Miyabi Kaizen 9 1/2" Chef's Knife

Miyabi Kaisen 9 1/2″ Chef Knife Review

Star Rating: 5.6 Stars
Overall Rating: Outstanding Quality Professional Knife
Knife: Miyabi Kaizen 9 1/2″ Chef’s Knife
Brand: Zwilling J.A. Henckels
Made In: Seki, Japan
Steel: VG10 steel (CMU60)
Rockwell: 60
Blade Construction: 64 layers (32/side) of flower Damascus CRYODUR ice-hardened steel with a VG10 core
Edge: 9° – 12° double-beveled blade using the traditional hand-finished 3 step Honbazuke hand honed edge method
Handle: “D” shaped black linen Micarta with 2 red spacers.
Tang: Full tang with 3 rivets including a mosaic center pin.
Weight: 9.6 oz
NSF approved? Yes
Cleaning: Hand-wash only
Cost: About $190 – $240
Availability: Currently available (April 2016)
Warranty: Lifetime

Chefs Resources joined with Joe Bartlett The Knife Nerd to do a review of one of the many knifes in his collection. Following is a partial transcription of his description of the high-end Miyabi Kaizen 9 1/2″ Chef’s Knife.

“Today I’m showing you the Miyabi Kaisen 9.5″ chef knife and I’ll be giving a good description of it. It has a VG10 steel core with a total of 65 layers, with 64 layers of flower Damascus around it. It has the Micarta handle with a nice mosaic pin in there. This blade is sharpened to a 9° to 12° angle. And the Rockwell hardness is about 60 – 61. So there you have it. Without further ado, lets go ahead and see what this blade can do.”

Joe then begins the various cutting tests. “We’ll check-out the minced shallot here first. Very easy work with the shallot.”

“Next we’ll see how we do on a basil chiffonade. We should be able to go through without any bruising or tearing. We should be able to do nice, clean cuts. It was real easy, real nice, no tears.”

“Alright, next up we’re going to do a drag-cut test on a carrot. See if we can go through nice and smooth without much resistance. (he cuts the carrot) Not bad…I’ve had other knives perform better. But still, its not too bad.”

“Next up we’re going to try to do a one-handed tomato slice (on a vine ripe tomato). If you have a nice razor sharp edge there should be no problem at all to make it through this tomato with one smooth slice. (He makes a few successful slices) Very effortlessly. That’s very smooth.”

“Alright, next up we’re going to do a push-cut test through a piece of paper. We should be able to go through it really easily, not seeing any serrations or tearing in the paper, so let’s check this out. (Success! Big smile from Joe!) Very nice!”

“So there we have it. The Miyabi Kaisen 9 1/2 inch chef’s knife. Great knife, it performs really well. I would definitely recommend this knife.” And Joe wraps up his demo.

Additional info:
According to Miyabi-Knives.com the CRYODUR ice-hardening process provides “The very best cutting performance teamed with the highest corrosion resistance and blade flexibility.” The steel is first heated, then it is quenched to room temperature, and is then frozen & hardened at -196°! This process improves resistance to corrosion. The blade is then tempered (re-heated) to improve flexibility. The Asai blades have the reputation of being the sharpest knives right out of the box.

Imarku 8″ Chef’s Knife Review
Possible	Actual Rating	Test	Notes
		Sharpness
5	1	Carrot-Lengthwise Test	Pretty smooth but had a little resistance cutting the carrot lengthwise.
5	2	Shallot Test	Did a nice job with smooth, easy cuts on the shallot.
			N/A Did not do the onion test
3	2	Tomato Test	Very smooth with minor effort, but it did take 2 strokes to make the slice. Nice thin slices.
3	3	Basil Test	Smooth cuts with no bruising or tearing.
3	3	Paper Test	Did a nice job on the paper but.
		Comfort
5	3	Comfortable Handle	Comfortable but seemed a little “loose” in my hand due to the smaller round handle which I’m unaccustomed to. Nothing wrong w/ the knife…just my subjective observation/preference.
		Quality Materials
5	5	Steel Quality	VG10 steel w/ 64 Damascus layers
3	3	Durability
3	3	Handle Quality	Micarta handle w/ end-cap and signature pin is high quality.
		Quality Construction/Design
4	4	Overall Construction Quality	Overall construction is seamless and aesthetically pleasing.
3	3	Design, Engraving, End-cap, etc	This is a beautiful knife with and engraved end-cap and aesthetic appearance.
		General Ratings
5	4	High-end Knife?	1 = under $25; 2 = $26 – $75; 3 = $76 – $150; 4 = $151 – $300; 5 = $301+
5	5	Utility	Due to it’s.
7	7	Overall Impression	The
5	5	Our Star Rating	this knife is very sharp
Total
64	60	5.6 Stars = Outstanding Quality Professional Knife – See Overall Ranking Below formula: (actual score/total possible*6)

See our Ratings Page for info on how we evaluate a knife

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4.5 stars on Amazon
Miyabi Kaizen 8-Inch Chef’s Knife