When choosing a Japanese kitchen knife, it is inevitable that its steel becomes a part of the consideration. There are a few kinds of steels that are commonly used in modern knife making, and I will cover some that are widely available in stores. Carbon Steels The types of carbon steels used…

In Sakai city, there are craftsmen who specialize only in the knife handle making. A good knife should not cause fatigue after prolonged use; this owes to the handle (柄 e) that introduces good balance to the knife. The Japanese knife handles are usually made of materials like Japanese cypress…

We have covered the terminologies on the different parts of the western and Japanese kitchen knives in a previous article. Let’s talk about the blades. Single Bevel vs. Double Bevel 片刄と諸刄 Modern kitchen knives can be roughly categorized under either Single-bevelled (片刄 Kataba) knives and Double-bevelled (諸刄 Moroba) knives. When you look at the the cross-section…

Let’s get aligned on the terminologies before we continue any further. Western Knives Japanese Knives

A Bit of History Sakai city of the Osaka prefecture is known for its forged knives (aka. 堺打刃物 sakai-uchi-hamono). It is fair to make the connection between Osaka, the famous “nation’s kitchen”/the food capital of Japan, to Sakai city, where the kitchen knives are produced; however, the history of blacksmithing in Sakai goes way…

Your knife may have the crazy expensive Japanese steel in its blade, have been sharpened with perfected skills and have been used with extreme care, but you still find it getting dull quickly. Why is that? Let’s look past the knife, and examine what’s underneath it — what cutting board…

Note: This article is not about `rust-lang` but the actual rust that develops on knife blades Your kitchen knife is very likely made of steel, an alloy that combines Iron, carbon, chromium, nickel and maybe even other metals. Chromium and nickel percentage affects the rust resistance property of the steel…

Regardless of the artificial stones or natural ones, whetstones are usually categorized based on their grits: Rough stone: #200 — #600 Medium stone: #800 — #3000 Finishing stone: #4000 and up There are a few other types of stones that you use with the whetstones: A fixer stone: flattens the…

Thoughts on the Right Knife Sharpening Angle Sharpening a knife at the right angle achieves a sharp edge which can last sufficiently long. Finding the right balance between edge sharpness and blade longevity is tricky, though; 2 main parameters contribute to it: the toughness and hardness of the metal, and…