Tesshu Chef Knife Gyuto SG2 custom handle series

http://www.aframestokyo.com/tesshu-chef-knife-210mm-sg2-steel-snake-wood-handle-g2102.html
http://www.aframestokyo.com/tesshu-chef-knife-210mm-sg2-pink-ivory-handle-g2102.html

We recently received SG2 petty knife, santoku, 210mm chef knife, and 240mm chef knife.
They are western style handle with metal bolster.

They do not comes with wooden portion, so I have to make it and finish it (lots of works), but I can pick the materials and install it, so we can make custom handles.

We have also core blue II steel cladding blades with petty knife, santoku, and 210mm chef knife.

Matagi Nagasa Making

I found this video clip from youtube Mr. Nishine is very skillful blacksmith. Especially please look at how he makes the handle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Bc7miMT48

Meat slicing knives that probably we will never get them again.

They are probably 240mm blade and 300mm blade (sorry I have not measured them yet).
They were made as steak knife (slicing meat and tap on the bump on the spine to make the meat softer.
One of the knife was placed the order decades ago to the cutlery store in Japan, so the owner of the store had placed the order a couple of more pieces in case of the chef might place the order another.

The knife looks like weapon, so the owner of the store scares to sell it in Japan. It might be indicted by law in Japan, so I am so lucky to get them.

It was made skillful blacksmith who made it from the single piece steel from the blade, and the hilt, and tang. No welding the bolster.  Classic style.  I was told it was water quench blade.  The handle looks like Makassar ebony. The owner of the store told me that they are very expensive at the time.

The blacksmith is gone, so we cannot place the order again.

I will be Hawaii Great Gun Show

I will have a booth at Hawaii Historic Arms Association Great Gun Show on March 18 and March 19

I have lots of used cooking knives (over 50 pieces), so I will sharpen them and bring them there to sell, and more items.

Lots of gun collectors and knife collectors will be there for people those who are interested in those things. It should be very fun show to talk to them.

Yoshihide left &right hand kiridashi w/ Hawaiian koa handle & shealth

The steel is used the same as Shigefusa Swedish steel (Sandvik carbon steel, probably around 1.5% carbon content).
Hawaiian Koa wooden handle & sheath.
In cooking knife world, they are just left hand right hand knives, but in woodworking world, we need the both of them does not matter right hand person or left hand person.

If we are right hand person with the right hand kiridashi, and trying to scrape the wood, the blade edge bites deeper and deeper unless we change into the angle to be outer side of the wood.

However, if we are right hand person and using left hand kiridashi, it is easier to shallower scraping.

Therefore, we need the both the left hand & right hand kiridashi, if we have detail wood work.

Tesshu Chinese Cleaver white II steel & VG10 steel

I have got Tesshu Chinese Cleaver white II steel blades and VG10 steel.

It comes out Japanese style nakago type tangs, and Chinese cleaver is heavy blade, so it is normally used western style handle.

I guess I have to make it with hidden tang with pin to hold the tang or making the center hole all the way to the end, and bent the end of the tang on the grip end.

Slicing finger nail

I was doing very thin slice of green onion, and my finger nail was sliced off instead of the green onion.
I was very lucky, and the small portion of the finger nail is totally came off, and it is kind of soar, but no blood came out.

I usually do not sharpen too much, but this yanagiba is often used as natural medium grit and fine grit stone try-out exams, so it was very sharp.

I have experienced cutting my finger tips very deeply like almost cutting through 1/4 or 1/3 of fingers several times, and every times, I felt I do not want to work this job (cook) anymore, and I also thank God to give us finger nails. If we do not have finger nails, it is much easier to reach the finger bone or cut it off.

I have never seen someone lost the finger during the jobs, but I have heard many sushi chefs lost fingers, and they left their jobs, because sushi chef does not have a finger making sushi in front of customers making scare the customers. It sounds joking, but it is serious story.

The most of people cut off fingers have done with cutting frozen ingredients.

It is slippery and hard, so we should leave a half day or over night in refrigerator or if we do not have time, use running water or micro oven to be at least making it little softer.

It is good thing to put on clean towel between cutting board and the frozen ingredient to prevent the slip.

One of my boss used to always tell me "do not sharpen the knife all the time".

"Try to cut the ingredient by guts or fighting spirit"

He had sharpened his honyaki yanagiba once 2 or 3 months.
It is hard to understand, but if I translate it, we should cut it by technique and concentration, etc.  If we sharpen it, we have to sharpen really good.

Once we cut finger deeply with very sharp blade, it is hard to stop the breeding for at least a half an hour, so we cannot stand in front of the customers until stop it.

Especially, really busy time, over control the orders, it is happened.
In that situation, it is mentally screwed up before cutting fingers.

It is going to be very big trouble after cut the finger, so I think that at sushi bar, we need the sashimi knife that is sharp, but not cut into the finger by light touch or hit.

When I had worked sushi restaurant in Ikebukuro, Tokyo about over 20 years ago, there are so many sushi chefs work in the sushi restaurant, because the restaurants had several different locations.

One of sushi chef probably age 60 years old or older is very popular sushi chef among customers, but his yanagiba is stainless steel cheap Yanagiba, and it was very dull edge, but he is very charming and very fun to talk with him, so he was popular, but young chefs laughed at his knife.

He did not care for how dull the knife, and he sliced the fish with the dull knife more like slicing as sharp edge knife.

Recently, I worry about many people or retailers showing how sharp the blade edge to slicing tomato or round onion as sharpened extremely sharp edge, but even $20 cheap knife can make very sharp.
More important thing is how long it lasts, and how easy to sharpen.

 Be careful your fingers during using sharp edge knife!

Yes, I will so.

Thank you.