Nigara Hamono has a reputation for the absolute highest quality and the level of expertise and skill these craftsmen posses is not often found. The company is led by the master blacksmith by the name of Tsuyoshi Yoshizawa and every knife they make is forged by hand with the utmost care and attention to detail and quality. This combined, helps create knives made to last for years to come. Hand-crafted using SG2/R2 powder stainless steel and with perfectly crafted custom wood handles the fit and finish of Nigara knives are second to none.

The Sujihiki is a double edged 50/50 bevel knife with a pointed needle type tip it is mostly used as a slicer of meats and with a length from 210mm to 360mm it is perfect for larger cuts and joints of meat. I have used mine for cutting beef rumps, smoked salmon sides and cooked bone in rib eyes its a very versatile knife and is a must for any chef’s knife case.

The Kiritsuke is a great replacement for a gyuto/chef’s knife and has become very popular in the past few years as the drop tip tappers down to a very thin scalpel and is an aggressive work horse. They generally come in a few sizes ranging from 210mm to 240mm. Traditionally a kiritsuke is a single-beveled and combined with the rustic geometry, makes the kiritsuke look like an epic kitchen sword. This is used for slicing up large cuts of meat and fish it will give you a clean cut finish.

SG2 (R2) is a high speed powder stainless steel made by Takefu special steel Co Ltd. For some knife makers, this is an ideal steel for knife making as it has a great hardiness of greater than 63HR. This steel has great edge retention, high wear resistance and is stainless. The grains are so fine and uniform that the hammer forging is not necessary. The black colour of the kurouchi finish is burned steel, which gives it a matt black finish and is very distinctive. The kurouchi finish can change over time as the black layer will wear away. The word tsuchime means “hammered” and that’s how this finish is achieved. After the blade has been forged, it will go through a second hammering process with something like a ball-peen hammer to give the distinctive round dimples.