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 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 semi-charcoaled chestnut wood handle to make it very sanitary and corrosion resistant.