In the absence of a Bussekin kitchen set (six Wardogs would be a manly steak knife set though), I visited a local knife maker here in Japan recently.



These are from a cutlery called Rising Eel in Osaka. They produce knives by hand, hammer forging for a few companies who then retail them. I skipped the middle man for a better deal. I also got a lesson in Japanese knives from one of the apprentices.

These knives are made of VG-10 Gold, a Japanese high carbon stainless steel. There are 17 layers of steel, but only the center layer (the 9th layer) is VG-10. The outer 8 layers on each side are a softer, stronger steel to give the blade strength. It sounded like the same idea of differential heat treatment the way it was described to me.

Size comparison with RMD





The large one is called a Santoku, or multi purpose knife. It is a western style knife. The small one is a Petty knife, for sushi. They both have mahogany handles. This was middle level set, but the finish is still pretty good. I had to get the light and angle just right to show the tang and bolster are separate pieces. The mahogany and bolster and tang are just as "seamless."





The damascus and hammer marks (added after initial forging to allow air pockets and prevent the knives from sticking in the food) caught my eye on these.





No user review yet, but they are sharp enough to split an atom. I was told (grain of salt) they should stay sharp for about a year if used properly in a household and about 4 month in a restaurant.