What if I told you a flashlight maker, who has some pocket knives is getting into kitchen knives now too? That’s right Olight who’s best known for making Flashlights has a new spinoff brand Oremake which has released a few kitchen knives recently. This is the 8” Kiritsuke model, with a high carbon “Damascus” steel and G10 handles. Thanks to them for sending it to me to take a look at and review.
The YouTube version of this review:
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Check out more on the Oremake Kiritsuke 8″ Chefs knife at
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wtvXWT
Oknife.com: https://www.oknife.com/products/oremake-8-inch-kiritsuke-chef-knife-t-co69-damascus-steel-blade
Packaging & Accessories
The packaging here is nice and very similar to Olight’s flashlight. It’s a white box with a descriptive sleeve of the model you have with details. Accessories are limited but they include a plastic blade protector with “felt” on the inside, a manual, and a microfiber cloth.
The only accessory the knife comes with is a plastic sleeve that’s lined with a felt-like material. It’s made for this blade, has a cut-out to fit the handle geometry, and is a nice add-on if you don’t have a knife block or a transporting knife.
Size & Weight
The weight of the Oremake Kiritsuke came in at 8.87oz, compared with my 8” Victorinox fibrox that’s 6.36oz. The blade stock at the top near the heal is 0.0755” and at the edge on the heal at 0.0320”. The tip comes in at the edge at 0.0260”
I measured the cutting edge at 7.98”, the overall length at about 12.81”. The height of the blade is 1.965” at the heel. Fairly similar to my Victorinox Fibrox western-style kitchen knife that’s been my workhorse for years.
Design
Olight’s pocket knife line has recently been rebranded “Oknife” and past models have been from known designers in the industry, and manufactured by Kizer, a well-known pocket knife manufacturer. Kizer is a division of larger company Tuobituo, and one of their specialties is making kitchen cutlery. While I don’t know for sure, I strongly suspect the Oremake series is manufactured by these guys, it would only make sense with an established relationship and a company that knows what they are doing.
The design here is reminiscent of a Japanese Kiritsuke (Kir it suu k) knife. The Kiritsuke is a cross between the Guyto and Yanagi traditionally used to slice fish and reserved for the executive chef due to it being a status symbol and difficulty of use traditionally. It’s a good shape to be a general-purpose knife for most generalized tasks.
Here on the Oremake version, it’s a fairly traditional blade shape, but it has a little notch out of the front for style reasons I assume, and to be different. I can’t say I have found a functional use for it. The handle is fairly fat, fairly smooth, contoured, and made from G10 with brass inserts that are clear coated. It won’t absorb water and should wear well. It’s a full tang construction as well.
Grip
I use the traditional pinch grip and it’s ok here. On my hand, the swelling of the handle doesn’t fit the best when you pinch grip, and it’s more comfortable if I move my hand to reward some. It’s more of an ergonomic western handle than I would expect to see on a knife in the Japanese style. The handle tapers back which seems to encourage putting your fingers a tad lower, not what I am used to but it works. The G10 here is smooth and doesn’t add any texture. It’s glossy and looks to be coated in something to seal it. This is kind of unnecessary since G10 doesn’t absorb water on its own usually as it’s mostly resin. The brass accent pieces are purely esthetic, I would probably choose to go without it if I could. The balance point is right where the rivet in the handle is, so the balance here is good.
Steel
The steel here is officially called T-CO69. They are claiming it’s a new type of Japanese Damascus steel, with a forged structure of 69 layers on the outside, and higher carbon content than AUS-10 or VG-10 and has been hardened to a 60 HRC which is fairly hard for a kitchen knife. With the hardness being as high as it is, it’s best to not try to chop very hard things like bone, ice, etc with this knife at risk of chipping the edge.
I asked them for the chemical composition of the steel and they said it was proprietary. This isn’t common practice in the knife industry with new steels, so this is frustrating. Producing a new type of proprietary steel is extremely expensive so I doubt that’s what has been done here, instead, it’s something more well-known like an AUS-10 or something with a similar composition for example. What I can tell you is that it’s been pretty stainless for me, I deliberately washed the knife and let it air dry overnight to see if I would have any rust and I found none the next morning.
It does appear to be a real folded steel Damascus with a light etch. You can see as well as feel the layers here. The layer lines are not etched on by laser or sandblasting as you see on some Chinese-style knives. So my guess would be a Japanese steel core with a layered/folded stainless steel exterior.
Grind
The grind here is asymmetrical 9 degrees on one side, 13 degrees on the other. This makes for an excellent slicer with such a high angle making the blade come to a very fine edge, but it being so high of angle means it’s less tough and may need to be sharpened more often. That asymmetrical grind will also be more challenging for the average owner to sharpen properly unless using a traditional whetstone. Heck, even I am not 100% sure how I will do it on my guided knife sharpening system.
Performance
Out of the box, the knife was extremely sharp, easily passing the paper test. Even now after 2 weeks of use by my wife and I. it’s still doing well. I am liking the upward sweep in the blade here, it’s good for up and down chopping as well as a push cut. Not the best knife for rocking cuts but it’s ok. The fine tip on the blade is nice for detail work like mincing garlic etc.
The higher angle here is worth noting, it makes for a great slicer but shouldn’t be used for very hard things, things where you will encounter bone, frozen veggies, etc. You more likely to chip and damage the blade by doing so.
Final Thoughts
The average home cook usually has a set of pretty inexpensive knives that get the job done but are not anything fancy. In recent years there has been a trend of Chinese-made Chef knives from brands like Dalstrong that have come in with highly marketed knives of decent quality but somewhat higher prices for what you’re getting. They sit somewhere in the middle price and quality-wise between high-end actual Japanese or European brands. A high-end professional chef wouldn’t normally be seen with one, but for the home cook, it’s likely better than they currently have. This is the area that the Oremake Kirituke has been placed and at least from my experience with a “Zelite” and a cheap “Dalstrong” this Oremake Kirituke is far superior.
I would really like to see OreMake/Olight be more transparent here with the steel that is being used and information regarding the construction. A custom blend of steel made just for Olight/Oremake here is very unlikely, and prefer they just tell us what it actually is.
At an MSRP of $99 I feel like this is built well but a bit pricy. Catch it on sale and I think it becomes more attractive. It’s certainly a good looking knife with solid ergonomics and seems to hold an edge fairly well so far.
Let me know your thoughts on the Oremake Kiritsuke is and what you’re currently using for your do-all chef knife at home.
