The Hatsukokoro Kurokuma(黒熊, Black Bear), different from the brand Kurokuma, is a new addition to the growing lineup of Hatsukokoro's budget friendly Kurouchi knives. It shares some similarities with the Kokugei/Kuronami series, but some key features of this line have led to a quite different behavior on chopping board.
Like the Kokugei/Kuronami line, the Kurokuma features a glossy Kurouchi finish, however, it is a brown/yellow tint above the black, which give the knife a earthy look similar to the fur on a bear, quite fitting to its name. What is quite matching to this finish is the grind, when looking down the spine, the Kurokuma have way less taper compare to the Kokugei or Kuronami, leading to a spine thickness that is double of those knives at the middle and the end of the blade.
The impact of this grind is rather interesting. We usually affiliate thicker knive with poor cutting performance, as there will be more resistance to overcome when the blade enters and splitting a dense food like potato. This is the case for the Kurokuma, however, this blade performe suprisingly well when slicing thin pieces off a potato, the penetration of the edge at the initial contact is very resolute, and the blade follow through effortlessly.
Through observaton and the sacrifices of some potatoes, we have deduct the reasone behind this behavior. As the grind is very thick and the angle of the primary bevel is rather large, the secondary bevel is quite narrow compares with other blades. This will leads to prying, hence the resistance we feel when splitting potatoes, but when slicing, the thin slice will pop off the narrow bevel and give a clean food release, which translates to low sticking when cutting. Combining with the aggressive edge of the carbon knife and the inertia in this heavy blade, this knife end up offering a pleasing slicing experience.
Thus if you are looking into a budget carbon knife with rustic look and enjoyable cutting feeling, this line is definitely something you should check out.
By
Hatsukokoro
