The Sakai Takayuki Aogami Super Kurouchi Hammered range has 3 layers of hammered stainless warikomi damascus steel with a kurouchi finish. A classic Japanese WA handle made from Zelkova (Japanese elm), big enough for Western hands and ideal for its weight. The blade has been rounded at the choil, close to the ferrule, this enhances the comfort while using the knife for a longer period.

The blade is made up of 2 layers of softer stainless steel on the outside of the blade, combined with a core of aogami super steel. The outer layer is hammered (Tsuchime) and ensures less contact with the product during cutting.

Kurouchi is not a type of knife but rather a traditional, rustic finish. Kurouchi roughly translates as blacksmith’s finish. Kurouchi knives retain the scaly residue left from the forging process. The finish reduces reactivity on carbon steel knives, lowers the cost of production, and gives the knife a very characterful, rustic look prized by many knife enthusiasts.

This traditional steel is not named after its colour, but named after the colour of its paper wrapping, in which it is stored in the Hitachi steel factory in Japan. Aogami super has added extra tungsten. Aogami super is sharp and tough. Blue steels are mostly seen in deba or usuba knives, white steels often in yanagibas. Aogami super is regarded as one of the best traditional steels by Japanese knifemakers, but difficult to work with. Blue steels are difficult to sharpen on a whetstone, but they remain sharp for a longer period, compared to white steels.

• Santoku Knife
• 165mm
• 3 Layers Hammered
• Aogami blue super
• Japanese WA Handle Zelkova with Spanish mahogany
• For left- and right handed use