Japanese Bladesmiths

fx

Mon, 21 Mar 2016 14:57:52 GMT

Thanks Mike, this is praise from Caesar.

fx

Sat, 19 Mar 2016 18:44:46 GMT

Gracias Daniel!

Daniel Rico

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:11:00 GMT

Alucinante mismo mi estimado Francois. En otro e-mail me presentar� y te contar� mi gusto y pasi�n gourmand. En este e-mail simplemente decirte que soy pasional de la cuchiller�a pero me sent� maravillado mismo de tu art�culo, lo cuidado del relato, todo en si.
Muchas gracias por compartir esto con nosotros.
Soy de Montevideo Uruguay, ya te contar� como te dije antes de mi gusto y pasi�n por la cocina.
Gracias

Mike @ Best Knife Set

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 07:31:51 GMT

I"ve often wondered why the high-end Japanese knives cost so much. Now I know...It"s a long, arduous process making such a fine blade. Seeing how they"re crafted has given me the desire to purchase another one. Thanks for the great article.

ken youngmann

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:22:52 GMT

A weel written and fascinating article. As a woodworking hobbbiest, most articles about making knives and chisels fascinates me. Thanks for publishing it.

Sebastian Egger

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:28:00 GMT

Wonderful Article, thanks a lot!
Heading to Japan in June and looking forward to stroll around in Sakai :)

One question: Is there a reason why you do not write anymore articles? It"s really a pity as they are super informative and also the pictures are wonderful to watch :)

Amelia Gordon Byers

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:30:45 GMT

I was in Sakai City, at the Edged Tool Museum - Homono, on 7 Jan 2011. They sell knives there. Sakai is an easy journey from central Osaka. BUT - for the last 12 years while I"ve been lucky enough to travel to Japan for work on a regular basis, I"ve been haunting the flea markets for used knives. Have made some great purchases of knives that "already know how to slice." I love the sense of history that comes from things passed down by others - especially skilled grandmothers. Although I have rarely met the previous owners of my "new" knives, I know that they have had their day in the kitchen. Under the careful ministrations of my husband who sharpens and tends them, they have brought me to a new level of joy in chopping (yes, I already liked to cook.) And they make spectacular gifts for friends who have spent time in our kitchen. And perfect souvenirs. Something I use everyday that reminds me of my travels and the good fortune I have enjoyed. And I love knowing that my knives may have been rescued from the landfill. What a travesty for a Sakai knife to end up unused in the bottom of a drawer, or in a box of discarded stuff on the way to the dump. Well cared for, a good Japanese knife will last for many generations. Thanks for a great article!!

fx

Sun, 12 Dec 2010 22:19:35 GMT

In Kyoto you can go to Aritsugu in Nishiki Market, they are authentic enough!

Paul Tweeddale

Mon, 6 Dec 2010 17:03:15 GMT

great article mate,

Am heading over to Osaka in a week or so and wondered if there were any places in Sakai where one can pick up a knife that"s been made on-site or if all knives are reserved for large shipments?

Also have been reading about Japanese knifes and others claim that Seki is the knife-making capital of Japan. If I"m looking for a truly authentic Japanese which city should I opt for?

cheers

Chris

Sat, 9 Oct 2010 14:30:19 GMT

Dear FX,
as a new fan of your blog, who also travels a lot and brings
home new cooking ideas then and again, I have to applaud
the way you manage to transcribe your experiences into this
projetc with it"s stunning pictorials and videos. Well done!

To add something to this particular article, I would like to recommend www.japanesechefsknife.com and www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de. The first is a mail order in Seki, Japan, with a tremendous choice of knives from amateur level to $3000.00 blades. They are specialized in foreign customers. The value for money is very good, including a shipping flatrate of $ 7.00. The latter is a German mail-order for fine tools and knives, who also carry a lot of materials, in case you want to make your own knife. Blades, antlers etc. (click on the little union jack, if your German is a little rusty...)
I"m not employed or related to those firms, in case you wonder... I deal with a lot of artisans professionally, but more in the shoe and clothing world, than in the kitchen.
Goodbye, I have to sample my 300 min eggs now�
Chris

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:42:50 GMT

Sorry, I don"t have his details and was walked to his shop.

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:41:19 GMT

I don"t know his address, even the gentleman who took me to him had a hard time finding the house and he lives in town!

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:31:13 GMT

Yes it is very correct, blades are assymetrical. But let"s face it, who will use these knives correctly?

fx

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:34:32 GMT

Tanks Joel, indeed it is not possible to visit these artisans (you have seen the tiny premises they work from!) so I"m really glad to have been able to give you a good, hard glimpse at their life and work!

Joel

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:15:44 GMT

your article was fascinating and educational indeed..i"m an avid traveler, hardly a cook, but having visited Japan a few times in my life for vacation, i wished to have observed these master artisans at work.. thanks for enlightening us all... J

jack malin

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 10:18:06 GMT

is it correct that when you buy an aritsugu wrought iron knife as a gift you must know if your friend is left handed or right handed,,is this correct??? i enjoyed your article and the photos are great... thank you jack malin

Anita

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:27:45 GMT

can you provide me the address of Master Kouhei in Sakai?

Richard Furrer

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:20:23 GMT

Hi FX,
I just saw the article and like it very much.
I would like to get some handles from TATSUMI MASARU.
How can I contact him?

Richard

Liberto

Sat, 29 May 2010 08:13:20 GMT

Ayer conoc� casualmente esta p�gina. Como cocinillas que soy, estoy absolutamente encantado. Un saludo desde Berna.

fx

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:08:35 GMT

No, these are other knives. If in doubt just look at the price, they cost about 500$ a blade.

Malissa

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:19:08 GMT

Hi FX, Is this called a Haiku Damascus, the damascus Japanese knife series from Chroma? I found a site that caries chroma haiku knife but wasn"t sure if it is "Haiku Damascus"? Would you know?
Thanks so much,
Malissa

fx

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:37:58 GMT

Thanks! If I ever do a video piece on this I"ll contact you for more information.

Steel metallurgy

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:16:47 GMT

Things are even more complex, because by means of differential heat treatment techniques artisans can obtain different degrees of hardness, in the same piece of steel, without modifying the amount of carbon.

About the metallurgy of steel...

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:48:06 GMT

This is a very interesting article. I enjoyed it a lot.
I think that there is a small imprecision regarding the amount of carbon of the steel used to conform the edge and the core of the blade.
The ferrite in the center of the knife should probably contain LESS carbon than the edge. In a quenched steel you get martensite, and the amount of carbon is directly related to the obtained hardness. If the steel is not quenched but cooled slowly, you will get ferrite (which is softer). Basically there are two ways of obtaining different hardness levels:
-modifying the composition of the steel (i.e. the amount of carbon or chromium, in a stainless steel, which is not the case here)
-modifying the velocity of cooling.
In a blade, the edge should be hard. Unfortunately, if a piece of steel is very hard, it will probably be brittle, hence the necessity of a tenacious and relatively soft core.
So, having less carbon in the core makes more sense, considering the metallurgy of steel, than the other way around. Having less carbon will make for a softer (but more tenacious) core given the same cooling rate.

fx

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:09:08 GMT

Yes I suspected that, but it does not do much for the landscape...

wdf

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:20:53 GMT

I lived in tokyo and osaka for 5 yrs. The reason i got for all the wires not being buried, is because of all the earthquakes...

Pam

Sat, 5 Dec 2009 18:37:06 GMT

GREAT article. Thank you very much.

Patrick Pappano

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:58:18 GMT

Gangbusters. The article on Japanese knife making is ineffable.

pixen

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:22:09 GMT

I"m sending this link to my friend who"s loves quality knives...and samurai sword too! Thank you for sharing such interesting adventures of Japan. I wished I was there :-D I"m looking forward to travel to Japan soon.

fx

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:17:13 GMT

Chris, thanks a lot for these most learned and useful comments! How come you know so much about Japanese knives?

chris

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:34:13 GMT

Lovely pictures -- you got a wonderful opportunity to really see what"s going on in Sakai.

A few small corrections to some things, mostly from the comments section:

1. A knife certainly can be made from entirely hard steel, but it is difficult, expensive, and liable to breakage in the forging. Such knives are called "honyaki" knives, as opposed to the "kasumi" knife you saw made. They cost a fortune: you think that kasumi knife is expensive, you have no idea!

2. The knife you purchased, pictured in the other article, is a vegetable knife, an usuba made in the Tokyo style. It is not well designed to cut flesh, nor intended for that purpose.

3. Some of these knives are designed to cut bone, especially fish bones. The most common, the deba, shears through fish bones and heads like nobody"s business. But the knife you have purchased -- the usuba in the picture at least -- will chip badly if you try it: it"s not designed that way at all.

4. Oil is not necessary unless you are storing your knife for some weeks. Lay it flat and scour the face with a very mildly abrasive nylon pad, such as a ScotchBrite pad, with a little plain dish soap. Turn the knife over and tilt it so the bevel of the blade is flat, then scour the other side. Scour the handle if it seems like it might need it. Rinse very well in hot water. Dry (carefully!) with a clean, dry terrycloth towel. Now place the knife in a clean, dry place, out of the way of people, for about half an hour -- perhaps longer in a very humid climate. This allows the blade to dry completely. At this point you can store your knife -- edge upwards if at all possible -- in a block or other safe storage device. Rust should not happen if you treat your knives this way.

5. Last, a perhaps minor point. The back of the knife is not flat: it is ground slightly concave on that giant wheel. If you look at the back of your knife, you will see a shiny outline all the way around, and the main middle of the blade will reflect light differently. This is the concave section. When you sharpen the knife, after grinding the main bevel to bring the edge up, you turn the knife and place it flat on its back and grind very briefly to remove the used metal. If the back were truly flat, it would scratch the whole thing every time. Beyond this, the slight concavity acts like the dimples or grantons on some slicing knives in the West: things don"t stick because the knife is concave.

Thanks again for a lovely article and fine pictures!

gourmet

Fri, 29 May 2009 00:22:26 GMT

Dude, i love your Articles. Very nice. I was also in Japan for some month, how can you met so many nice people, very nice indeed!
Greets from Cologne

Constance Condit

Wed, 27 May 2009 05:41:01 GMT

Great article! So I was interested in pricing the knives. But, your article in English on Japanese knives referred me to a German company. Their website is only in German, no English section. Any way to purchase knives when you can"t read German?

joel

Fri, 22 May 2009 16:44:54 GMT

Wonderful sequence of pictures. One comment. You are calling the horn ring a "Bolster" In the west we would call it a Ferrule. The Bolster in Western tool terminology is a flange that is part of the tool itself which is seated against the handle. A ferrule is a ring on the handle that keeps the handle from splitting. I am wondering if there terms are different in Japanese or in Knifemaking.

fx

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:17:45 GMT

Well Liudas good luck on this long road!

Liudas

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:04:05 GMT

i"m one off those hoo will pick up on bladesmith masterys starting tula finishing japan adn finding my one way to make a perfect as posible knife ore sword ore axe and sites like this helps me to aunderstand hou all this worcks
sory for gramar english is only secoud language.

fx

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:51:00 GMT

Thanks Rasmus, more articles are on the way!

fx

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:46:34 GMT

Ben, I was sure the Japanese had some good reason to keep the wires above their heads, and it could not be aesthetics!

fx

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:37:27 GMT

Geoff, I"m glad you liked the engraved blade picture, it took me many trials to get it and I wasn"t so happy in the end. Not sure about what it says exactly on the blade though! Yes I think it takes perhaps half a day of combined efforts from all 3 professions to make one knife.

fx

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:26:23 GMT

Now when I use my Japanese knife, I see the face of the men who made it. Very pleasing sentiment in the times we are living!

fx

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:24:37 GMT

Yes indeed!

fx

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:37:15 GMT

Thank you Jaden, I hope your kitchen keeps steamy in 2009 and wish you all the best!

fx

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:36:02 GMT

Tim, sorry for the late reply! Yes they also do swords but knives are sharp and expensive enough for me. Hope you get to visit this place!

fx

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:21:10 GMT

Thanks!

fx

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:57:29 GMT

Mami, I really started using my Japanese knives a lot more, they are sooooo sharp, and works of art!

Mami

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:24:08 GMT

This is a very interesting article for me as a Japanese. I"ve been a secret fan of FX cuisine for quite sometime but today"s is the first time I posted some comments.

I first found that Japanese knives are popular among chefs when Kitchen Confidential first came out. It was almost like a proud moment in my life :)

I love cooking and eating and I can"t live without my razor sharp knives. A set of Japaness knives has become my standard wedding gift to my UK friends - and they all seem to love them :)

Rasmus

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:01:22 GMT

Another fine article from your hand. Always a pleasure to see what you will cover next.
Thank you.
R

Ben

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:55:32 GMT

Hi FX

Great article and interesting, although I should point out that the Japanese keep the wires above ground rather than buried because that way its easier to replace/reconnect in the aftermath of an earthquake which they are prone to!

barbara

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 03:46:29 GMT

oh I said knife-sharpener, I meant knife-grinder - he also did tools such as axes to give them a sharp edge.

barbara

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 01:26:45 GMT

Engrossing article, the whole process very well photographed and described, it"s almost as if I was there, too.
I remember when I was small (in England), a knife-sharpener used to come round the streets once in a while, and all the housewives would gather up their knives and scissors to get them honed.