Eugene loaned me this knife out of his personal kit to borrow for a couple weeks. It's been three months and counting and I still have no plans of returning it.
This Fujiwara Maboroshi is a few years old and has already developed a decent patina, which made rusting a non issue. Of course I still obsessively wiped it down and kept it dry, but that was more for my own piece of mind than the knife itself.
So you guys know that I have small hands. I tend to lean toward knives with Japanese style handles that are relatively light and thin, like the Kotetsu Ko-Bunka, but there's just something so perfect about this Maboroshi Gyuto. The small western handle fits perfectly in my hand; even when my grip is choked-up onto the blade the handle isn't too long or awkward to hold.
This is also currently the only knife in my kit that's carbon steel, which was both daunting and exciting the first time I brought it home. I obviously know how to take care of a carbon steel knife and know all the ins and outs of sharpening them, but wow, I was not prepared for how nice it would be to use.
Now, by no means do I have incredible knife skills nor have I ever worked in a professional kitchen, but I have put in a lot of practice at home and consider myself to be a pretty good cook. That being said, this knife stepped up my kitchen game considerably.
Being the photographer here in the shop, these aren't my hands in the pictures but this is a pretty accurate representation of how amazing this Maboroshi is. The razor-sharp edge allows for super thin slices and makes dicing a breeze, not to mention the best part: incredible edge retention.
In the three months that I've been using this knife I haven't had to bring it into the shop once. I usually bring my knives in every few months to give them a good sharpening, but this Maboroshi has dulled considerably slower and has kept most of that freshly-sharpened bite.
If you need a reason to try out carbon steel, let it be this knife.
Thanks for reading, OB.