There's a new range in town! The Asagiri Kiritsuke range was released by Sakai Kikumori in 2021.
Forged by Yoshikazu Tanaka, one of the most respected and sought after blacksmiths in Japan. The Asagi line is an exceptional range of knives, capable of taking and holding a great edge. They are made with a core of White Carbon #2 steel and clad with a cloudy migaki finished stainless steel, something you don't see very often with Tanakasan's work.
The Kiritsuke tip lends itself to very intricate work like slicing garlic, ginger, onions etc or delicately cutting fat from meats while the main body of the blade takes care of the bigger work, like chopping root veg or julienning for a stir fry.
In the highly specialised world of Japanese gastronomy, where many knives have evolved to suit a specific purpose, the Santoku is wonderful all rounder. A general purpose knife known for it’s “ 3 virtues”, whether this is slicing, dicing and chopping or meat, fish and veg it’s definitely a great all round companion for the kitchen.
Finished to an excellent standard they would make a great choice for keen home cooks or professionals working within the industry.
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Specifications - Asagiri Santoku
- Blade shape - Santoku
- Maker - Sakai Kikumori
- Blacksmith - Yoshikazu Tanaka
- Blade construction - Stainless clad san mai
- Steel - White #2 carbon steel (Shirogami)
- Handle - Lacquered oak
- Total length - 320mm
- Blade length - 170mm
- Blade height at heel - 50mm
- Weight - 170g
- HRC -
- Blade Finish - Migaki
- Edge grind - 50/50
- Thickness behind the edge - 0.31mm
- Thickness of spine at heel - 2.6mm
Sakai, in the Osaka region of Japan has been a thriving hub for Japanese blade making for over 600 years. Sakai Kikumori, itself approaching 100 years in business, continue to work with some of the areas most skilled craftspeople to produce a broad range of cutlery.
These knives are clad in stainless steel, so are largely stain resistant but, the core is carbon steel and still reactive, so....
A note on carbon steel – Like many others we at Community Cutlery favour carbon over stainless steel for its ability to take a keener edge and hold it for longer, for this privilege we need to care for our carbon products with a little more consideration, particularly when it comes to washing. Once you’ve finished with your knife we recommend giving it a quick wash and a thorough dry, as if left wet it will start to rust, surprisingly quickly. If this does happen then take a dry scourer and lightly give it a rub, another rinse and a good dry, it should come off with relative ease. With use you will also notice a light change in the colour of the blade, this patina is natural, beautiful and to be cherished, it’s like yo knife developing its own fingerprint!
For many reasons – Never put them in the dishwasher, wash by hand, avoid submerging and dry immediately.
Knives are only available to persons over 18 years of age. Due to the nature of our business ALL customers will be asked to prove their age at checkout.