Sakai Ichimonji Shigure Santoku Review: Ginsan Steel 

Glad you finally got one in your hands!!

I like them too not sure Wich one I would prefer yet. But so far I like them both over a VG10.

If you ever go to Japan, the store is in Osaka. The staff there is very nice when I was there a few years back. They speak multiple languages depending on who is working, English, Chinese, Korean, etc. There was an option to directly opt for sharpening after purchase (which in some cases they ask you to come back later or another day depending on how busy they are). The knives are from various makers, some well-known in the Sakai region but they also sell knives outside Sakai with some makers that have been in training in Sakai and then moved to another region. In-house engraver with possible Translated Kanji of your English name, very unique that they manage to get a similar Japanese hospitality service through a webshop. The details in the packaging were great! The video did not do the unboxing experience justice, as they even included a pamphlet with a triangular golden paperclip. I was surprised that Sakai Ichimonji contacted me, as it is a store that I already knew when I visited Japan, and was not aware that they had a webshop.

Thank you :) hope that you are able to pick a nice knife that suits your needs! Feel free to ask me any questions.

Long time!

haha looked it up

Good question, the Ginsan steel is stainless steel the knife won't patina. The color comes due to the reflections but mainly due to the lacquer coating (not sure what type of coating they used but is most likely done to prevent any rust from forming during shipping or storing at their warehouse) which was quite hard to get off and needed multiple washing to remove the coating. After washing it off there won't be any dark blue/grey/purple coloration. I did a Q&A but not sure if I asked what coating they have added it might have been mentioned in the emails but I have to dig into my inbox to find it (I remember vaguely that there was a mention on how to easily remove it by Sakai Ichimonji).

@@chefpanko Thanks for the reply, I forgot that it was a stainless steel, sorry! This video actually motivated me to purchase a different, carbon steel (white steel 1) santoku from Sakai Ichimonji a few weeks ago and I'd been wondering about controlling the patination. It's a shame that the colour in this video is a coating that has to be removed because to me it looks gorgeous!

@@Jaysus273 There is some food that some use to force a color on the steel. But I would rather let it patina naturally as it also tells a story. It shows what part of the knife is being used the most if you let it develop the patina naturally. Wich in return tells a lot about you the end user, which might be a fun thing to see what part of the knife you like using the most. Definitely contact Sakai Ichimonji if you need more information or help in selecting a knife they reply pretty quick to emails. You can email in English, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Chinese (the emails will be forwarded to the staff that can speak/read one of the languages). If you get the chance I do recommend visiting their store in Japan the Doguyashiji shopping street where they are located, has multiple stores that specialize in kitchen supplies.

Currently, the Xinzuo 440c is still the one I recommend (you have to wait for a special sale as they have been going up in price and if they stop selling on AliExpress and go the Amazon/own website route I can see the price up some more). Currently, I find it hard to find the golden nuggets the knives have become more expensive than before, but a lot has been improved in Quality control as I was told. while the quality has gone up some of the handle designs are questionable, very flashy, and aesthetic driven over comfort. The one from Twosun was very good (the TS-999 if I'm correct out of my head), unfortunately, they were mainly a pocket knife brand and their kitchen knife have not seen much success in sales so they discontinued most (or all) of their kitchen knife line. Grandsharp is looking a bit better now but their older knife styles and batches are still circulating through all the resellers. (I have their newer Albalone version chef's knife, it is good for the price when they contacted me they were sold at around $40/45 on their own website). Abalone is just aesthetics as the handle is made from plastic (they probably have a fancy term for plastic or don't mention plastic on their sales page). But the handle design on that one is fine, not overly large. However their description was a bit wrong when they send over a review sample (mainly the specified balance point was wrong not sure if they have corrected it or not), haven't spoken to them for a long time but the review should be coming soon as I had been very busy lately (also the reason for my absence in new videos/reviews). Xinzuo (SG2 powdered steel) and Dongsun (hammered Damascus version which looks like a Miyabi) knives that I have are good but the handle is something I don't like (for my large hand size I find their handles on the bigger than necessary side). A review of them will follow soon too.

Infelizmente está esgotado, não faço ideia de quando terão novo estoque

I moved away from the Keemake brand due to its rebranding strategy. Sunnecko knives are rebranded to Keemake. Removing everything they wanted with the Keemake brand. They are not bad for the price back then (not sure what the costs are now). But the Liquid steel or something, 65 HRC has been revised a lot with the Rockwell rating they even claimed 70+/- HRC before and reduced it to 65hrc +/- that's also one of the reasons I moved away from trying the brand again. The chances are low that I will try Keemake again, of course, if Keemake wants to send a review sample I will see if I will open a review spot for them if they can accept my terms of the review (which is no preview, no insight of the review, 100% real and no pre-written script provided by the brand, no contracts or NDA's, then I might consider opening a review spot). Be careful with ''sponsored'' reviews on YT (the person got paid to review a product), a lot of pre-written scripts or they have signed an NDA to receive the money/sample. While in most cases they must include a ''sponsored'' tag to the viewer many of them do not disclose it. I have a disclosure text at the beginning of the video, (this used to be a spoken voice-over, but I moved away to get rid of a 1-minute disclosure read and added a disclosure text in the video).

@@chefpanko thank you very much for the reply

Добро пожаловать, спасибо за просмотр

someday :P