# Yoshihiro knives



## ronney jung

Hi I live I tx and wondering if Yoshihiro knives are any good. If any one uses them if they are really hand made or production knife .


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## millionsknives

Yoshihiro contracts some well known knife makers in japan. I dont know that they make anything themselves. I hear it is good for the $ and easy availability at amazon ebay etc


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## mike9

Or directly from Yoshihiro and they have coupons, sales, ect. if you subscribe to their news letter.  I have a couple of their knives a VG10 petty that is very nimble and a kasumi ikasaki (squid knife) that is wonderful to use.  They heat treat on the VG10 is quite good and holds up well.  The steel on the ikasaki is Blue#2 if I recall correctly.  I did a wa conversion on the petty as the western handles run on the small side for my tastes.

They market some really excellent accessories as well.


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## foody518

It's unlikely to me that they are knives that are hand made by one guy through the whole knifemaking process, but they don't seem to be production like Henckels/Wusthofs German knives.


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## millionsknives

Lol don't set such unrealistic expectations. Even in a "one man shop" where the maker puts his name on the knife, you have no expectation that more mundane tasks are not done by an apprentice. In a place like Takefu village, you might have a couple different masters with their expert hands on it over the course of the process. That's not a bad thing!

If you want start to finish, even the handle, made by one person, buy American custom made knives but it will cost and performance can range from great to just meh


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## mike9

@MillionsKnives - True dat! even Murray Carter has apprentices to help keep up with the the work load. He even has an apprentice line that is excellent quality at a lower price point. If you watch videos of Master Doi on youtube you see him at the forge with piles of forged blanks all around. He doesn't make a bunch of blanks then go and grinds, straighten, polish and handle them himself - BUT - he forged the damned thing and that's what sells.

Look for a good used knife from a custom maker. Tsourkan, HHH, Michael Rader (cha ching$$), Bill Burke (cha cha ching$$$), Devin Thomas, Del Ealy, Bloodroot Blades off the top of my head. Will Catchside in England makes some seriously gorgeous knives. BUT be ready to plunk down a purse full. Even in the used market I paid $1k for a Rader Chef and sold it for that a year later. That's another snag - as you go up the chain the resale value is pretty much - well basically if you turn it you've rented the knife.

The Itinomonn 240 kasumi gyuto I bought last month is an excellent knife I highly recommend it for the price point.


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## foody518

Wasn't sure exactly what the OP was meaning/thinking by hand made.

Someday I'll own a Bloodroot Blades knife...love the concept, love the craftsmanship.


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## brianshaw

Beautiful knives they are!  Yoshihiro is just blocks away from another well-known knife vendor in Beverly Hills. I'm tempted to take a field trip some day soon!


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## ronney jung

Do you know if there traditional Japanese knifes or production or hand made


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## foody518

@BrianShaw I'm envious of where you live! I'd visit Japanese Knife Imports often if it didn't require a plane ticket to do so...


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## mike9

Ronney Jung said:


> Do you know if there traditional Japanese knifes or production or hand made


They are hand made in a production sense - see my post above. Not factory made, but shop made. I think the western (Yo) styles are blanked, heat treated, ground, bolsters pinned on then polished and handled. The Wa styles are forge welded, heat treated, ground, polished and handled. The difference being the steel - Hitachi and Sandvik both make san mai " sandwich stock - that is a hard core with soft stainless "damascus" cladding sandwich. Those are blanked by water or laser jet. If you look at one closely you can see the core steel along the spine. Not that there's anything wrong with that approach. I have a really nice Goko and my Hiromoto AS are blanked from sandwiched steel and some Carters are too.


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## ronney jung

Ok cool thank I was think one of their blue limited or custom but wasn't sure how good they are I use shun blue and kikuichi now but wanted something special lol


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## robertb

I was considering purchasing a few Yoshihiro knives, but stopped. I visited Yoshihiro's website, added a knife to my shopping cart. Out of curiosity I clicked on "engraving", and it said "add 4 Chinese characters". Not that I was going to have this engraved, but I thought WTF? Chinese characters? why not Japanese characters?

Suspicious, I clicked on "About Us", and nowhere does it say these are actually made in Japan. It says things like "Japanese technique", "Japanese style". I have worked with the Chinese in the electronics industry for years, and these are typical words Chinese use to make you think the product is made elsewhere, especially when copying a product from places like Italy, US, Japan, etc...

Here is some of the words they use:

_Our company has inherited the Japanese tradition.._

_Yoshihiro Cutlery is a company specializing in handcrafted premium Japanese kitchen knives.._

_With a history spanning 100 years... (but they don't talk about a history)_

I'm sure these are nice knives, but I would bet $100 dollars these Yoshihiro knives are made and massed produced in China, and if they are, they should cost 1/4 of what they are charging for them. With pricing mark-ups like this, it's no wonder they can afford to have a store in Beverly Hills Ca.

_First time poster. As I was searching google to find out exactly where these knives are produced (which I never did find out), I ran across this forum, and this thread in particular._


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## robertb

foody518 said:


> It's unlikely to me that they are knives that are hand made by one guy through the whole knifemaking process, but they don't seem to be production like Henckels/Wusthofs German knives.


These are most likely made in China


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## foody518

RobertB - Chinese characters refers to the Kanji that are the engraved characters. Because of the history of the Asian countries in the dynastic period and how that played out, for example both Japan (Kanji) and Korea (Hanja) have an element of their written language that is composed of 'Chinese characters' in addition to the more recent and now more commonly used phonetic alphabets. The character based aspect of the written languages can carry with it a stronger invoking of culture, history, ancestry, etc. 
I'd venture to say more people will have an idea of what they mean by using 'Chinese characters' vs 'Kanji'.


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## foody518

Also their ebay site says Saki (mispelled Sakai) Osaka. Where a lot of big knife brands are.

And when you have an Asian company trying to have a US based location, the top locations they'd be are probably somewhere relevant in Cali or NY...where there is likely a greater concentration of people who would use the products...makes sense to me.


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## millionsknives

I don't doubt they are made in Japan


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## brianshaw

MillionsKnives said:


> I don't doubt they are made in Japan


I don't doubt that either, but I must admit that I had the same thoughts as RobertB when I read their web site. There is just enough being said, but a lot going unsaid. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/surprised.gif


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## millionsknives

I think some of that is because they don't announce who is making their knives. My guess is it's more to deter competition than to be mysterious. A competitor could get to the same knife maker and launch their own line for example

I mean look at what these guys did, they took over an expired name, hired a maker, and launched their business that way http://www.forgecraft.co/


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## brianshaw

I didn't know that. Thanks! Ingenious, in some ways, and devious in others. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/lol.gif


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## robertb

foody518 said:


> RobertB - Chinese characters refers to the Kanji that are the engraved characters. Because of the history of the Asian countries in the dynastic period and how that played out, for example both Japan (Kanji) and Korea (Hanja) have an element of their written language that is composed of 'Chinese characters' in addition to the more recent and now more commonly used phonetic alphabets. The character based aspect of the written languages can carry with it a stronger invoking of culture, history, ancestry, etc.
> I'd venture to say more people will have an idea of what they mean by using 'Chinese characters' vs 'Kanji'.


They also can mean totally different things as illustrated here.

"我来自我孫子" to say "I come from Abiko." That meaning would come across as "came from his grandchild"


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## mike9

I don't see a problem here:
[h2]About Yoshihiro Cutlery[/h2]
Yoshihiro Cutlery is a company specializing in handcrafted premium Japanese kitchen knives. With a history of over 100 years, the Yoshihiro knife brand has been a leading provider of premium kitchen cutlery in Japan. In 2008 we began offering our knives worldwide. Our base of operations is in Beverly Hills, California, where we currently offer over 600 selections of premium Japanese knives to the residents of the greater Los Angeles area and internationally through our online store.


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## foody518

Yes but the point of the 4 characters is more to get your name or some fun phonetization of it with Kanji that could have that pronunciation onto the blade. Or a small message. BluewayJapan on ebay lists a similar service on some of their Sakai knives as a means of personalization. 
A far as the different meanings...welcome to languages. This is why context is exceptionally important, and how people could be fluent and communicative before the modern age of literacy. You could certainly put up a dual meaning 4 character message or a tongue twister or something and totally troll somebody. I don't really see your point.


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## ordo

back to the blades, there're are many brands marketing these knives. Yoshihiro, Togiharu Hammered Damascus, may be Sakai Takayuki, may be Kikuichi Hammered Damascus (better handles). etc. All 16 layers, VG10 core.

I own several Togiharus HD and they are very respectable cutters. In fact these days i'm using a lot the Santoku. Just strop on chromium leather strop and it goes and goes. Once in a while, the SS #1000. That's it. Good blades, whoever is making them.


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## millionsknives

@Ordo that's the one VG-10 OEM knife only. They sell many other things http://www.echefknife.com/


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## foody518

I've got one of their Ginsan knives on my 'want!' list for the semi near future


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## ordo

MillionsKnives said:


> @Ordo that's the one VG-10 OEM knife only. They sell many other things http://www.echefknife.com/


I see. OK.


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## robertb

Mike9 said:


> I don't see a problem here:
> [h2]About Yoshihiro Cutlery[/h2]
> Yoshihiro Cutlery is a company specializing in handcrafted premium Japanese kitchen knives. With a history of over 100 years, the Yoshihiro knife brand has been a leading provider of premium kitchen cutlery in Japan. In 2008 we began offering our knives worldwide. Our base of operations is in Beverly Hills, California, where we currently offer over 600 selections of premium Japanese knives to the residents of the greater Los Angeles area and internationally through our online store.


General Electric (Edison) has been proudly providing light bulbs to Japan for the last 100 years also. Point is, you'd think if these (Yoshihiro branded knives) were actually made in Japan, they would proudly say they were. But they don't actually say that, because they are probably not made there. Not saying it's a bad knife, but the Xinzuo damascus VG10 chef knife is a good knife too with similar specs, and it's sells for $40 dollars. If you buy them in large quantity, you can get them a whole lot cheaper.

It's not a big deal, but I've been dealing with Chinese manufacturers for close to 20 years, and I smell a rat here. Yosihiro is clearly trying to market their brand as a Japanese manufactured knife. Hayate Yoshihiro Corporation President Bruce Park is Korean, if that means anything.


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## millionsknives

I don't know how much clearer "Japanese knives" can be. Is there another way to interpret it?

Poor reading comprehension isnt really enough reason to slander a company. I will have to continue to believe people who have actually done business with Yoshihiro


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## brianshaw

I don't want to throw gasoline (petrol) onto a fire, nor do I smell a rat per se, but I, too, am sensitive to carefully scripted statements. I've been burned too many times by management saying one thing and creating an impression... only to find out that they do something else and if one re-reads their words it becomes evident that they said something but didn't say something else.

I read twice the statement, "... has been a leading provider of premium kitchen cutlery..." and wondered why it used the word 'provider' but didn't include the word 'manufacturer'.

No matter, they are nice looking knives and the few prices I looked at seem reasonable.

And I see your point, Millions... just can't quite reconcile the other gut feelings that came to mind.


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## millionsknives

They didn't manufacture. They place purchase orders through craftsmen who make the knives. Some of the same craftsmen used by other known brands. Most vendors work like that whether it is their own brand or something else they are selling.


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## brianshaw

Got it; Thanks!


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## rick alan

RobertB said:


> General Electric (Edison) has been proudly providing light bulbs to Japan for the last 100 years also. Point is, you'd think if these (Yoshihiro branded knives) were actually made in Japan, they would proudly say they were. But they don't actually say that, because they are probably not made there. Not saying it's a bad knife, but the Xinzuo damascus VG10 chef knife is a good knife too with similar specs, and it's sells for $40 dollars. If you buy them in large quantity, you can get them a whole lot cheaper.
> 
> It's not a big deal, but I've been dealing with Chinese manufacturers for close to 20 years, and I smell a rat here. Yosihiro is clearly trying to market their brand as a Japanese manufactured knife. Hayate Yoshihiro Corporation President Bruce Park is Korean, if that means anything.


Rob quite possible if you looked you could find a couple Chinese factories that could produce quite decent blanked san-mai knives. Then follow what the Misen guys did on their Kickstarter campaign and you too could find yourself with a million+ in orders.


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## foody518

Yoshihiro's got some forged looking stuff, as well as single beveled traditional style knives. Probably immediately recognizable to a buyer if that were outsourced or otherwise something trying to be passed off as something else. Based on what all has happened to China in the past century or so from a cultural and economic and labor/skillset standpoint...I doubt there are a significant number of people with the skill and craftsmanship to be putting out that kind of stuff, in those knife shapes/types as well. There certainly isn't much of a domestic market for it. And if there are actually passable forged knives like gyutos and usubas...well I might have to go search around for them next time I'm back.


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## mike9

I'm feeling like RobertB's blanket statement is a conspiracy theory.  I have had dealings with Yoshohiro and the quality of their product is very good to excellent at all price points.  This is just bull hockey.  The about us paragraph I posted is what they are all about.  No different from Japanese Knife Imports, or Chef Knives to Go, or any other high end knife vendor.  Seriously - let it go.


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## foody518

I had thought from the start that there was no credible reason to make such disingenuous statements from an initial browsing of a website.


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## gao yuan

Yoshihiro is a Japan company and makes knifes in japan. They provide for food industry more than home cooks.

That said, Japan's workmanship is inferior to the neighboring Central Kingdom. 
Think about the construction quality of their nuclear plants, cause big trouble every now and then. 

But most of us are not aware of it, we prefer to believe the Japan technology is way better than the Central Kingdom, and Europe and even US of A.

What a shame. The profit-driven importers fabricated so many stories about how great the Japanese knives are. But to me, they are not as good as they are thought to be.

I would stick to Old Hickory and Arkansas stones.


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## millionsknives

That's an opinion I guess.  I have chinese made cleavers and also chukabocho.  The edge retention on the Japanese made ones are far superior.


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