Tadafusa Hocho Kobo

Tadafusa knives are manufactured in Niigata City. This is an area famous for producing the finest sake in Japan and a traditional centre for tool and knife forging. Knives and booze together at last, what a great idea.

The blade is made from a core of hard SLD steel and clad with soft stainless steel. In my mind, this is a great method of manufacturing kitchen knives. Softer stainless steel acts as a blanket and protects harder steel in the core from breaking or even shattering into pieces.     

SLD steel is originally designed for cutting steels by Hitachi steel. It contains about 1.5% of carbon for HRC 60-62, as well as 11-13% of Chromium for stain resistance. This means this steel retains edge as long as carbon steels and is stainless.     

These Tadafusa knives feature a tapered tang for great balance. A female industrial designer Fumie Shibata, who input female perspective to kitchen knives, designs this whole line. The handle is made with a semi-charcoaled chestnut wood handle to make it very sanitary and corrosion-resistant.