Mituyamasaku Noodles kitchen knife 300mm 18.1-in

i was really looking forward to this piece coming in, but i was incredibly disappointed. for $152 USD, you's expect a premium product, or at the very least what is shown in the post. i have a lot of issues with this.1: the makers mark is fake.this is honestly my biggest issue with the product, and i know it sounds like a small detail, but for a product that says "hand crafted" on the box i cant find a single detail that looks hand made. the makers mark is a stencil that was acid etched into the"blade" not at all like the hand chiseled mark in the image. if this part were actually marked by hand i could forgive a lot about this knife, but i have $30 67 layer demascus steel knives that are hand marked, for 5 times that there should be some craftsmanship on display here, and there just isnt.2: the steel.this knife is a little lite fot its size, not bad though. it also claims to be made of Yasugi steel Aogami steel, or "white steel." and while i dont have the equipment to test this, i can say that Yasugi steel Aogami steel is very high quality, bright and hard, and whatever this is, it is not that. the surface is covered in scratches and marks from the factory. and another thing, the front edge isnt even straight! yeah, the one feature this knife has isnt even done well...3: no temper.the image posted shows a blackened handle under the string. this is a product of the decarborization process which occurs during forging and tempering, and while the handle is sand blasted on one side, the other side is bare ground steel, straight from the plate factory. speaking factories, the thing is covered in anti rust coating, the same kind plate manufacturers put on their product for shipping. if this knife had ever been tempered this coating would have burned off, further proof or the lack of human touch in this product.so my final thought is this: all it's flaws aside, it is a comfortable knife to hold, and it has enough weight to it for the job, but this thing costs $152. and $200 on other sites!!!!!! where does all that go!? ive included a picture of what that kind of money gets you from Shun, and the answer is very clear, this chunk of cheap steel and string falls way short of the mark in both material and craftsmanship. I would gladly pay $40 for this knife, and while it is the right shape and length for cutting noodles it doesnt do anything that a bench scraper taped to a 12 inch ruler cant.will be returning.

Edge is dull. I don't know if these blades are supposed to be "sharp" to effectively cut noodles, but given this is supposed to be AS steel one would suppose it should have a sharp edge. So I have spent 1~2 hours at 400 grit getting the edge straight enough to start to put a real edge on it. Now the back side, supposed to be a single bevel blade(?), is so rolled I don't think I am ready to invest the many hours to get that fixed, so I suppose I will need to just put a bevel on it to get an edge.Anyway, $180 or so for a blank to start making a blade is too much. Could be I just expected too much. Buyer beware.