Anyone have a Kanetsune Utage KB-113?

[w_houle]

http://www.kanetsune.com/assets/galleries/160/kb-113utage.jpg
It looks like a neat knife, but not sure how practical or durable it is. I like the look of it, but don't want to spend some $200-$300 on something that is just good for showing off at BBQs.

 

[Vonderek]

I'm not a big fan of the primitive, unfinished blade look of the knife you are asking about. But I do have this amongst others that I think is pretty awesome:

 

[CWL]

I have that one in black lacquer and the shorter one in bark skin. They are good knives as the inner edge layer are high-speed steel and can hold a great edge. I did find that you have to put a final edge yourself if you want it to be "hair popping". Not that I abused mine, but I felt that the steel may be a bit brittle, don't know why, just felt that way. You may have to be careful to prevent rust because the rough finish, damascus steel will hold onto moisture.

I feel the knife & blades are well made, have good edge geometries, and I think that they'll hold up to whatever you want to do with them, but because of the stick tang design, I didn't want to put mine through the wringer with heavy chopping or batoning. (although my Scandis with similar designs have never had a problem.)