one of those, not in stag, and I thought it also looked to be from Moki. I like this stag one much better than the black one that I had. I thought the quality on the one I had was a bit shy of Moki standards. The fit and finish was just a touch off, which is something I have never seen from Moki. I wonder if these were made by the Seki consortium for Browning? For the price though it was an incredible knife. I only paid about 40 dollars for the one I had and I bought it new from A.G. Russell’s. So I couldn’t complain. And that was more than a few years ago.
SSk

kennedy knives wrote:Here's a nice Browning Made In Japan Looks like a Moki Or a AL-Mar Very Nice Stag

Gary, that's a beauty! This thread has been a real eye-opener. I had no idea of the Seki connection with knives like Browning and Kershaw.

S2K wrote:

kennedy knives wrote:Here's a nice Browning Made In Japan Looks like a Moki Or a AL-Mar Very Nice Stag

Gary, that's a beauty! This thread has been a real eye-opener. I had no idea of the Seki connection with knives like Browning and Kershaw.

S2K, Ask any questions you want about the history of the knives made in Seki. Production processes and other details are all welcom questions. I don’t have all the answers but I know where to find a lot of that information, and I know who to ask. There are a lot of connections between these companies and several companies. Parker Imai comes to mind as a partnership that once made knives in Japan. There were several others like C.I.or Compass Industries. Sharp was a brand with roots in Japan and a connection to Japan. The list goes on and on. If there is one you are wondering about, just ask.
There is one I want to ask you all about. Rockstead. Made in Japan. The detail and the polishing and the edge grind are something you don’t find just anywhere. After reading about the multi step process that they go through to polish and sharpen blades, I am deeply impressed. I know Cleetus Awretus has one. These knives run some serious money. Lowest is about 900 and most are 1500 a piece. I would like to hear more about these knives.
SSk

Taylor Cutlery Also Produced Knives made in Japan here's 2 models Nice well made knives

I had one of those Browning lockbacks, as well as a similarly sized Al Mar. I think the Mar was handled in Cocobolo and the Browning in Chinese Quince. While they looked alike the Mar was miles smoother, locked up nicer and released better. Alas I gifted them both to my Dad and he somehow managed to lose them both. I keep an eye out when I go back home but it's a few years plus now. Loved perusing the link you provided ssk, great knives.