Fog Bladesmith Honesuki Review: A Hobbyist Swedish Take on the Japanese Boning Knife

Introduction

The honesuki is a Japanese boning knife built specifically for breaking down poultry, and it is a shape few Western makers attempt. This one came from Johan Fagerlund, a 39-year-old hobbyist bladesmith based in Sweden who works under the Fog Bladesmith name and is working toward becoming a part-time knife maker. He is most active on Instagram, and also shares his work on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

To put this knife through its paces, we butchered two whole chickens and judged it the way a honesuki deserves to be judged: on tip precision, edge bite, geometry, and comfort over a long cutting session.

First Impressions and Build Quality

The first thing that stands out is the spine. It is noticeably thick, which immediately gives the knife a sturdy, confidence-inspiring feel in hand. The blade is not perfectly laminated, with small imperfections visible in the cladding, but the finish work elsewhere is genuinely impressive: a gorgeous layered pattern, a nicely polished edge with a finishing stone, and what appears to be wrought iron in the cladding.

The handle is a highlight. It has a beautiful stone-like finish with great texture, a tasteful small indent for the maker’s print, and a detail worth noting: an indent in the wood that continues up into the cap. The balance point sits right where it should. Two small nitpicks: the cap catches a little on the finger, though not enough to hurt comfort, and the wood feels slightly soft, with a sense that it could dent under firm pressure. The belly also carries more curvature than the flat profile most honesuki knives use.

Testing Through Two Whole Chickens

The real test was butchering two whole chickens, judged in real time rather than summarized afterward. Overall blade length is good, and the tip, initially suspected of needing to be longer and pointier, turned out to work well. Tip work was one of the pleasant surprises: the tip is very functional, does not need to lose weight behind the edge, and handles precision cuts and small incisions nicely.

The blade’s extra curvature compared to a flatter honesuki profile, which seemed like a potential problem going in, did not turn out to be an issue in practice. The geometry as a whole is genuinely good, and size and comfort in hand are strong points throughout.

Cutting Performance: Where It Struggles

The largest issue is the edge itself. There is not much bite, and that makes slippery chicken skin a challenge, with small incisions sliding rather than grabbing. The knife also feels a little thick behind the edge, both at the tip and along the belly. For delicate work like removing the chicken tender, a thinner tip would lose less meat, and a longer tip would effectively be pointier as well.

The counterweight to those criticisms is resilience. The steel choice clearly favors toughness: using the rear portion of the blade to work through joints and denser areas went just fine, and there was a strong sense throughout that the blade would not chip. Compared to a single-bevel honesuki that demands more care around bones, this knife invites a more relaxed approach. Sharpness, notably, is a fixable problem. Enhancing sharpness is far simpler than correcting wrong geometry, and the shape here is unmistakably working as a honesuki.

Who Should Buy This Honesuki

If this is a first attempt at a honesuki, it is genuinely impressive work. The geometry is right, the tip is functional, the balance and comfort are excellent, and the edge is a sharpening session away from performing much better. Anyone comfortable putting an edge on their own knives will get the most out of it, while buyers who expect a razor-finished edge out of the box may be slightly disappointed by the initial bite.

It also helps that the maker’s range goes well beyond this shape. Fog Bladesmith has made large swords and, from what has been shared, daggers as well, which makes following the workshop’s progress worthwhile for anyone interested in custom knives.

Buying Advice

For poultry-focused home cooks who appreciate handmade tools and do not mind honing an edge themselves, this is an appealing custom option. The thick spine and resilient steel make it forgiving to use around bones, and the geometry proves itself over a full chicken breakdown. Wait-and-see buyers might prefer to check the maker’s current offerings and social channels first, since this is a hobbyist operation and availability will naturally vary.

Conclusion

Fog Bladesmith’s honesuki is a charming, sturdy, well-balanced take on a rare shape, with excellent geometry and a resilient edge offset by a soft initial bite and slight thickness behind the edge. Two chickens later, the verdict is clear: the fundamentals are right, and everything that is wrong can be fixed on a stone.