KITA Series 7-Inch Kiritsuke Knife with Sheath, High Carbon X-7 Damascus Steel, 501417

This knife is excellent, it arrived in very impressive packaging, and after taking it out of that packaging, I could find no flaws or defects. The Kita series is one of the prettier knives I've seen from a mainstream manufacturer. I'd put it up there with Miyabi or Shun for fit and finish, but I personally like this design better than many of theirs. It was very sharp and impressive-looking. I have a lot of nice knives from quite a few manufacturers, my wife and I got the 6" for her and this one for me for cooking together. . . we thought it'd be fun to match.

The blade is kind of a fusion of a Western and Japanese style, the shape and design language is very Japanese-influenced, but the thickness and toughness of the steel is more Western. It's not razor-thin like many Japanese knives, and the X-7 Cangshan uses aims to be about as hard as VG10 but tougher and less prone to chipping, My wife has had her 6" longer than I've had this one, but so far they definitely don't feel as fragile as a Japanese knife, which is a preference thing but I prefer it. I personally don't like having to worry that if I hit a bone or drop the blade, I'm going to be missing a tip or a chunk of it. I have not had issues with wedging or anything, the blade is not "thick", just not extremely thin like a traditional Gyuto, which are more like a scalpel but very prone to chipping if you don't baby them, many of them will also rust. We generally hand wash and dry these immediately, as you should, but…