Yamawaki W#1 - Yanagi Kiritsuke 360 mm - Honyaki Mirror polish

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 edge, 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 edge gives a unique cutting experience that is very different from other knives.

Blacksmith Yoshikazu Ikeda (池田 美和) began forging knives in 1967 as an apprentice to his father Kameo Ikeda (池田 亀夫), 2nd generation blacksmith from Yoshikazu Tanrenjo. While his older brother Tatsuo Ikeda (池田 辰男) took over their father's workshop and became a 3rd generation blacksmith, Yoshikazu Ikeda founded his own workshop Ikeda Tanrenjo (池田鍛錬所) in 1983. He once joked that his hands were clumsy and clumsy. he didn't want to get bored doing the same thing over and over again. As a result, he focused on mastering his skills in forging and craftsmanship for decades, winning many awards in Japan.

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

There are no scratches on the blade, it is lacquer that protects it from rust.

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.