Santoku knife, VG10 Stainless steel, tsuchime finish - Yu Kurosaki

Yu Kurosaki is a young blacksmith based in Takefu, Echizen. He started his blacksmithing career in 2002 apprenticing under Hiroshi Kato the then owner of Kanehiro. In 2018 he was given the award of Traditional Japanese Craftsman, a very high accolade. We are very proud to sell his knives and think he is a real one to watch in the future.

SHAPE: Santoku. Named after the three best things to do with this knife - slicing, dicing and mincing. It is the classic veg prep knife with both good breadth and width.

STEEL: VG10. A premium high carbon Japanese stainless steel capable of impressive hardness. This is the premier product in the V Gold series made by Takefu steel.

FINISH: Kurosaki’s unique scratch pattern finish is named after the Japanese wind gods (Fuji’s).
Damascus or Suminigashi. This type of finish is made by repeatedly folding two different steels until they create the twisted and folded pattern. Generally speaking this is then used as a cladding so doesn’t affect the knife physically except for the looks.

Tsuchime. This is a hand hammered finish that is not only beautiful but also functional. The small depressions stop food sticking to the knife. This finish comes in many different forms from the traditional round hammer marks to more modern patterns.

HANDLE: Octagonal oak handle with hard maple ferule and turquoise spacer

LENGTH: 165mm in length.

MAKER: Yu Kurosaki - Takefu, Japan.

BEST FOR: Those looking for a range of knives that is as functional as it is beautiful.

SAUNDERS SAYS: “It's getting rarer and rarer to see VG10 steel knives hand forged. These knives are an excellent representation of what this steel is capable of"