ah where do I start okay so first off
here is a knife box from Japan and this
is a result of nearly a year of a year
of work so I've mentioned in a couple of
videos I had a knife in the works and a
number of knives in the works and a
couple of them fell through and not
because of anything that was bad
necessarily but what happened was a lot
of these deals that came for me to
launch my own knife brand or my own
knife line was more of a licensing deal
where I would just slap my name and my
picture on a knife box and on a knife
without sounding arrogant I just wanted
to keep myself in the overall creative
process not just in terms of selling the
knives but in terms of making and design
of the knives and so that's why this
whole thing took so long but we are here
this is what I hope for is the final
sample of a knife that is gonna be my
very first knife that I will launch on
my channel um so hopefully by the end of
this video I can announce that we have a
knife that will be available to ship in
about three months okay you always get a
nice envelope from Japan when you order
something from there and it's usually
here
seriously the invoice or something like
that it says mr. Ricky Tran from I'm not
gonna tell you who is from yet packing
all right here we go
alright ok so I'm a little excited ok
are you ready okay and we have two
handles here these are basically these
options that I have to install the
knives with and one is actually teak and
the other one is black walnut which i
believe is actually on the knife right
now yeah these are both black walnut and
it's very beautiful so you got a really
nice kind of two-tone dark brown and
black and then you have the teak which
is the more of a neutral now a teak I
believe has a very high concentration of
oils so it tends to be very
antimicrobial and it doesn't warp over
time like something you would see on
like a maple or even walnut and you know
going Abney evany is very beautiful but
the price of ebony is so high that the
handle itself would actually cost an
extra thirty to forty dollars just for
the handle and so I wanted to avoid
making the knives too expensive and then
the ferals on both of the handles are
buffalo or black buffalo so very
beautiful but let's look at the star of
today's video right off the bat instead
of dating suspects right away this knife
here is made by sekai taka yuki and for
those who don't know whose the Kazakh
Yuki is it's one of the most famous
knife makers in all of Japan in Sakai
when you're looking at Japanese lives
there's generally three classes of
knives you have your manufactured knives
you have your handmade knives and you
have your artisan knives the handmade
knives and the artisan Ives are made
really by three or four people or
sometimes even one when you go to the
artisan route one person does the
hammering one person that's grinding one
print does one person does the heat
treatment or the handle install and then
your manufactured knives even though
they are touched by hand they go through
as many as fifty or sixty people by the
time the knives are
I decided to go for the non manufactured
route because I think that you know
having a knife that was made by only
just a very small handful of people is
really special I was able to get ahold
of the folks over Sakai takoyaki and
this is what we've got again I've had
other samples from other manufacturers
you know made as well and they just
something was missing in the translation
I don't know what it was but a lot of
knives just didn't come out right
this knife here though I think this is
production-ready
it is beautiful this is the final sample
that we've got and it is just gorgeous
Nick wrap okay yes really quickly and do
a really quick comparison for you all
right
so here we are this is the KSR on my
left and this is the I guess the
profession knife on the right and
profile very similar there are a few
things actually changed to make this
more of a user-friendly knife now the
reason I actually went with a slightly
shorter profile than the KS is this the
KS is technically rated at 240
millimeters but it always measures at
children 50 millimeters which is fine
but for people who are just going from
the 8 inch models up to a 9 inch model a
250 is a pretty big jump even though
it's only 10 millimeters then the 240 it
feels substantially larger than 240 now
if you've been using 6 or 7 inch santoku
and 8 inch chef's knives going to a 250
millimeters is a little bit intense
sometimes it could be just a little bit
intimidating so I opted to make the
knife a 240 millimeter knife length so
kotaki Yuki has always been one of my
very the word I don't know the word
favorite is the right term but what am I
very most respected of the Japanese
knife makers in Sakai the finish of the
knives are always top notch and to see a
knife that was made by them for me is
it's a little emotional and yeah you
know so all the details are almost done
I don't know what we're gonna do in
terms of branding there is no brand yet
and I don't know profession will be a
proper brand I think we just input by
Ricky Tran on these knives I think that
would make a lot more sense by the time
you guys see this video I would already
be on the phone
with Japan with the folks over at Aki
Yuki and giving them the go for this
knife production so let me tell you what
we're making the very first one we're
making two hundred knives I'm only
making two hundred knives for a very
specific reason because I'm paying for
all the denies myself now I have opted
not to do a Kickstarter campaign because
I have seen so many knife
and non knife Kickstarter campaigns just
not deliver on what they've promised
I've opted for myself to make a product
that I can afford and then just sell
what I have as opposed to raising money
and then trying to make something and
this is more of a passion project more
than anything else but we're making two
hundred knives one hundred of them being
the aus 8 stainless steel and the other
100 is blue number two and they have the
exact same shape same profile it's the
same knife same size but one is with
carbon steel versus a stainless steel
the AUSA stainless steel models will be
heat treated from a 58 to a 59 and then
the blue number twos will be heat rate
from a 62 so with 63 I don't have any
intentions of putting these in a retail
store because if I did they would cost
between 60 and 70 dollars more than what
I'm selling them at and maybe even
higher than that and so I want to make
these knives as affordable as possible
so that's why they're being sold on my
store priced the way they are this to me
is a dream come true to have one of the
most famous knife makers in all of Japan
and really in all in the world make a
knife that is custom-made for me this is
just something I'm very excited about
because Sakai sake Yuki is someone I
never thought I'd be working with you
know this closely with and it's just
such an honor to have the folks over
Sakai takoyaki make my knives for me and
the very first lives of all knives and
if I use perfect it would be just over
selling this knife but it is so
beautiful the proportions are just right
the grind is so nice the spine is about
2.3 millimeter spine this is my favorite
size knife and so 210 is very popular
and everyone uses them but for me 240
it's been my favorite size and so that's
why I chose to make my very first knife
i 240 millimeter butt and so I know you
guys were wondering where is 210
millimeter I am designing that one right
now it's a lot more difficult to design
this shape profile on a 210 millimeter
knife so I've got
number of knives I'm working on and as a
matter of fact I have been invited back
to Japan in June to go visit with
psychotic Yuki and a few other
manufacturers that really want to do
something with me I really can't say for
sure if I will be going to Japan in June
but I'll let you guys know because you
know I don't want to be away from my
family for more than just a couple of
days but you know when you go to Japan
you've got to spend about five or seven
days each time I visit a factory is a
whole new city it's a whole day of
traveling so we'll see now in designing
this knife I wanted to have a 240
millimeter Gyo so with the Sabatier
profile and having a wall handle with a
custom-made octagonal handle and keeping
everything at under $200 and one package
is really hard now people have always
asked what is the perfect knife and we
all know the answer there there is no
such thing as the perfect knife but you
know given the design limitations and
the price limitations that I had I'm
trying to get the best knife for your
money at this price point I think we are
very close so having this in a great
blade profile made it to different
steels it's gonna serve a lot more of
you guys then forcing you to choose one
or the other I hope that is a good
decision and I hope you guys appreciate
me too into that it does cost more money
doing it that way than making just one
knife from one steel I wanted to serve
as many of us as possible so that's why
I chose to have two different steels
made of the same blade profile without
you this knife would not be here today
and I just want to say thank you and
acknowledge you again I will have a link
in the video description to this knife
again I've only got 100 of each model
for sale and the first 100 goes to my
patreon supporters I can't believe it a
knife made by Socata Kazuki for me for
me of all people