Yanagiba knife, Aogami 2 steel, Migaki finish - Shigeki Tanaka

Shigeki Tanaka trained in Takefu which is an area we are very familiar with knife-wise. After training for 3 years he moved to his family forge in Miki city. From here he has gained an excellent reputation for making exceptional value knives using traditional techniques.

SHAPE: Yanagiba. This knife is used to slice protein in one continuous movement to minimize damage to the ingredient. This shape features the traditional single bevelled edge so is only suitable for right handed users. This edge design allows the blade to take a razor sharp edge helping with the slicing of fish thinly.

STEEL: Aogami (blue paper) 2 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. This steels differs from Blue 1 in its carbon content, Blue 2 having slightly less carbon. Due to the non stainless nature of this steel care must be taken to dry the knives properly after use. 

FINISH: Polished or Migaki

HANDLE:

240mm:

- Octagonal walnut handle with black buffalo horn ferule

270mm:

- Octagonal cherry wood handle with pakka wood ferule

300mm:

- Octagonal teal handle with pakka wood ferule

LENGTH: 240mm and 270mm in length.

MAKER: Shigeki Tanaka - Miki city, Japan

SAUNDERS SAYS: “I really love this steel for its ease of sharpening and these have the added bonus of of having a lovely weight to them.”

Traditional Japanese knives, such as this, must be exclusively sharpened on whetstones.