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Massdrop x Apogee Takumi AUS-10 Kiritsuke Knife
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Massdrop x Apogee Takumi AUS-10 Kiritsuke Knife
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Product Description
For our second collaboration with Apogee, we upped the ante. The Takumi AUS-10 Kiritsuke knife draws inspiration from traditional Japanese cutlery—though it’s anything but stuck in the past Read More
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keyboard_arrow_downJonasHeineman
5987
Apr 6, 2018
Hey everyone,
We’ve seen a huge growth in both Blades and Cooking communities over the last year, so we partnered with Apogee Culinary Design, one of the most popular brands among members. The goal of the 8” Vital Chef’s knife was to serve members who are already home chefs with a quality, utilitarian blade, but also help members who are just getting started in the kitchen to have an all-around tool that be comfortable and easy to use, and help them to enjoy learning new skills.
Based on the discussion in that first kitchen knife collaboration, we recognized there that a lot of members who were already enthusiasts of blade steels and cooking tools were interested in other collaborations. So, in our second collaboration with Apogee Culinary Design, our aim is to serve more established chefs with a knife that is just as utilitarian in the right hands, but requires a bit more experience to fully appreciate. The ten-inch blade is 25% longer than the Vital, and the handle is lighter and slimmer - in confident hands, it’s an absolute joy to work with, but it’s a bit large to be “the only knife you need” or “the perfect knife for beginners.”
Although the Gyuto (chef), and Petty (paring) as well as the new Santoku style (meaning “three virtues”) have become very popular in recent years, most traditional Japanese blade patterns are designed for very specialized tasks: the Usuba (single-bevel) and Nakiri (double-bevel) for cutting vegetables, Deba for fileting small fish and poultry, and designs dedicated specifically to cutting cabbage (Kyabeshikiri), carrots (ninjinkiri), eel (Unagisaki), tuna (Magurokiri), bread (Pankiri), noodles (Sobakiri), etc. or even peeling chestnuts (Kurimuki). This Kiritsuke blade shape is, according to many people, the only traditional Japanese shape that is a hybrid blade - meaning that it serves multiple purposes - cutting vegetables, and slicing proteins.
While we do recommend hand-washing, the blade’s Japanese AUS-10 steel core with a kasumi-style, impact-welded cladding in SUS420, is fully stainless - as opposed to many high-end Japanese knives, which use non-stainless, high-carbon steels that can discolor if they are not rinsed and dried fairly quickly and often during food prep. Here’s a bit more info regarding the steel and some relevant comparisons (AUS-8 and VG-10). http://zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=AUS10%2CAUS8%2CVG10&ni=875%2C874%2C643
A few housekeeping notes: * This drop is limited to 1000 units. * The magnetic bamboo sheath is included on this drop. It will be available in future drops as an option (+ $20). * Our estimated ship date is July 31st, 2018.
I will be available to answer any questions before the drop launches, thanks for checking it out and to everyone who helps to make this possible!
Carry On - Jonas
We’ve seen a huge growth in both Blades and Cooking communities over the last year, so we partnered with Apogee Culinary Design, one of the most popular brands among members. The goal of the 8” Vital Chef’s knife was to serve members who are already home chefs with a quality, utilitarian blade, but also help members who are just getting started in the kitchen to have an all-around tool that be comfortable and easy to use, and help them to enjoy learning new skills.
Based on the discussion in that first kitchen knife collaboration, we recognized there that a lot of members who were already enthusiasts of blade steels and cooking tools were interested in other collaborations. So, in our second collaboration with Apogee Culinary Design, our aim is to serve more established chefs with a knife that is just as utilitarian in the right hands, but requires a bit more experience to fully appreciate. The ten-inch blade is 25% longer than the Vital, and the handle is lighter and slimmer - in confident hands, it’s an absolute joy to work with, but it’s a bit large to be “the only knife you need” or “the perfect knife for beginners.”
Although the Gyuto (chef), and Petty (paring) as well as the new Santoku style (meaning “three virtues”) have become very popular in recent years, most traditional Japanese blade patterns are designed for very specialized tasks: the Usuba (single-bevel) and Nakiri (double-bevel) for cutting vegetables, Deba for fileting small fish and poultry, and designs dedicated specifically to cutting cabbage (Kyabeshikiri), carrots (ninjinkiri), eel (Unagisaki), tuna (Magurokiri), bread (Pankiri), noodles (Sobakiri), etc. or even peeling chestnuts (Kurimuki). This Kiritsuke blade shape is, according to many people, the only traditional Japanese shape that is a hybrid blade - meaning that it serves multiple purposes - cutting vegetables, and slicing proteins.
While we do recommend hand-washing, the blade’s Japanese AUS-10 steel core with a kasumi-style, impact-welded cladding in SUS420, is fully stainless - as opposed to many high-end Japanese knives, which use non-stainless, high-carbon steels that can discolor if they are not rinsed and dried fairly quickly and often during food prep. Here’s a bit more info regarding the steel and some relevant comparisons (AUS-8 and VG-10). http://zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=AUS10%2CAUS8%2CVG10&ni=875%2C874%2C643
A few housekeeping notes: * This drop is limited to 1000 units. * The magnetic bamboo sheath is included on this drop. It will be available in future drops as an option (+ $20). * Our estimated ship date is July 31st, 2018.
I will be available to answer any questions before the drop launches, thanks for checking it out and to everyone who helps to make this possible!
Carry On - Jonas
JonasHeineman
5987
Jul 29, 2019
Sorry for the slow reply - yes, we have a Nakiri, Petty and Paring in the same style, just search for "Takumi" on the site and you will find them. Quick links here:
Nakiri - https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-apogee-takumi-7-nakiri-vegetable-knife
Paring & Petty - https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-apogee-takumi-paring-petty-kitchen-knife
JonasHeineman
5987
Aug 23, 2018
Hey everyone,
We've seen a couple comments here about gaps between the tang and handle opening, but we don't see any photos of them here and only have two support tickets for any kind of defect. It seems like this has only affected a handful of units, but we'd really like to see photos so that we can understand this issue and address it for individual members with refunds or replacements as needed, and/or present our vendor with this info so we can address any warranty issues.
We've also seen a few members expressing dissatisfaction with sharpness. This is also something that we checked for during QC, and I was able to shave with any part of the edge on all the units we inspected. I've also been using mine at home to cut paper-thin slices of cucumber, tomato, and other veggies. If yours wasn't this sharp, I can understand how that's disappointing. While we do want every product to be perfect out of the box, if yours is not as sharp as you think it should be, Apogee does offer free lifetime sharpening which they do by hand here in the US. You can contact them directly (sglassen@apogeeculinary.com) or contact support and we'll help you to get that done.
Our understanding from speaking with industry experts is that a 3% return rate is expected for most kitchen knives. So far, we have 2 support tickets out of 580 units sold. We do see the comments and reviews, and I think I've addressed all of them, but we really need members to contact support and provide photos so that we can evaluate them in context and truly understand if the problem is minor or major and what percentage of members are affected - we absolutely will act on the community's behalf in holding vendors accountable, but we can't do that unless we have the support tickets and photos to show them.
So if you are among the 570ish people who got your knife and are enjoying it, that's great and we'd love to get your comments and reviews as well. If you're among the 10ish people (so far) who are not happy with your knife, then definitely send a support request so we can get you sharpening or a replacement or refund, and also report any issues to the vendor with some facts to back up the claims.
Thanks for helping us to make sure we are delivering what we promised and what you expected, and also for making sure that Massdrop and our vendors are both accountable to the community. -- Jonas
CC: @Benjabooly @Suitepotato @Keepod @Hygaard @method_burger
We've seen a couple comments here about gaps between the tang and handle opening, but we don't see any photos of them here and only have two support tickets for any kind of defect. It seems like this has only affected a handful of units, but we'd really like to see photos so that we can understand this issue and address it for individual members with refunds or replacements as needed, and/or present our vendor with this info so we can address any warranty issues.
We've also seen a few members expressing dissatisfaction with sharpness. This is also something that we checked for during QC, and I was able to shave with any part of the edge on all the units we inspected. I've also been using mine at home to cut paper-thin slices of cucumber, tomato, and other veggies. If yours wasn't this sharp, I can understand how that's disappointing. While we do want every product to be perfect out of the box, if yours is not as sharp as you think it should be, Apogee does offer free lifetime sharpening which they do by hand here in the US. You can contact them directly (sglassen@apogeeculinary.com) or contact support and we'll help you to get that done.
Our understanding from speaking with industry experts is that a 3% return rate is expected for most kitchen knives. So far, we have 2 support tickets out of 580 units sold. We do see the comments and reviews, and I think I've addressed all of them, but we really need members to contact support and provide photos so that we can evaluate them in context and truly understand if the problem is minor or major and what percentage of members are affected - we absolutely will act on the community's behalf in holding vendors accountable, but we can't do that unless we have the support tickets and photos to show them.
So if you are among the 570ish people who got your knife and are enjoying it, that's great and we'd love to get your comments and reviews as well. If you're among the 10ish people (so far) who are not happy with your knife, then definitely send a support request so we can get you sharpening or a replacement or refund, and also report any issues to the vendor with some facts to back up the claims.
Thanks for helping us to make sure we are delivering what we promised and what you expected, and also for making sure that Massdrop and our vendors are both accountable to the community. -- Jonas
CC: @Benjabooly @Suitepotato @Keepod @Hygaard @method_burger
Benjabooly
373
Sep 25, 2018
Jonas, honestly, should I send in a ticket. I am a butcher and have cut raw meats with this knife after sealing the gaps with beeswax and have since removed it and not used it since these images. If that is past warranty I 100% understand and will just add beeswax again. Thank you for your support, and I know I just have bad luck getting the worst end of most knives (spyderco is my least favorite brand after my experiences with them if that says anything about my luck) so its nothing against massdrop.
method_burger
563
Sep 25, 2018
Thanks, I'll consider that, since I may want to turn this into a fun project lol.
Also, something to consider, you might want to do like a 'first 100 batch' early shipment (like a month before the bulk shipment) because I'm sure the massdrop community would not mind doing free QC for you!
Also, something to consider, you might want to do like a 'first 100 batch' early shipment (like a month before the bulk shipment) because I'm sure the massdrop community would not mind doing free QC for you!
nathaniel.nett
21
Apr 10, 2018
What does this mean? "The blade is stamped with a rippling wave pattern reminiscent of historical damascus steel." Is the blade stamped with a pattern? How is this done? Is it a coating? What is stamped on it?
The blade is supposed to be "45 Layers of Rippled High-Performance Steel" so why does there need to be a stamped pattern? Done correctly there should be a pattern already. Am I missing something?
The blade is supposed to be "45 Layers of Rippled High-Performance Steel" so why does there need to be a stamped pattern? Done correctly there should be a pattern already. Am I missing something?
SantiagoDraco
611
Apr 26, 2018
Thanks for the info. I think, however, that the basic question has not been answered, not in the spirit/intention of the question.
Is the Damascus pattern created by actual layering of the material (which is what "Damascus" means in this context) or is the pattern artificial (ie a stamp like a "rubber stamp") so that there is no layering. I think it's a pretty simple question that doesn't require a complex answer.
Is the Damascus pattern created by actual layering of the material (which is what "Damascus" means in this context) or is the pattern artificial (ie a stamp like a "rubber stamp") so that there is no layering. I think it's a pretty simple question that doesn't require a complex answer.
Wigdaddy
549
Apr 26, 2018
SantiagoDracoNeither is correct. It is indeed a layered material, but the pattern is created by rippling in the metal due to the extremely high-impact welding of those layers. The pattern is natural — it just has a different origin. This is a new thing.
SantiagoDraco
611
Apr 10, 2018
But that might impact sales! Can't have that now can we? <sarcasm alert>
Suitepotato
8
Jul 26, 2018
We had to ask, we shouldn't have to when it comes to knives. Japan, Germany, Sweden, and the USA are the places good steel is made. We know this. You know this. You know that we know this and we know that you know this. Quit being deceptive by omission. This sort of practice will come back to haunt you. Take a lesson from Everlane.
SantiagoDraco
611
Apr 22, 2018
harrisonhI completely agree Harrisonh. They use a Japanese name for the knife because it makes it sound cooler. This isn't really a Kiritsuke knife style anyway. Calling it "hybrid" is kind of absurd as a Kiritsuke is typically a chopper/slicer with a much straighter edge. This edge is very curved and is not suitable for chopping. This is much more of a rocking/slicing knife. Kind of ironic to make a "Kiritsuke" that isn't one and then talk about Japanese tradition....
I still ordered one but it is a bit disturbing the way some of the marketing is handled here with products recently. For example not placing "made in China" in the product description anywhere but mentioning "Japanese tradition/cutlery" 4 times. Says a lot about where Massdrop's mind is.
I still ordered one but it is a bit disturbing the way some of the marketing is handled here with products recently. For example not placing "made in China" in the product description anywhere but mentioning "Japanese tradition/cutlery" 4 times. Says a lot about where Massdrop's mind is.
Slikwilly13
8
Apr 25, 2018
I agree. It's like Sea-Gull watches. They proudly stamp "China Made" on the face of their watches. They make amazing watches (some costing up to $20,000) and they don't try to hide that they're Chinese made, but instead claim it with honor. Unfortunately a lot of Americans hold a negative connotation to Chinese made products due to the cheap crap out there that gives it a bad name. They're forgetting that a lot of stuff that they love and cherish is made in China and they don't even think about it. Including their fancy smart phones.
PigmonkeY
1082
Apr 6, 2018
Is the sheath magnetized across the spine so that the edge never comes in contact with the bamboo?
JonasHeineman
5987
Apr 6, 2018
PigmonkeYAw, shucks buddy - I'm blushing through my beard. Really though, credit goes to Dennis at Apogee for the thoughtful design of the knife and sheath. We told him what we wanted, and he delivered on the first try - that's a rarity in the world of prototyping and production, but he's been in this industry a long time and really pays attention to what our community says. We're lucky to have great partners like this, and a great community driving product innovation. If you guys weren't so passionate and vocal about important details, our collabs wouldn't be this good.
flyinglotus1983
358
Apr 6, 2018
I'm a filthy casual when it comes to knife profiles, but I found this video interesting on learning the differences between a common chef knife profile and a Kiritsuke profile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Uuo9vPuKQ
Jaggi
737
Apr 7, 2018
flyinglotus1983The Dalstrong kiritsuke he's using in the video looks to have a much flatter profile than the knife in this drop.
Judging from the product photos I'd say the Takumi Kiritsuke in this drop should be considered more like a gyuto/kiritsuke hybrid. It has the edge profile of a typical gyuto but with a kiritsuke style tip.
Judging from the product photos I'd say the Takumi Kiritsuke in this drop should be considered more like a gyuto/kiritsuke hybrid. It has the edge profile of a typical gyuto but with a kiritsuke style tip.
Hrharrell
181
Apr 10, 2018
I would like to know if the blade thickness listed was measured at the spine above the heel, and if not, what is the thickness there
JonasHeineman
5987
Apr 25, 2018
HrharrellYes, that's correct. I see we have a request for more measurements - we sent the prototype out to have the sheath fitted, but it's back now and I can get some measuring done for you guys early next week.
Titanium22
12
Apr 6, 2018
How well would this work as a general chefs knife? I have a 8" Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife thats easy to sharpen and has worked well for the past several years. I am a bit of a pocket knife enthusiast and home chef so I have been looking to upgrade for a while. It's function over form and requires a decent amount of sharpening. How well would the Apogee Takumi be as a replacement?
SantiagoDraco
611
Apr 10, 2018
I should also note that in spite of my misgivings I've ordered one :) It looks like a good knife for appropriate scenarios.
Slomomofo
13
Apr 13, 2018
Titanium22This is a question only you can answer. I grew up with 8's and now prefer 9's or 10's. It all depends on what you are comfortable with and how you handle it. I'm a larger guy and i tend to grip further into the blade so when I use an 8 inch I negate an inch or 2 from the blade from my grip alone. So a longer blade works easily for me. Where as my wife who is smaller and grips further back naturally uses a 6.5 inch blade. So only way to answer the length question is to go get a longer blade and see how it works for you and your style. As far as a replacement for an all around chef style knife. Who knows. Noone has seen this blade or gotten their hands on it yet. Seems to have a decent amount of rock to it. But again how do you use the blade. Me I usually only rock for herbs which doesn't require much. You may require alot more rock.
SantiagoDraco
611
Aug 26, 2018
And still no disclosure that these are made in China in the item details. Funny that stuff made in the USA and Japan have those details clearly displayed.
Japan is mentioned FOUR times in the item description/details, China is mentioned ZERO times. Misleading? You decide.
Japan is mentioned FOUR times in the item description/details, China is mentioned ZERO times. Misleading? You decide.
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