It was their Meiji line. I wasn’t crazy about what looks like edges on the handle at first, but it was on sale and beggars can’t be choosers. Using it now, it doesn’t make any difference for me, so glad I ignored that.
You can see the picture here of what it looks like:
Emily’s Favorite Knife: Shun Bob Kramer Meiji Chef’s Knife | Kitchn (thekitchn.com)
Hi kobuta,
The two knives I’ve posted in my OP are made from two steels that are somehow weaved together, and are the best candidates to be “damascus” in the original sense.
Bob Kramer was smack dab in the middle of the pioneering effort that’s led to the type of cladded beautiful, functional knives that I own, and you chose well with your purchase.
Ray
I actually like the Meiji looks (as oppose to the Euro look).
Here’s an interesting article that describes Bob’s role at that early time:
I do like the reddish/brown wooden handle. It definitely gives it a more distinct and Japanese aesthetic. I just thought some of the sharp angles by the handle were going to be uncomfortable to hold, but really not. I always wondered why they moved away from Shun and to the Zwilling partnership instead.
I see. I like the Meiji because of the straighter/flatten edge profile. That is a personal preference. Not sure, I used to keep up the knife news and I think at one point I knew why the partnership has shifted, but I don’t remember any more. I do remember many people at the time like the shift because they feel the Zwilling Meiji knives are closer to the true Bob Kramer custom Meiji knives (in term of profile).
Sadly, I don’t the experience to compare. 
Zwilling still offers the Meiji line, so if you want to splurge…!
These knives are pretty and they sit in a box 80% of the time, because I hate the thought of wearing them down with every day use. Perhaps I should buy a fancy stand like the person in the website photo.
Hi Vecchiouomo,
The “grabbable” knives I’ve purchased for my home kitchen have all been chosen along the way to facilitate cultural fusion–not look beautiful–but many Japanese knives achieve that purpose through surrounding a very hard core steel with softer cladding. This “package” can be made lighter, sharper, with an edge that can be retained much longer compared to some mono steel knives–and it can facilitate ghost like images.
I have enough of them to know that that “ghost” is quite different looking on different knives, but they seem to be part of the fusion I have in mind–so I’m happy.
Interesting. I am the antithesis. I enjoy knives that represent specific cultures, especially French, be they Sabs or Opinel folding knives. Of course the number one and nonnegotiable requirement is that they perform well and hold up well, not just edge but also balance, weight, and other smaller details.
My mind set has been to appreciate the food culture around me, and find ways to integrate it into my American world. I started out teaching myself basic American cooking skills in college, first coming in contact with French cuisine during my Cornell years, when I had access to two test kitchens.
Once I moved to California, the European presence began to recede–even the groceries I used to count on were not so available any more–and I began to work with a Japanese collaborator with very different knife skills.
I still can do preps for European cuisine, but I do it differently now: I’m much more a push cutter, using chopping when it works best.
My chopping is done with cleavers, using skills I’ve learned this year.
Mostly, the limitations of my prep work have much more to do with my (lack of) skill than the quality of the knives.
I almost didn’t buy my 8" Miyabi birchwood because I felt myself unworthy, finally relying on Eiron’s encouragement to get over the hump.
I wasn’t worthy, but I’ve gotten better since.
Let me guess (I’m ignoring)… Has “cultural fusion” reared its head again?
The way I have developed my “batterie” is to either adapt the knives I have, or update to meet new challenges. An important aspect of that is adapt to changing demands–and availability of materials–according to cost-benefit realities.
My “founding” knives were very inexpensive–so I could easily justify an upgrade at first: my Wusthof Classic Ikon Chef’s knife cost $100, but I was able to justify it for the broad range of tasks it could afford.
There were any number of knives that could be upgrades to my Seki Magoroku nakiri in cost, but I felt that I could team it with my Wusthof adequately through repurposing. So, from the beginning, it was repurposing or upgrading within a budget:
Ray
I once thought Damascus knives implied a better quality knife - now I know it only means a more expensive knife.
The number of damascus layers has exactly nothing to do with the quality of the steel used in the knife.
Some think a knife look more fancy with the damascus patterns in the steel, I partly agree - but it also makes it more vulnerable, when you sharpen the knife because you might risk scratching the pattern, when sharpening the knife on a stone.
I own 18-20 knives with damascus patterns or damascus like patterns (My 10 Miyabi Artisan knives have more of a hammered look than real damascus patterns)
I now find knives to be attractive and have more characteristics with that rustic unfinished black look:
The subtle and realistic hammered traced pattern that wasn’t fully polished away.
Shiny and beautiful hammered pattern from knives like Miyabi are nice too, and my friends love them. However, let’s be real… those patterns are not “real” – they were not part of the process in making a knife. They were put on later just to look better.
It is a little bit like putting grill marks on a burger after it has already been cooked. It makes the burger look good.
Hi Claus,
There are only three true damascus knives presented on this thread, two on the OP, and one, the Shun Hikari, presented by Shrinkrap.
The others, like the ones you own, are “damascus effect,” and differ pretty radically in appearance from each other.
All the “damascus effect” knives I own are very nice knives. The Miyabi Birchwood, in particular, is my favorite knife of all.
What’s yours?
Ray
Leaving the scale on from the heat treat conveys utilitarianism. It also is a decent indicator of putting the edge bevels on by hand.
From the maker’s standpoint, the soft blank is shaped down to a point were the heat treat will not create stress risers and cracks (The rule of thumb is to leave about a 1/16" “flat” at the cutting edge). Then the portions of the edge bevels necessary to thin to attain the cutting edge are ground down. After hardening, removing all the scale up to the spine is superfluous.
The Damascus pattern knives I own, whether real Damascus or not, are from these lines:
Shiro Kamo Arashi SG2 - 2 knives
Kramer Meiji - 5 knives
Kramer SG2 - 2 knives
Miyabi MCD 5000 67 Black - 4 knives
Miyabi Artisan - 9 knives
Probably most fake Damascus and more like ‘dressed up to be Damascus with makeup cladding’, but all the above knives are solid work horses in my kitchen.
I use them all as my daily drivers in my home kitchen.
I honestly prefer the balance of my Kramer Meiji over my Kramer SG2, but prefer the SG2 steel over the FG10 steel.
If I was to advice a guy/gal getting into knives what knife to get, I would advice to buy either a Miyabi Artisan or a Kramer Meiji. They are decent value knives and they both perform very well with a nice balance and both can be made very sharp, the Meiji being the dullest of the two with its thicker profile and FC10 steeled blade.
I don’t know who stands behind the definition of real versus not so real Damascus, but I would be interested if you can explain why a true Damascus with a several layer core base should/could have better performance than a knife with a solid one piece core and then cladded with ‘make up’ layers of fake Damascus.
Hi Claus,
A true damascus, like the two I presented in the OP, doesn’t have a core. The Shun dual core weaves the two together all the way to the edge. The dual core santoku has become Dr. H’s main knife.
We’ve compared it to my Miyabi birchwood and my Shun Kaji santoku on various tasks, and it’s performed very well–even though it’s Rockwell score for hardness is lower.
The way Kai Shun weaves the two steels together gives them a very special appearance, and Kai Shun has been further developing the potential of this dual core style for many high end customers:
If I didn’t already own my birchwood gyuto and my Kaji santoku, I might have purchased the Shun dual core kiritsuke.
Since I didn’t when I could, the ebay price has jumped over $100.
Ray
Hi Chem,
Once a company decides to protect high Rockwell steel with external softer steel cladding, damascus can be a relatively low expense add on. That’s the thinking I believe the Zwilling engineers took in creating the Miyabi lines.
Beyond that, I’m not sure about anything except that various large scale manufacturers implemented different “damascus effect” solutions. So far, my experience has been that the ones I’ve chosen work very well in my home kitchen.
Ray
This is very interesting to me. I had not thought of the cutting edge being many layers, which I guess is basically a “serrated” edge, albeit at a micro level. I do not own any Damascus blades, and really for my cooking, since I don’t mind fairly frequent sharpening, I have only ever giving passing thought to them. In my mind, I thought that
Damascus made sense for a sword, less for a knife. I am curious to know if you feel that you get better performance than a good quality forged knife.
