Trade-In Hiroshi Ashi (Ashi Hamono) 300mm Honyaki Western Gyuto Refurbished Nickle Ebony Sakai Japan

Hand forged honyaki gyuto by Hiroshi Ashi with carbon steel blade with quintessentially Ashi Hamono shaped nickel and macasser ebony handle. 

This knife arrived used with a bit of pitting and a thick edge from sharpenings. It was a work knife rode hard and put away wet as they say. We have thinned it and refaced the balde to a satin hand sanded finish.

Ashi-san's original kanji markings are gone (there were parts of them intact when it came to us) but we had Ashi-san look at this knife and he confirmed it is indeed his work, but he cannot verify the steel (most likely shirogami 2). Ashi-san's honyaki quench is proprietary but is generally considered a special oil quench that blends the edge holding properties of mizu honyaki (water quench) with the toughness of a typical abura honyaki (oil) quench. Ashi-san is famous for his honyaki but very little of it is produced.

Blade still has some vesiges of small pits, we did thin and re-surface the blade, but rather than try and buff it to a high polish we opted to keep some of its age and signs of use intact. 

Ashi honyaki is incredibly hard to find, in selling Ashi knives since 2011 we have only recieved several, this is a great find and an example of the top work of one Japan's master craftsmen, a superlative that might be used to market many blacksmiths but  among Japanese blacksmiths Ashi-san is highly respected.