Kiritsuke knife, Aogami Super with stainless steel cladding, Kurouchi Tsuchime finish - Mutsumi Hinoura

A fantastic knife from Mutsumi Hinoura, a prominent blacksmith from the Sanjo area. The demand for his kitchen knives is very high and they are incredibly hard to get hold of. Luckily, we got to meet him on one of our trips years ago and have stocked his work since. His knives never struggle to take a keen edge. He has recently branched out and started his own forge, Tsuchinone.

SHAPE: Kiritsuke gyuto. This is basically a Gyuto with a funky drop tip on it. Sometimes they can have a flatter profile more suited to slicing but generally they are very similar to Gyutos.

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 stainless steel making maintenance easy.

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.

Tsuchime. This is a hand hammered finish that is not only beautiful but also functional. The small depressions stop food sticking to the knife. This finishes comes in many different forms from the traditional round hammer marks to more modern patterns.

HANDLE: Octagonal Ebony Handle and Black Pakkawood Ferrule

BLADE LENGTH: 210mm

MAKER: Mutsumi Hinoura  - Sanjo, Japan

SAUNDERS SAYS: "it has to be pound for pound one of the best knives going at the moment. A blade to treasure forever.”