Kai Wasabi Black Yanagiba Knife, 8 1/4-Inch

It's a great beginner's knife to practice on your sharpening stones (whetstones). I bought this knife for the explicit purpose of practicing sharpening on whetstone -- and for that matter I bought a cheap set of stones to match this cheap knife! Why? So when I buy the $300 knife and the $100 stone I will not harm either the knife or the stone. And so on, until one upgrades to $1000 knife and .. so on. It's stainless and that means you don't really need to pay attention to it. If you are going buy a real carbon steel yanagiba you BETTER pay attention to that. It will require you to hone it, wash it, dry it, all that without a moment of laziness. You can't toss it in the sink and come back to it later. You can just toss the knife anywhere. You can't treat a $300 or $1000 knife like that. It will hate you. It will hate you so bad it will rust on you, dull on you, and take your money and make you cry. BUT, hey, if you buy this $30 knife to practice, and to get all that neglect out of your system, you will be ready when you finally get that $300+ product that you have always wanted. Make sure you practice 15 degree blade angle on the whetstone. Make sure you validate how well you have done your sharpening on a piece of fish. Stainless is softer steel than carbon steel so you will need to keep this sharpened more regularly which, hey, hones your skills! Carbon steel will stay sharp longer but will rust sooner if not careful so don't let it rust. But carbon steel can be made a lot sharper on a whetstone than stainless steel. But stainless steel gives me that laziness buffer if say I want to eat the fish instead of washing my knife, I can toss this stainless blade aside and eat my meal before I go back to washing it. Or watch some TV then go wash the knife. Or wait until tomorrow. Don't ever do that to a carbon steel blade. So, this blade served the purpose of inexpensive Yanagiba practice -- sharpening and using. It helps you get all your kinks out and train you how to take care of a blade like this. This blade 8.5 inches long and a typical carbon blade yanagiba is 10 inches long or even 12 inches. The longer it is the harder it is to use properly. Remember you can only pull back on the blade as you cut instead of pushing down. You can only cut with one motion with Yanagiba--pulling back from heel to tip. That's why the blade is so long--to give you a long cutting edge for without you slicing back and forth like sawing a piece of meat. I give it 5-stars because I love the purpose it served. The knife itself is not that great of a knife. Again, it's a generic stainless steel blade on generic material without much artisan involvement. Probably machine made from end to end. The knife I got was slightly bent and slightly tilted. But hey, what do you expect out of a $30 machine-made knife vs a $300 (at bare minimum starter basic) carbon steel yanagiba? For a tenth of the cost I got my kinks out. It's worth the 4-5 star rating.

when i got this knife in the mail today it was neatly packaged and no signs of damage upon shipping when i took the knife out of the case and tried it out on a single piece of paper it cut through cleanly and flawlessly the only thing i can think of that this knife needs is a proper handle.. but seriously for the price it is i cant complain at all this knife would be good for the at home chef who occasionally makes sushi or the person who does cooking for a living.. pros sharp as hell out of box beautiful knife for the price makes easy work out of any type of fish your cutting cons just the handle.. i dont really care or have any other complaints other then that

Great steel and weight. Feels very solid in your hand and is a wonderful knife for the money. The handle is sealed and made of plastic and metal (looks high quality) so there's less likely a chance for contamination compared to wooden ones you have to seal and possibly lacquer. I took one star off for two reasons: The blade comes with a pre grinded bevel on top of the 10-15 degree edge that most sashimi knives have. Just get a double sided sharpening stone and work it out until there's only that 10-15 degree edge. The knife is still usable out of the box but I highly recommend doing this if you want it razor sharp and working as intended. Secondly, the handle just feels a hair too small. It doesn't feel unstable or anything but if you have bigger hands then I would suggest looking at other ones. Overall, this is a great sashimi/sushi knife for beginners or those that are on a budget.

For the cost this is a great sashimi/sushi knife for the occasional homemade sushi dinner. We'll see how it holds up over time but so far it's great. Since I make sushi/sashimi only about once every 2 months or so I didn't want to buy an expensive knife. This Kai Wasabi Yanagiba can easily cut through various fishes/shellfish, no problem with cutting rolls either. It's so sharp that I cut myself accidentally with the very corner a the heel of the blade. It was a nice clean cut though! I bought an even cheaper Ewei's HomeWares 8" Non-Stick Sushi Chef's Knife, the black one with holes in it, to compare. Although the Ewei's performed OK, I could cut through more rolls with this Kai Wasabi without having to rinse the knife and the cuts were easier.

It's fine. The handle is plastic and the fit and finish is poor. I expected both things at this price point. It is sharp and the steel seems to be high in quality. My real big issue with this knife is that it has a secondary bevel. Which I mean most knives do, but it is obnoxiously large on this knife. I can fix it I think, but it is gonna take a while.

Pros: Sharp Free sharpening for life provided by Kai Wasabi (makers of Shun) Good value to price Really great for slicing large cuts meets into thin un-damaged slices Cons: Plastic Handel No VG10 steel Other thoughts: The cutting edge and weight are really nice, although a bit toward the lighter side. If you are a fan of Shun knifes then your in luck, Kai Wasabi (the makers of Shun) have come out with this wonderful value brand of knifes. The Kai Wasabi Black series knifes are near the sharpness of their expensive counter parts, what separates them is the lack of VG 10 steel and plastic handles. The cutting edge and weight are really nice, although a bit toward the lighter side. For those new to having nice knifes, make sure you DON'T put these in the dishwasher. The solvents in dish washing fluid will rust these faster than salt water even for 1 wash. Always hand wash your knifes! Stay sharp people :)

Came out of the box extremely Sharp. Perfect for cutting sushi rolls. Glides through tempura shrimp like butter. Great quality!

Impec!

Excelente cuchillo para sashimi,cómodo y ligero en mano. Solo checar bien porque tiene el filo de lado izquierdo.

Nicht besonders, schnell stumpf

Couteau d’une excellente qualité. Lame très tranchante, coupe nette et précise pour le poisson. Parfait pour le sashimi et le sushi. Très bon rapport qualité-prix. Je recommande vivement.