About the Shape - The Honesuki is a Japanese style boning knife. Originally designed for poultry and small animals like rabbit, it excels for many larger butchering and fish filleting work. It has a relatively thick heel for scraping meat from bones, and a thinner tip for precise cuts. You don't want to force this knife through bone, but it's perfect for cutting through cartilage and tendons.
About Manaka Hamono -Kisuke Manaka is a relatively young, 5th generation, blacksmith in Kasukabe, Saitama pref. Manaka-san didn’t like the dishonest way his father-in-law operated his business so he decided to become a blacksmith himself. He began making knives from scratch about 10 years ago, with nothing but a workshop full of equipment and no mentor. He is completely self-taught, yet he mastered techniques to forge-weld steels in house, even forge welding stainless steel which is no easy task.
Now he forge-welds everything in house, from hard carbon steel clad with soft steel, stainless steel clad with stainless, and carbon steel clad with stainless steel. The ATS-34 steel used in these knives is forge-welded in house by Manaka-san. While mostly stainless, it is more durable and keeps an edge better than many comparable steels. It will patina very slowly, so don't leave it dirty overnight!
| Knife Shape | Honesuki |
|---|---|
| Blade Length | 150mm |
| Blade Height | 18mm |
| Spine Thickness at Heel | 4.3mm |
| Weight | 146g |
| Steel Type | Shirogami #2 (White Carbon Steel)core with Carbon Steel Cladding |
| Rockwell Hardness | 61-63 |
| Edge/Bevel | Double (50/50) |
| Handle | Wa (Japanese) Handle, Walnut Octagon wood handle with Black Pakka wood collar |
| Blacksmith | Manaka Hamono |
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