What are the advantages of a hand-forged knife?

Hand-forged knives have the potential to exhibit better metallurgy than their non-forged counterparts. Specifically by better metallurgy, we mean the steel has a more refined and consistent grain structure throughout the blade which will result in sharper, longer lasting edges that are easier to sharpen. The way to achieve optimal grain structure in Hitachi blade steel is to hammer it hundreds of times at progressively lower forging temperatures under the careful attention of an experienced bladesmith.

Watch this video for an in depth look at Murray’s thoughts on metallurgy.