Knives not Q - Miyabi Artisan SG2 Knife Set

[FONT=&quot]Well after seeing all the nice new toys some of you all were getting, my resistance got worn down. A week before my birthday, I went to the local Sur la Table store to look at some Miyabi’s. I then approached the subject of a new knife with the CFO. Her initial response was a firm “No Way!”

Fast forward a week to after my birthday party was over and I see she has left a present aside so as not to have it opened in front of our guests. She had me open it and it was a box of “You’re Awe-Some” Reese’s Peanut butter bars. I’m thinking yum but also why did we wait on this? She saw my confused look so she told me “open the box”. I opened it and there is a couple of bills in there with a note that says “To my Favorite Cut-Up!” along with a picture of a knife. [/FONT]
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Well after many weeks of researching, looking online and in person at a couple of local stores, I pulled the trigger on a 7 piece set of Miyabi Artisans. I looked at, held and tried slicing and chopping Potatoes, Carrots and Apples with:[/FONT]
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Shun's: Classic, Premier, Kaji and Hakari series. [/FONT]
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Miyabi's: Evolution, Koh, Kaizen II and the Artisan series.[/FONT]
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Kramer's: Meiji and Stainless Damascus series.[/FONT]
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Notes: I went to the closest Williams Sonoma store to look at the Shuns. Based on how they felt in my hand and how they chopped / sliced, I liked the Hakari series the best. Followed be the Premier and then the Classic. I thought I’d like the Kaji series but the handle wasn’t what I thought and it just didn’t feel comfortable. I really considered buying the Hakari. The thing that held me back was the fact that the food kept sticking to the blade. That issue, and the price caused me to continue to look. [/FONT]
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I then went back to the Sur la Table store to look at the Miybai’s again. Based on how they felt in my hand and how they chopped / sliced, I liked the Artisan series the best. Followed be the Koh and then the Evolution series. I liked the way the Kaizen II series felt but it didn’t slice as well as the others. (It’s possible it just needed to be re-sharpened) [/FONT]
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I thought I’d like the Kramer’s more. I liked the way the Meiji series felt in my hand better than the Stainless Damascus did. They both looked stunning but they didn’t slice with nearly the ease of the Miyabi’s. (except the Kaisen II) [/FONT]
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I went with the Artisan SG2 series for the following reasons:[/FONT]

1. First and foremost is the way it felt in my hand. It was like it was an extension of my fingers.
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2. The ease of how it sliced thru the veggies. Yes the [/FONT][FONT=&quot]food did stick to the blade but not quite to the same extent as it did on the Shuns.[/FONT]
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3. Price. I was willing to spend more but being able to spend less was something I did notice. For the price of 2 Kramer’s or 3 Hakari’s, I got 4 knives, a new block, sharpening steel and another set of kitchen shears. [/FONT]
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4. Finally is the fact that I had a 15% off coupon that Sur la Table honored for these knives.[/FONT]
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Here is the un-opened box.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Knives unboxed[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Here’s the nice handle with the decorative accents.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]3 1/2" Paring Knife[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]7” Santoku[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Close-up on the Miyabi logo on the 8” Chef’s Knife[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Close-up on the 8” Chef’s Knife’s blade.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]9” Bread Knife[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Close-up on the 9” Bread Knife’s blade.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]7” Santoku next to my 6” Zwilling Chef’s knife.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Now for a couple of disappointing observations. The new block they included doesn’t appear to be a great block for this series of knives. First thing is it looks crooked.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Next thing is that it isn’t very tall. I inserted the 9” Bread Knife into an appropriate looking narrower slot [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]and it comes out the bottom and hits the counter.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]So I have to move it up to one of the top 2 slots so it won’t hit the counter.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The problem is that these are wider slots which means I won’t have room for another wide (deep) knife like a Nakiri. Also, if I buy the 9 1/2” slicing knife, it will also take up one of the 2 top wide slots, this means that I won’t have a slot that fits either my Chef’s or Santoku knife. So if I buy the slicer, I have to buy a new block as well. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The final issue is that the slots are close together and these handles are thick and touch each other when inserted all the same direction.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Here’s a piece of paper proving that they are touching.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]If you don’t want them to touch each other you need to insert them in alternating directions. This is fine but my OCD self doesn’t like it.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]I’m very happy with these knives but very disappointed in the knife block that was included.[/FONT]
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Finally here is a YouTube video showing the sharpness of these new knives.[/FONT]
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTF6S255POE"]Sharpness Test for my Miyabi Artisan SG2 Knives - YouTube[/ame][FONT=&quot]
Thanks for looking.[/FONT]

Bigbears BBQ said:

Sweet set of knives glad you did your homework since you will have therm for many years to come.

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Thanks you Jesse. As a stated, I'm a bit OCD, so I research the heck out of everything.

Macky said:

Very nice, DH! The Japanese cutlery is top dog in my opinion. That doesn't mean that others can't do the job but for durability and the ability to hold an edge they are hard to beat. I had four different knife types made by "Watanabe" San a respected Japanese blade smith who handmakes every knife he sells using furnaces and presses that have been past down to family members for 100's of years. They definitely know how to craft a blade! Mac

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Thank you Mac. I have one Japanese single bevel knife that looks like that. (A petty) I may get some more but liked these so much I went ahead and pulled the trigger on them.

hachi-roku_fan said:

How much did that run you if you don't mind me asking?

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Thank you hachi-roku_fan. The pricing is common knowledge for anyone who looks for them so I don't mind. The set retails for $699.95 at Sur la Table and Cutlery & More online.

TonyT said:

You're not alone. I'm a renter and don't have room for a new pit, but sure have room for a nice knife :grin:. Congratulations on getting the set :thumb:. About the block, would your old block work? Did you mention it to the store?

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Thank you Tony. I am going to tell both the store and the manufacturer about the block and what I see as the poor design.

Melissaredhead said:

Seriously dude You're knives have souls trapped inside of them.
Imma scared.

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Sorry Melissa. I didn't mean to scare anybody with these scary sharp knives. :lol:

mikemci said:

I agree. All my knives have to be in the right slot, with the edges all in the same direction. Never thought of it as OCD, just think that's the way it should be done.
Your new knives are awesome but that block sucks!

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Thank you Mike. Agreed.

m-fine said:

That looks cool, but I think my kids would use it to "clean" the knives as well!

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True that.

AZRaptor said:

Miyabis are awesome! I've only got one, but I love my Miyabi Birchwood 8" Chef knife. Grats on getting a nice set.

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Thank youAZRaptor.


I plan on eventually getting the 5" utility knife along with the slicer. I was pressing my luck a little getting what I got.

On a side note, I made some Pico with the paring and santoku knives last night. Wow what a difference they make. It didn't speed up things to much as I was trying to alter my usual cutting method. I also did the standard tomato sharpness tests which took up some time. I dropped a couple against the blade and the tomato barely slows down on it's way into 2 halves. I then tried cutting slices off of one of the halves. This didn't go perfectly at first but after a few tries I altered my technique and was able to cut slices off a free sitting tomato.

Using these knives is like using giant scalpels. I'm retraining myself in cutting technique so as not to hurt these knives but more importantly, not to slice off any of my finger parts. :shock: