Do you give equal deference to the 'designer' of the teeth that will chew the food that these blades will cut?

​@@mwng5186there is no designer like that. this is no place for religious banter....

That’s what I thought too lol

Counterpoint -this is just high quality pictures and talk that don’t result in an answer to the question. Therefore it is common click bait. The implication is that someone of high skill spends a large amount of time to make one knife and many failures. Who is the judge of this skill? Only the guy whose name is on the company. An example of the videos failure -it never mentions that the structure of the knife business is exactly like the premium sushi chefs that buy the knives. Apprenticeship for most of their life in the hope one day they will be deemed worthy by the expert. The $20k knife is the perfect prop for the show.

@@skyak4493 lol

​@@skyak4493Let's see. I'm a metallurgist, and I have been a process engineer for 9 years. This video wasn't just smoke-and-mirrors to me. Making such a high-end fully customized knife is incredibly intricate. Every step is artisanal, meaning someone had to work very long to gain the required experience for the manual work. Hot working, heat treatment, grinding, sharpening, engraving, polishing, handle making, and so on. And with most steps (except maybe for the polishing and the handle making) a mistake can be unrecoverable. But, ok, I agree that much of the above may not be obvious to a lay person.

Says “huh” as she’s cutting on a metal platform 😂 Means for a break up right there .

i was watching a video from a guy who does videos of things in japan and he got his sister in law a knife that was "expensive" but lower end. her husband left the knife on the cutting board and it got rust spots and the edge was damaged (just from hours of lying around wet). he took it back to the store/maker and they fixed it like new for free. she said the husband isn't allowed to use the knife again 🙂non stainless steel sounds so stressful!

@@mm-yt8sf LOL THAT'S CRAZY THAT THEY BANNED HIM

"No, it's over by the can of dog food that I used your knife to open."

@@mm-yt8sfI saw this video too! For anyone else interested the KZfaqr’s name is Life Where I’m From and the title of the video is “What I Learned When I Damaged a New Handcrafted Japanese Knife”

$20K for knives is beyond stupid

@@tshirtnjeans4829 10 people working to produce ~150 of a good per year on average is going to carry a whopping premium. They are as much tools for fine dining as they are works of art. You are comparing the price to a typical Toyota, when they are making Bugattis.

@@abg7750 People will find ways to justify anything. These knives don't slice better than $20 knives from Walmart. The fact that the manufacturing is inefficient does not give the product a $19,980 premium.

It’s fired & stoned steel. As you see, he isn’t even the one doing it. It’s outsourced to normal workers. The marketing is fantastic, but these are $500 blades here. Too simple & easy to make. There’s a reason people don’t think stainless steel is as strong - because it isn’t.

@@abg7750except this Bugatti is easily mimicked & made of cheap materials. It’s great marketing, that’s it.

What do you mean? Don't you like seeing "speaking in a foreign language" and "continues to speak in a foreign language" over the actual subtitles?

you can drag and move the closed caption (if you are on PC)

Whoever did the CC deserves a lengthy jail time, with no parole.

Rich and deep history with those other and the brands they work for. Give them your support.

For 20k$ you can get multiple knives from each of these and still have money left over

@@RzTheTree I genuinely think you could get every kind of Japanese Knife shape and absolutely stunning versions for 20k. You could legitimately get 9-10 Honyaki Aogami Number 1 and deck out every single staff member at your sushi restaurant.

Add Shigefusa and Kiyoshi Kato to that list 👌🏽

@@chefknivesenthusiast ohhh absolutely perhaps a bit tougher to find currently though.

Cutting from sheet steel, tapping a few times power hammer, a heat treat montage, and expected grind and polish. Yes, marketing is what this is. I dont see any of the lore of Japanese blade smithing here at all. My understanding of the forging process, hype. Time to put this blade against say 20 other smiths knowing its purpose and shape design. Blind test them with identical handles or its material. Plus lets snap one of these in half and see its grain structure verse the highest placed knife.

Nice

Drag it out, or ensure the best possible outcome?

@@rhubarbpie2027 no, thats dragging out, they are just slow. look at how much faster Blaupließter in Solinge worked. This is just again one of these Hipster overengineered Workshops where half of the workhours are for cleaning the workshop.

@@Hans-Yolo I hope you get the chance to visit Japan for an extended period and learn to appreciate their culture.

@@rhubarbpie2027 i appreciate their cultur but its also a thing in Japan to do things more complicated then they have to be, especially with knifes and swords. I know the reasons why they did things like they have. the western world has a tendency to romanticizing this things. The realy old Knifemakers in Japan dont work so slow as these guys do but their knifes are also from very high quality i bet and they dont need fancy digital hardness tester or a "special developed" beltgrinder ( which was nothing more than a bigger diameter wheel shch makes grinding and polishing knifes easier )

@@Hans-Yolo ? These are high end knives meant for those seeking perfection. Of course it take a long time for each knife to be crafted. It is because of their crazy prices, high quality and effort to make which gives the knives from Japan the image of being over complicated. However, these knives take up a small amount of the total knives made in Japan. Try finding high end honyakis, several pieces are released here and there and are not easy to find. On the opposite spectrum there are Japanese knives which are much cheaper at around 100USD, but still with good quality, being churned out in crazy numbers and distributed widely overseas. Not every single Japanese knife goes through the crazy and lengthy process as seen in this video. In the Western world where craft knives are also important, there are cheaper mass produced knives, but also high quality custom knives which can make you wait for months to years to get your knife made for you. Look at cars, Rolls Royce in the England are super overcomplicated and expensive. Yes, but there is still a group of people willing to spend the money and time to wait for such products. Toyota, Honda etc from Japan are churning cars out in huge quantities. It is not right to say Japan over complicate things. They do pay greater attention details to the things they do, but they can also excel in high volume manufacturing with good quality.

Same, if you start from steel sheet, nothing wrong with that, then you have a datasheet for it, saying that the heat treatment protocol is "trade secret" implies that you are better at metallurgy than the team of metallurgists at the steel factory that makes the steel...

Agreed. Oddly enough, the Japanese needed to use the tamhagane due to them having some of the lowest quality steel at that time in order to get all the impurities out. They’re known for having great craftsman, which is often confused with having great steels. That may be different now but back then it wasn’t the case.

​@@pablopeuUhmm... As a metallurgist, and working for a stainless steel supplier, I can tell you that no stainless steel manufacturer will have a standard procedure ready to modify the grain structure from stainless steel plate specifically into the optimal grain structure for an extremely high-end sushi knife. This isn't a simple _"Hold at 1150 °F (721 °C) for at least 30 minutes and then quench in fast oil."_ Instead, it will be a highly specific combination of holding times, temperatures, heating rates, cooling rates, hammering (so hot deformation) which will depend on the specific location on the blade and more. You can't get this from an AMS or ASTM standard, or a manufacturer product data sheet.

as a knivemaker i can tell you are totally right the only special thing about them is their marketing team able to sell the same knife that all the japanese crafters do fo 10000% the price of it it's the japanese fever , people love them and think that everything that come from there can cut cannon barrels and slice the air and we the bladesmiths of other parts of the world are just rude medieval bearded guys who cant make proper tools :)

It would lose to a modern powder steel in every measure.

Absolutely, there is so much going on in the knifemaking / metallurgy world right now anyway... and most people are not informed about any of it@@JohnFrumFromAmerica

There is a major distinction. Quenching the knives in the tears of blue fin tuna is what makes them superior to anything else on the market.

​@@JohnFrumFromAmerica it wins in terms of sharpenability. Powdered steels are hard and tough because of carbides, but those carbides also make it much harder to sharpen.

😂😂

Pretty sure it does

Yes it does. A sharp knife will do minimal damage to the meat fibers, which makes for a more pleasant texture to the mouth, which our brain interprets as more pleasant.

I wonder what other type of 👓 do you have in US an a...s glasses, a knobbbb 👓 ??

No I think they just are showing how much effort they put into the fit and finish of their knives. I'll never own one of these nenohi cause it's not my style but I love the Western handle nenox knives.

Yeah... everything in Japan seemes to be art. Even cutting the fish for sushi is an art.

China and japan always exaggerate things , they make paper - stand in line joins hands incense sticks. As if they are doing something that cannot be done .

Right? I can get my klien wire cutting knife pretty sharp with a grinder

@@timothyb.4928 yikes

As someone who has cooked with many Different types of knives, great sharp knives make prep more enjoyable. Without question. But you do need to have some kitchen skills for that enjoyment to be felt. And if you don’t believe me Go out and try it yourself.

It’s the name and the marketing team lol.

how about if we add in there clout, dependability, precision, comfort, and enjoyment? Some of those things are rather intangible. High luxurious services and goods go beyond tangible economic measures. Is it necessary? i dont think anyone starting their business cares to buy a knife that expensive. But a knife at $20K is the same as someone who buys a Patek or Rolex. For making only 100-200 a year, i don't see why this business and the consumers arent reasonable and passionate and totally validated for wanting something like this.

Skeptical? People who work on cars pays tens of thousands of dollars on tools. A knife is considered a tool as well. I wouldn't see why a chef wouldn't purchase a good quality tool. 😂

@@bphonn88 its about the law of diminishing returns. A car mechanic would pay for tools that increase efficiency, like an air powered lug nuts impact wrench that can take out tyre nuts in a few seconds. Not a $20,000 manual wrench thats made from damascus steel that would function the same as a high-quality $100 wrech.

Spoken like a true penny-pincher. If they're willing or able to spend that much on a knife, I doubt they really care or worry about "return on investment," especially since we're talking probably the top 1-5% of sushi chefs working at the highest end restaurants.

Powder steels don't need forging by the knife maker just forming the shape and heat treatment. A good powder steel will be significantly better than any forged knife.

@@JohnFrumFromAmerica That statement is incorrect

​@@zoggrog8823 CPM steels have their "ingredients" more evenly distributed due to how it is processed.

It's a ridiculous argument. You're cutting meat. Blade geometry, thickness behind the edge is ALL that matters. How much maintenance depends on blade steel and heat treatment.

Sushi knives aren't made of stainless steel because they need to be extremely sharp and be sharpened easily to be extremely sharp. If you need to sharpen every day to maintain an extremely sharp edge, magnacut isn't good. Very hard steels are good for maintaining a very sharp edge for a long time without sharpening, but not good when you need an extremely sharp edge that requires lots of sharpening.

You should sharpen it. an expensive knife wont cut well if its dull.

working in japan is really stressful and tough though

@walv7952 I rather live in japan over the states where I'm at.. too much crimes all around.

Never heard of Apple….!?!?

Because it's completely unnecessary and overly expensive.

@@rickwilliams967 Hmm... Something tells me your watching this on one of Elons androids 🤷‍♂ spare a thought for the rest of us...

Germany has for a long time been very skilled and meticulous about their crafts.. their knives for instance are very high quality, of course they’re of a very different style/materials compared to Japanese cutlery.

No real money in custom work. They are painstakingly training people over a long period of time. Need a lot of patience.

Are you a professional cook by any chance? Would love to hear you elaborate your opinion

​@Kevin888yt only makes sense to professional dummies. Pros make their bones on 100-200 dollar knives just fine, and it's performance will be exactly as good as this one. A knife at 20k you are paying for prestige, not performance

Yes because it’s not tearing the fibers but some one like you that only eats chicken nuggies won’t be able to tell the difference

@@Dirkadew I need solid proof, not your imagination

It works in a more indirect way: A chef that can afford a 20k knife must be doing something right.

​@@colinyuan5404 get a piece of bluefin tuna and cut it with a knife. the surface should be reflective, which is only achievable with a very sharp knife. Any knife can be that sharp if you know how to sharpen though.

You watched that whole video and you come to the conclusion that price is a key factor in the buying decision? Back to Walmart, kid. Adults are speaking.

おしゃっる通りです

@@angryspacerasta1398 That comment is beyond dumb

The hole „carbon steel is sharper“ is because stainless is harder to sharpen. Thankfully this is the 21st century and cheap/high quality diamond sharpening stones and lapping compounds are available now.

It’s probably more supply demand based on individual reputation than hype. I have several Japanese knives, and I can tell you the difference is apparent as soon as you put it in your hand.

Indeed, many high end metal blends showing great results.

Pleb logic there bro. You can devalue anything with that goofy mindset. Like fine wine “is just grapes”. A5 Wagyu is “just cow meat”. Pleb.

I said it before and i'll say it again, these super expensive knives make up only a small fraction of all Japanese knives. Bulk of the knives produced are cheaper but still high quality knives, perhaps around 100USD. These expensive knives are really only for those seeking perfection, and are more into the art of knives rather than just pure cutting performance, which can already be pretty much be the best in much lower price ranges. However 20k i agree is absolutely bonkers for such knives

its not its perfectly fine.

Boooo! The guy doesn’t seem like a price gouger. Just means it took an extremely long time to make the knife.

Many new stainless alloys e.g. Ginsan Magnacut etc which can easily rival carbon steels, but there is just a special something about carbon steels apart from just performance, including beautiful patina!

​@@skyboy123454321 nah stainless can never rival the sharpening experience of carbon steel. Stainless feels like you have to make it sharp, carbon steel just wants to get sharp.

Pretty much all stainless steels retain an edge better than stainless, some do it for several times longer. There is no objective advantage to high carbon steels other than them being easier to make and thus cheaper.

Nah not for yanagibas. The longer the knife the more expensive, which is kind of obvious. Single bevel knives also tend to be thicker and heavier overall which means more steel. Also the longer the knife the harder it is to keep straight during heat treatment. You can't really find a 330mm or even a 300mm yanagiba at $100. In american units that would be 12-13 inch blades. These knives are big and should be big because of their purpose.

@@Alsry1 fair enough swords cost more that $100 as well. Perhaps it's diminishing returns after $500 for this size knife I still don't see how you can throw new car money at a knife.

@@JohnFrumFromAmerica 20k is too much yeah it’s mostly for art reasons past $500. you can make an argument for some $1000 knives because they’re differentially quenched mono steel knives vs iron clad.

i thought this as well back then till i treated myself to knife worth a little under 3 k. The difference was night and day

There over 20 popular stainless steel formulas used for modern knife, each have their own properties, pros and cons. Your not paying for the 1 stainless knife sheet cut, your paying for someone dedicated their life to try and test the best / most suitable stainless steel formula for this type of knife usage, cuisine, and ongoing maintenance

One can tell you're broke.

"I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime."

The art of selling BS Steels matter on how long it holds a edge. And how brittle it is. But it's made to cut fish.not the most abrasive

I own one that about 3500, it was a gift from a good friend of mine and it really does feel like they do. The knife has a sort of cutting personality that you can feel when cutting certain foods that it was designed for. At that price range you have a steel that was specifically engineered for that specific type of cutting. These aren't your slice and dice choppers these are extremely specific tools for extremely specific purposes otherwise you just ruin the blade.

ではあなたは何も食わないの？