Nishida-san is one of Japan’s up and coming blacksmiths. He has been blacksmithing for 12 years and started making hunting knives. Unusually for Japan, he undertakes all of the knife making processes himself including forge welding the steel together to make a layered blade.

SHAPE: Gyuto. Japan's answer to the chef's knife with a thinner profile. 

STEEL: Aogami (blue paper) super steel. This is very similar to white paper steel but with tungsten and chromium added to it which helps with edge retention and slows down rusting. The super part indicates the highest amount of carbon steel - at up to 1.5% - out of the blue series steels. This has then been hardened to 63-64 rockwell making it very hard and capable of retaining an edge for a very long time. The blue steel core has then been wrapped in soft iron which needs to be dried after use to prevent rusting. 

FINISH: Kurouchi

HANDLE: Oval Cherry wood handle with a plastic ferrule.

LENGTH: 210mm in length.

MAKER: Daisuke Nishida - Minamiseki, Japan

BEST FOR: Those wanting medium to heavy weight knives that are very traditionally forged

SAUNDERS SAYS: "These knives are really beautiful and, at only 35 years old, I think Nishida-san is someone to watch in the future."

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