Great value for the price point
The knife looks beautiful and feels nice- if a little front heavy. No full tang which puts the balance point right about where the logo on the knife is. Fine for me since I use a pinch grip but, if you aren't used to it, the balance could make for an uncomfortable experience. I already had an 8in kiritsuke knife which has better balance but, this 9in one is really nice by comparison because the slightly longer blade lets you make some nice long and even cuts on meats, fish, or… other long foods… eggplants.It had a nice edge out of the box - nice but not perfect. Tomato test passed. Paper test passed. It will do the job well but if you’re a stickler, go ahead and touch up the cutting edge before trying to shave a kiwi (the fruit not the bird).I am a home chef and I have no idea what a professional chef’s knife is supposed to feel like but this one feels good to me. The octagonal grip is octually super comfortable and gives a nice grip texture. Because of the blade shape, the Japanese kiritsuke-style knife makes flat cuts way easier (like julienne for example) without sacrificing any of the functionality that you may be used to from a western chef knife (or gyuto).Also, I’d say it’s pretty durable. I was concerned that some of the reviews said that it wouldn’t hold up so… I tortured it a little bit. I didn’t go full “Mythbusters” on it or anything but I'm pretty confident that you would have to put in real effort to break this knife- even without a full tang. I mean I really beat the devil out of this thing on my cutting board to see what kind of a battering it would endure and, to my delight, it went right along like nothing happened. I really don’t know what some of these reviewers are doing to their kitchen knives to give it a low rating based on durability, but I really let this thing have it - far more punishment than it would ever reasonably receive in a cooking environment. There’s nothing you can do to this knife in your kitchen that’s going to break it… I mean, unless a ninja shows up at your house… Best of luck if that happens. Don’t sword fight with this knife. You’ll probably lose.TL;DR - I like the Ink Plum kiritsuke knife, and I recommend it. It’s tough, beautiful, and inexpensive. It’s everything you could ask for at this price point.