Review on KYOKU Samurai Yanagiba Japanese Superior by Angie Williams

I was surprised at how heavy this knife was when I took it out of the box and when I saw that the tip was about 1/4 inch thick, i understood why The knife has a single bevel with a micro bevel near the cutting edge. When I used my whetstones to enhance the edge, I found that the factory sharpening was very inconsistent. In some places it was flat and correct. Others had large indentations that I had to level so I could use my stones all the way around the rim. This required a significant amount of material removal (which I didn't mind anyway given the overall weight of the blade). The back of the blade is also slightly concave and not quite flat, I haven't decided yet if I'll try flattening it, but if I did it would probably change the geometry of the edge a lot. The handle is comfortable and well shaped. Above all, what I love about this knife, and for the price, I'm more than happy that I have to tweak it a bit to get it the way I want it.