The Santoku is the most popular knife in the Japanese home and considered to be an all rounder in the kitchen. The meaning of Santoku is the “three virtues” in Japanese and is a reference to its multi purpose and versatility. It can be used to prepare fish, chicken and most fruits and vegetables but is too small for large food items like watermelons and bigger cuts of meat. The Santoku is great as an alternative if you have a larger chef’s knife as most Santokus come in at around 165mm to 180mm its easy to handle and has a snubbed nose to it.

Shirogami #2, or White Steel #2, is one of the most common types of high-carbon knife steels, particularly when forging handcrafted traditional Japanese kitchen knives. While the composition of Shirogami #2 (White Steel #2) is virtually the same as Shirogami #1, the carbon content is slightly less (1.0-1.2% carbon). This allows the knife to be less prone to chipping and is generally preferred by most chefs, given the option of White Steel knives. It is also easier to sharpen than Shirogami #1. Both White Steel #1 and White Steel #2 allow Japanese chefs to make very fine, particular cuts of fish, vegetables, and garnish.

Honyaki is another answer to the deformation of a knife that can occur over time. Instead of forge-welding different hardness of steels, it is forged by a single piece of steel. Instead of hardening it the same way throughout the entire area of the blade, (which would make it so fragile that it would break in half if dropped on a hard surface) they use a technique called differential heat quenching to give it different hardnesses throughout the blade.

The blacksmith prepares the blade before quenching by coating it in clay. A thin layer of clay is applied to the bottom of the blade along the edge. A very thick layer of clay is applied to the spine. By doing this, the spine will not get as hot and not cool down as fast when quenched in water so it does not harden at the same rate as the edge side. This extreme differential heat treatment can only be done in those steel that has low quenchability. It is true that some Honyaki knives are made with blue carbon steel or even stainless steel, but real, true Honyaki is usually made with white #1 or #2 and water quenched.

Weight: 242g

Handle Material: Polished twilight bronzite acrylic handle 

Handle Length: 116mm (4.5")

Blade Length: 184mm (7.2")

Blade Depth: 47mm

Thickness at spine: 2.2mm

Thickness at tip: 0.4mm

Cutting Edge: Double 50/50

Blade Material: Shirogami #2 (White #2)

Hardness (Rockwell scale): 63 - 64