Bunka knife, V-Toku Carbon Steel, Stainless Steel clad, Coloured Damascus 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: This is a Hakata knife - a style of bunka from Kyushu. Key characteristics are the blade height and the angled k tip. STEEL: V-Toku steel. This is Takefu Special Steel's version of the very popular Aogami 2. Due to the non stainless nature of this steel care must be taken to dry the knives properly after use. It is worth noting that this knife has been clad in stainless steel meaning only the exposed core edge will discolour making maintenance a lot easier. FINISH: Damascus or suminagashi. This type of finish is made by creating a Kitaeji; which is produced by repeatedly folding/stacking then compressing two different steels until they create a laminated pattern. This can then be manipulated in various ways to produce the maker’s desired pattern effect. This material is then clad around the core metal of the blade as an elaborate protective layer for the core steel, thus giving the knife a beautiful and striking appearance. In the case of this knife, the Damascus cladding has both copper and brass in it giving it the beautiful colour. HANDLE: Octagonal Ebony handle with contrasting wood spacer. BLADE LENGTH: 165mm. MAKER: Mutsumi Hinoura - Sanjo, Japan