This Knife brand is a Chinese facebook scam. They are not made in Japan. They are not hand forged, they are cheap stamped Chinese crap in a nice box. Many reviews on Amazon are fake. Read critical amazon reviews for horror stories of cheap unbalanced knives that look great but won’t hold an edge.
SHAME ON YOU WOOT. We used to be able to trust you for good stuff at cheap prices… now it’s just cheap stuff.
Thank you for the feedback. To be fair, it says it’s made from steel from Japan.
- Kamikoto knives are made from high-quality steel from Honshu 本州, Japan
That’s what makes it a scam, lol
But seriously, these knives just separate good people from their money.
They shouldn’t be on Amazon or Woot.
These knives are garbage.
"Steels We Use
Our blades are forged from 420J2 steel (Genten series) and SLD steel (Ganjo series). With a HRC of 53 +/-2, the Genten series offers the benefits of a practical, highly corrosion-resistant blade. We recommend the Genten series to customers who do not mind tending to and sharpening their blades with a whetstone from time to time. While SLD steel is far more likely to chip and rust over time, it compensates with a significantly higher HRC of 62 +/- 2; these knives tend to retain their edge over time."
420j2 is a very rust resistant stainless, but generally considered soft garbage by Kitchen Knife people. Outdoor Knife people are familiar with it as an outer layer for laminate steels.
SLD steel on the other hand is described at CKG site:
"SLD steel by Hitachi is an excellent steel for kitchen knives. The base of the steel is SKD11 in JIS ( = Japanese Industrial Standard ) mainly used for dies fit for punching or stamping. The main features of the steel is hard, tough and strong against wearing. Hitachi has improved it for better work and longer life, and named it SLD. The main chemical compositions of it is : C 1.4-1.6%, Cr 11.0-13.0%, Mo 0.8-1.2% & V 0.2-0.50%. Generally the steels which contain Cr 13.0% or more are called stainless steel. SLD has close to 13.% Cr and are fairly resistant for rust. Due to high carbon like 1.5%, the HRC after heat-treating reaches about 60point. I have not checked the real HRC of this SLD but due to forging, can expect 1-2 or 3point higher. Furthermore, by combined with Cr, carbon makes and forms what it is called the primary carbide with HV ( = Vickers ) 1,800-2,000 hardness, equivalent to HRc 62-63. "
So much for the steel. Kamikoto is considered a bit of a joke by serious Kitchen Knife Fans because of their marketing, manufacture in China, and prices far above what many people consider fair for the product. You can buy REAL Japanese knives made in Echizen, Sakai or Seki for the same or less.
That’s like saying “Pittsburgh steel“… it just tells you where it was made, it doesn’t tell you about the steel itself. I wrote a much longer response specifically dealing with the type of steel they use in my comment above this one.