I love good kitchen knives and for those that don’t know KAI is the Japanese parent company for Shun, Kershaw and ZT
Before our house fire I had quite a collection including ones I had made myself and many Japanese like Hattori etc. I’ve slowly bought some stuff here and there but the prices vs 10 years ago are obviously a bit different.
Last month an accidentally ended up with the Kai Seki Magoroku. I came across them on a JP knives site then saw they were on Amazon. I thought I had put it in a wish list to look over but had added it to my cart instead. Wife hit the order button assuming I wanted it when she bought whatever.
Anyway for the $65 I paid( $69 now) I have been extremely happy. Like most Japanese blades it is extremely thin and sharp. The style is not for those with a heavy hand. Anyway it got me looking at the Shun knives that I’ve basically stuck my nose up at. I suppose because they were common and not as desirable.
What I found was that the Shun Classic and the Morgoroku are near identical. If you look at the pics the blade seems to be the same with the Shun having a different wood handle and flat vs slanted butt . It also has a small accent ring at the bolster.
From what I can tell the KAI has the same VGmax steel. For all I can see it’s the same blade at a 1/3 of the cost. It makes for a killer deal IMO. For anyone wanting to dip their toe into what a high quality Japanese blade is like without the cost this is it. For anyone that already owns and appreciates them this is great way to add to your collection.
It seems the KAI is more in the $130 range if ordered from Japan. It makes me wonder if these were an overrun or maybe not intended for our market. I just bought a second one a few min ago. A Santotoku to go with the Gyutou I have.
Take a look.
Attached File Attached File Attached FileThe internet photo of the KAI makes the Damascus pattern look brighter and waver, but you can see mine is closer to the Shun photo. If I’m wrong which I doubt I am it wouldn’t change my opinion of the KAI at all.