These are easily some of the most beautiful knives we have at the shop. Made by Master Blacksmith Yu Kurosaki who works out of a newly constructed shop just steps from the Takefu knife village community centre. He began his blacksmith journey in 2002 at Kanehiro and now only 17 short years later he has been awarded his Master Blacksmith designation by the Echizen Blacksmith Foundation. His knives represent the future of Blacksmithing in Japan as he focuses on traditional technique while using innovative and progressive design's and finishes that have garnered the attention of many chef's around the globe. Simply put his knives are stunning to look at and dare we say perform even better than they look.
Takefu Knife Village
The Takefu Knife Villageis a cooperative workshop in the Echizen region of Japan. It is the home to a long list of blacksmiths that we work with and many young and upcoming apprentices learning the trade. The area has a 700 year long history of smithing with roots in agricultural tools turned cutlery powerhouse.
The Knives
This is a new line from Yu Kurosaki utilizing the roll forge technique which cuts down the cost, but you still get the great steel (R2/SG2), thin grind, and fit and finish of the Shizuku line. These fall into the laser category and while are more delicate than some other knives have a buttery smooth cutting feel due to the thinness behind the edge from the high bevel grinds. R2 is a powdered steel so it has a very fine and consistent grain structure and is one of our favorite stainless steels in the shop. Not only will it sharpen deceivingly fast for a stainless but the fine grain structure means it will benefit from being brought to a higher grit much like carbon steels.
The gyuto is the Japanese equivalent of the western chef's knife. The gyuto differs from the chef's knife as they usually have a much flatter profile that while can still be used in a rocking motion, excels in a push cut or chopping motion. Designed to be an all purpose knife that can slice, dice, chop, and rock there isn't a task in the kitchen a 210mm (8 inch) gyuto cant handle and its the first shape we recommend people add to their collection
The petty knife is great for all the little random tasks you come across in your day to day life in the kitchen. If you're a professional looking for something compact and nimble you can use on the line during service, perform various butchery tasks and small vegetable prep this is a great option. Likewise if you're a home cook these make great knives to leave out on the counter during the day to help with small breakfast and lunch tasks like cutting up fruit, maybe slicing a tomato and cutting a sandwich in half, before getting the Chef's knife out for larger dinner prep. These are great little knives that are an essential for both home cooks and professionals.
