Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post Reply
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:53 pm
Location: Northern California
Has thanked: 253 times
Been thanked: 316 times
Contact:

Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by ken123 »

I misplaced my Tojiro honesuki. Not that the Tojiro is a bad knife, but I wanted to upgrade to a white or blue steel blade. I spoke to Mark and he recommended this knife to me. I got it and wanted to do a preliminary review.

It is a pretty knife. It does have an oval handle. I prefer d or hex handles but an oval handle is certainly not a problem.

It is sharp - easily push cutting. Looking a bit closer, you can see wavy lines on the blade edge and the final edge bevel is not perfectly symmetric with a slightly widened bevel near the heel. This final edge is a bit coarse for my tastes.

Do I care about this? No not really. I sharpen for a living, so tuning this already sharp edge is just pleasure for me. The knife is very comfortable to hold and, given the white #2 steel, I fully expect this knife to get VERY sharp.

I give it a full 5 stars and I'm happy I bought it. I'll include a few pictures next.

Ken
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:53 pm
Location: Northern California
Has thanked: 253 times
Been thanked: 316 times
Contact:

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by ken123 »

20190724_151926[1].jpg
20190724_152016[1].jpg
edge closeup
20190724_152555[1].jpg
widened heel
20190724_152016[1].jpg
Ken
Attachments
20190724_152857[1].jpg
Stnakamu
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed May 01, 2019 2:46 am

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by Stnakamu »

Nice knife how’s it cutting?
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:53 pm
Location: Northern California
Has thanked: 253 times
Been thanked: 316 times
Contact:

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by ken123 »

Thank you. It's cutting very well. Still have not sharpened it yet. I expect it to get sharper after sharpening.

---
Ken
gladius
Posts: 5295
Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2017 7:59 pm
Has thanked: 778 times
Been thanked: 911 times

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by gladius »

ken123 wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 3:09 pm I expect it to get sharper after sharpening.
Haha...quote of the day :)
Robstreperous
Posts: 2497
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:46 am
Location: Long Island
Has thanked: 120 times
Been thanked: 453 times

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by Robstreperous »

That does indeed look like a nice blade. I've been dithering over whether to upgrade my (Richmond) honesuki for a while now.

Any concerns about white steel on a blade that's going to be working joints and bones and what not?

I'd only been considering AS or some of better stainless blades.
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:53 pm
Location: Northern California
Has thanked: 253 times
Been thanked: 316 times
Contact:

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by ken123 »

I think white steel is a bit more robust for harder work (theoretically).

I used the knife today to cut up a casava melon. Very clean cuts.
honesuki2.jpg
---
Ken
User avatar
lsboogy
Posts: 1486
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:23 pm
Location: Minneapolis
Has thanked: 41 times
Been thanked: 132 times

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by lsboogy »

I have an old Richmond Laser AS honesuke that I absolutely love. Did 60 chickens with the thing today - no touch up needed - it handled the task with ease. One of the knives I wish Mark would sell again. Great for a high volume kitchen - one of my better purchase from this site.
Robstreperous
Posts: 2497
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2017 11:46 am
Location: Long Island
Has thanked: 120 times
Been thanked: 453 times

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by Robstreperous »

So Ken. I went ahead and pulled the trigger (see other thread) and picked one of these up. So far I've only used it to segment some wings - they surrendered without much of a fight and I appreciated how nimble this knife is with respect to my trusty Artifex.

That said my observations are in line with yours.

- Even with just the OOTB edge it's a very sharp knife and man can it cut.
- The OOTB edge needs work though. Under magnification there were a number of rough and uneven areas. Kind of made me wonder if it might only have been belt sharpened. ** but it's sharp and it will definitely cut.
- I've only stropped on balsa and nano so far and it sharpens easily. The rough areas mentioned above from the factory sharpening are gone. The waviness and uneven areas are not.
- Like you I'm a little surprised by the uneven finish on the bevel, wavy and in areas right vs left are definitely not symmetric.
- It's an attractive knife.
- I want to pay a little bit of attention to the insertion point of the blade to the handle. It's tight and extremely well finished. I'm wondering if it might benefit from wax or a little nail polish.

If it was a more expensive blade the bevel finish issues would bother me. But in reality? I know I was going to tune the edge to my liking anyhow so who really cares? Plus based on how easily it stropped I'm not expecting any issues. Given how great the other Anryu knives I've owned are I know this is a quality piece of work.

Think I'm going to try finishing this on that Takeshima you sent me a while back with maybe a couple of drops of .75µ.

Still clueless what I'm going to do when inevitably I scratch the damascus.

Haven't broken down a bird yet but at $110 for a legitimate for business honsesuki I'm feeling it's an awfully good value and a pretty nice knife. I use my honesuki a lot and I know this one's certain to become my go to.
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:53 pm
Location: Northern California
Has thanked: 253 times
Been thanked: 316 times
Contact:

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by ken123 »

Great review! Thanks. If you run into any refinishing problems in the future, I'm just a phone call away.

---
Ken
CharlieHustle
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2020 8:32 am
Been thanked: 5 times

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by CharlieHustle »

This knife is an absolute beauty.
User avatar
ken123
Posts: 5342
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:53 pm
Location: Northern California
Has thanked: 253 times
Been thanked: 316 times
Contact:

Re: Anryu Kurouchi Damascus Honesuki 155mm

Post by ken123 »

Ive been using an Okudo suita (natural stone) for occasional touchups. A great combination between knife and stone for very nice edges.

Ken
Post Reply