Kitchen Knives Review

Haiku Knife Review

Haiku Knives Review

Haiku Damascus Chef Knife 8"

Price: $202
Length: 8"
Height @ spine: 48mm
Width @ spine: 2mm

Weight: 120g
Blade material: VG10, 16 layers stainless per side
Blade finish: Damascus
Balance: 1" above heel
Hardness: HRc 60
Handle type: Oval
Handle material: Hinoki

Scores:

1. Performance: 8
2. Usability: 7
3. Ergonomics: 6
4. OOTB Sharpness: 9
5. Edge profile: 8
6. Blade fit & finish: 4
7. Handle fit & finish: 2
8. Quality Control: 3
9. "Wow" Factor: 4
10. Value: 2
    

Overall: 53

 Haiku Knives are a division of Chroma. Finding information online about them is a bit tough and the Chroma website is also rather sparse with the details about these knives.

Much like their competitors, the Shun Classic, the Haiku Damascus knives have 33 layers — 16 stainless per side and a single VG-10 (stainless steel) cutting core. The outer layers are folded and etched to show off a wavy pattern called suminagashi, after a Japanese art technique that dips paper into water that has ink floating on top of it. It's very pretty but as far as I can tell has no functional purpose — food sticks to it just fine, thanks.

This knife has the feel of a mass-produced offering. Printed ink lettering on both sides of the blade showing off the brand and line speak to me of "outsourced", but for those wondering, the profiles of the Haiku vs, say, the Shun Classic, are different. The Haiku has a spine that juts out straight from the handle and then dips to the point about 2" from the tip, which is located in the top-third of the blade height — very un-Japanese. The edge curve also starts at the heel and curves up to the point, with the curve increasing dramatically in the tip. This profile is odd — the heel-curve is French, but the tip curve is German. Again, neither are typically Japanese. By comparison, a Shun has a traditional German profile — curve begins mid-blade and increases sharply in the tip, but the heel of the edge is parallel to the spine. It's like the knife can't decide what to be.

The blade is very thin, which is good. Tapers nicely to the edge, which is ground with a very pronounced primary/cutting bevel, and comes terrifically sharp. Hair-popping sharp. Push-cuts are clean. All in all, this is one of the best out of the box performances I've seen. However, under a loup, the edge looks like it was ground on an 800 grit stone and left there — the edge is very toothy with very obvious scratches perpendicular to the edge. Given the relative softness of the steel, I'm not expecting it to last. And given that the cutting performance is a function of this micro-bevel, sharpening the knife is going to be tedious as that bevel will have to come off before being re-cut.

Spine is not rounded and the choil is unfinished. Holding this knife in a pinch grip is not comfortable.

This is a Japanese-style knife, so there is no bolster. Instead, a plastic ferrule covers the top 1" or so of the hinoki-wood handle that covers a full tang construction. Hinoki is a very soft wood, and the manufacturer is quick to tell you that it will, over time, mold to the shape of your hand. I have no idea how accurate that is, but in general, soft woods are great for cutting boards, but for handles? Not so much. I expect this handle to get as marked up as a traditional ho-wood handle. Not a plus here. Additionally, the ferrule is not firmly mounted, but bound to the handle with a single bamboo pin. Interesting touch, but the ferrule should not slide around, regardless of how traditional the attachment. Further, the tang hole in the handle is too wide for the tang, but a thoughtful soul has filled the extra space with what looks like wood putty and sanded it down flush. And scratched the blade up in the process.

I think the problem I'm having with this knife, aside from the obvious fit and finish issues, is the price. I cannot fathom why this knife costs this much, but instead, strikes me as a situation of someone offering a knife at a price point in comparison to a perceived competitor, and not as a function of value. Whatever and whomever this knife was pitched at, a Shun Classic is superior in every way to this knife and is, on average, 40% less expensive.

 

By Scot Hull

Sugimoto Knives Review

Maker & Type: Sugimoto Sujihiki
Price: $259.95
Steel: Stainless (Chromium/ Molybdenum)
RC Hardness: 58-63
Blade Length: 270mm
Blade Height (at the heel) 38mm
Blade Width: 2mm
Handle Length: 135mm
Bevel: Double Bevel 1/99 Right Handed

Upon arrival, my initial impression of the Sugimoto 270mm Sujuhiki was that is was a substantial knife.  Contrary to what I had expected, the knife had significant heft to it.  I usually think of a sujihiki as a thin and delicate knife.  This was thick and heavy.  Also, the taper of the spine only began at the last 1/3^rd of the blade.  The initial edge seemed very coarsely ground.  There was scratching along the edge from the heel to the tip, and the tip was bent for about the last 1-2mm.  The handle, however, was very well done.  Great fit and finish and very comfortable in my hand.  In testing the initial edge, I found the out of the box sharpness to be lacking.  Whereas most of my knives can shave hairs with no pulling or irritation whatsoever, the sugimoto did not remove any hair, but rather pulled and caught on everything it touched.  And so off to the stones it went.  One quick thing to note about the knife is that it is not a clad knife.  It is essentially “honyaki”, or one single piece of the same steel.

The edge took a while to regrind.  I was using a set of large Naniwa bricks (I don’t have any more info on them… they were gifts from my chef in

Japan

).  I reground on a 220 grit stone and re-profiled the edge.  Then I took it up from 200 to 1000 to 2000 to 6000 to 8000 and finished on a 10,000 naniwa superstone.  It took a good edge, but it took a long time to get there.  The metal seemed pretty hard, but not too brittle.  I’m guessing in the 61-62 range.  I used this as my main knife for about 3 weeks.  In fact, I did just about everything with it.  It held an edge pretty well, though the initial “fresh off the stones” feel was lost really quickly.  3 weeks later, with moderate use both at home and some professional kitchens, I could still slice through tomato skin pretty easily.  I touched it up on a Chromium oxide charged strop a couple of times.  Overall, I thought it was a good knife.  Good, but not great.  The knife is substantial… not too heavy, but enough to feel comfortable for someone who is used to German knives.  The 270mm length felt comfortable for me… not too long, not to short.  My biggest gripe with the knife was its thickness and the taper.  Plus, it is pretty thick behind the edge.  This causes it to wedge in some more crisp foods (i.e. onion, apple, etc.).  As I said before, I expect a slicer to have a much thinner profile.  The thickness also leads to no flex in the blade at all.  Another problem with the thickness was that I could not use a press-cut technique.  Push-cut and pull-cut worked just fine.  The blade is nonreactive, so I had no problems with acidic foods or leaving the blade a little wet after cutting. 

Overall, on a scale of 1-10 I would rate this knife a 7.  If I were looking for a beast of a knife to do everything I might need during a lunch or dinner service, this is a knife I would use (as my only service knife).  However, simply as a sujihiki, I think there are better options out there (i.e. Kikuichi elite carbon sujihiki or for nearly the same price, a Takeda or tadatsuna).

-Jon Broida