11.5″ Shiro #148 Blue/Damascus Yanagiba

$598

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SKU: K@S148YANA292X229 Categories: ,

Description

STYLE: Shiro, Right-handed Yanagiba Kitchen Knife
STEEL: Hitachi Blue Steel core laminated with Multi-layer Damascus Steel in a Hongasumi construction
FINISH: Mirror Polish
HANDLE: Ho Wood with Water Buffalo Horn Ferrule
LINER: Custom Wood Inlay
BLADE LENGTH: 11.5″ (292 mm, 9.64 sun)
WEIGHT: 8.08 oz (229 g)
BLADE WIDTH: 1.38″ (35 mm)
BLADE THICKNESS: *0.156″ (3.95 mm)

ABOUT: Carter Cutlery “Shiro” brand knives by Kenichi Shiraki

I was introduced to Kenichi Shiraki in 1993 by a vendor who traveled all over Japan selling steel. I was just an apprentice smith at that time and hungry to learn all I could about Japanese traditional cutlery. I asked the vendor candidly who he thought was the very finest bladesmith in the country, and he told me about Mr. Shiraki.

Although I have made close to one hundred kata-ha blades in Shiraki’s style, I have realized that it takes thousands to master what is the uncontested world’s most complex blade to make properly. Compared to my hundred blades, Mr. Shiraki has made more than 700,000 kata-ha blades. (50 years X 60 blades/day. In his prime, he could forge over 250 blades per day, so this estimate is very conservative). Kenichi Shiraki has made every possible shape, form and size in this style of blade-forging. To date, he is the only bladesmith in Japan that can successfully complete any quantity of Hitachi White Steel #1 Honyaki blades at will. There is no more difficult blade in the world metallurgically.

Kasumi means “mist” which refers to the hazy contrast between the soft iron body of the blade and the glossy appearance of the carbon steel. Craftsmen forge kasumi knives by joining a piece of gokunan-tetsu (soft iron) with a piece of carbon steel. After forging, hammering, and shaping, the result is a body and spine of the blade composed of soft iron and hard carbon steel along the edge. This construction style makes sharpening and maintenance easier. Kasumi knives are much easier to sharpen than honyaki knives, but honyaki knives cut some fatty foods better such as tuna belly and pork fat.

*NOTE: Becasue all Shrio blades have a forged distal taper (thicker in the middle, more thin towards the tip), the blade thickness given is dependent on what part of the blade is measured. On Shiro knives, the blade thickness is measured above the carved blade markings.

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Weight 0.5 lbs
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