Yamawaki Sakimaru - Takohiki White#1 Honyaki - 300mm

This knife is made in honyaki construction, which means it is a piece of steel, in this case Shirogami 1, which has been differentially hardened. You do this by putting clay on the back of the knife before hardening the knife. The clay causes the back of the knife to cool down more slowly, so that it becomes soft in the back and gives stability to the knife. The egg, where there is no clay on it, cools down faster and therefore becomes harder in the steel. This process also creates a lot of stress in the steel during hardening, which causes many honyakis to break during production. For this reason, honyakis cost significantly more than normal 3 ply knives. The combination of the softer back and hard eggs gives a unique cutting experience that is very different from other knives.

Blacksmith: Genkai Masakuni

In this case, the hamon (hardening line from the clay) is shaped like Mt. Fuji, and full moon.

The knife must never be washed in a dishwasher, must not cut into hard objects such as bones, cartilage, bones and frozen objects as well as hard cheeses. Remember that it is a property of thin, hard metal that it can break.