SHAPE: Santoku. Named after the three best things to do with this knife - slicing, dicing and mincing. It is the classic veg prep knife with both good breadth and width.

STEEL: SLD. This modern steel is made by Hitachi and has excellent wear resistance. It has around 1.5% carbon meaning it can be hardened to well over 60 Rockwell. There is also 11-13% chromium meaning it can almost be classed as stainless steel which generally has a minimum of 13% chromium. All in all a rather nice steel. It is very similar to SKD11 and D2 steel. Due to the non stainless nature of this steel care must be taken to dry the knives properly after use.

FINISH: 

Kurouchi. This is a traditional, rustic finish achieved by leaving the furnace scale from the forging process on the blade rather than polishing it off. It has the advantage of reducing the reactivity of the surface of the knife and gives the blade a stylish, matt black finish.

Nashiji or pear skin finish. This matt and mottled finish helps with food release and looks very rustic.

HANDLE: D shaped Wenge handle with a pakkawood ferrule. Theoretically this is a right handers handle but I know loads of people who happily use them left handed. 

BLADE LENGTH: 165mm.

MAKER: Ohishi - Niigata, Japan

SAUNDERS SAYS: "The fit and finish on these knives is phenomenal and they are fun to sharpen if you find sharpening fun."

These knives are hand-forged so there may be slight variations in measurements and finishes.