Yoshikane 240mm Gyuto SKD Tsuchime Burnt Chestnut & Horn Handle

240mm gyuto with octagonal burnt chestnut and horn handle from a small recent run of old style Yoshikane hammer marked stainless clad SKD 240 gyutos. These have not been made for years, we are delighted to have them back with a quintessentially Sanjo handle.

Yoshikane's stainless clad SKD has the nicest looking tsuchime hammer-marked finish in my opinion and the forging and grinding is excellent. Yoshikane's heat treatment is characterized by its smooth easy sharpening feeling (it does not feel like 64RHC), excellent edge formation and good edge life, Yoshikane's forged in geometry and fine grinding make for incredibly smooth cutting and their wide bevels are exceptionally even and flat making for super easy thinning.

SKD steel is a nearly stainless carbon steel with approx 11-12% chromium content (13% and the chromium is able to bond with itself forming a stain resistant film) it is sometimes referred to as 'semi stainless' as it rusts slowly and has low reactivity with flavors.

Hardened to 64 HRC, these knives hold a keen edge for a long time, owing to their excellent heat treatment and despite this hardness they have a good degree of toughness and are very easy to sharpen. Being ground with a wide primary bevel, they also allow for easy thinning down the road, especially as Yoshikane wide bevel grinds are especially flat.

The core of this knife is 'semi-stainless' and has a certain degree of rust resistance, but as it is not completely stainless, it should be dried immediately after use. The core will develop a patina with use, but any orange rust should be removed with a light abrasive.

Yoshikane is headed by Kazuomi Yamamoto-san the fourth generation to operate this family run forging and grinding operation in Sanjo, Niigata which has been making kitchen knives since 1919. Yamamoto-san is a top tier blacksmith and sharpener who is currently leading the Japanese Blacksmithing Society and has trained numerous knife-makers at the Yoshikane workshop who are now important makers. In our opinion Yoshikane deserves to be considered as part of the top tier of Japanese knives, it should be noted that Yoshikane knives were sold far under their value for years due to unfair business practices of a non-Japanese dealer operating out of Japan. They are now sold at a price that reflects their high quality and reciprocates Yamamoto-san's decades of dedication to the craft with a fair wage. If you find out of stock low priced listings on legitimate websites these reflect years old prices.