The Story of the Chopper

Two friends asked me that they want a chopper by their design.
They wanted it to hack chicken bones and pork ribs.
I answered that for a chopper a special custom order would be too expensive and if you want a Japanese knife its better to buy a nata. For those who do not know what a nata is here is a link to google picture search. nata
Chefs of Ramen shops use this knife to hack bones for the ramen soup in Japan.

But my friend insisted to have a chopper like this:

With permission from Stefan

I asked Yoshikane Hamono if they can make one and the answer was if it is a order of 3 he would like to make it. To make the budget as low as possible for a special order we agreed to make it Kurouchi finish and warikomi with the cheapest carbon steel Yoshikane had.

My friends succeeded to get a third person who wanted it too and I put the order on February 28th. 

On March 25th. I got these pictures from Yoshida san as a sample:

My friends where excited that Yoshida san made a chopper like the sketch.

It took till April 8th till I got the 3 choppers ready from Yoshikane Hamono.

Here are the photos:

On April 15th. I visited Yoshikane Hamono and asked how Yoshida san made these choppers.

He took a chalk and draw with it on a table in his workshop and explained that there are two ways to make warikomi. Most are made like the drawing below by splitting the soft steel and have the hard steel put between it. But for this chopper I made it like the drawing above. By this method you can have more hard steel in the knife.

And he said with smile "I used SK4 for the sample but White Paper for the 3 choppers I send you."

I asked where he has the SK4 chopper and he answered that when he makes special kitchen knife he has one sample in his collection.

So now there are 4 choppers of this kind in the world. Two in Denmark, one in USA and one at Yoshikane Hamono.

You can read posts and blogs of my friends here: 

My new knifes

Soon to be my meat chopper

My new knives (blog)

This was done before I opened my business here with my friends.

I am now open to take special orders (special order means kitchen knives Yoshida san did not made before) for Yoshikane Hamono but it must be in lot of three because Yoshida san will make sample first.

A chopper similar to this  can be custom ordered by one.

The First Kitchen Knife (Yoshihide 150mm Petite)

Right side 150mm Yoshihide SKD Petite

I got the first Kitchen Knife from Yoshikane Hamono to ship to my customer.
It is a 150mm SKD petite knife in migaki finish.

Left side

The custom order was a 150mm petite similar to the SKD suji which my friend at JNS got. The petite should be thinner than the stock knives and with a hand fitted ho saya.
The order was placed on 11th. April when I started this blog. Estimated time was 1 month for the knife plus 1 week for the saya.
This  time it came very fast. It was less than 3 weeks after order.

With Saya

I myself have this petite in 135mm. It has the stock dimensions.
Now lets compare the two:

135mm(used) and 150mm Petite

The 135mm petite is also used by my wife. She use it a lot because she does not need to take care as much as a carbon knife (BTW the tip is a bit rounded at her request).

Here the dimensions and weight of the two:
                      135mm         150mm
Blade length          135mm         153mm
Blade height at heel   30mm          34mm
Spine at handle         2.9mm         2.9mm
Spine at heel           2.5mm         2.5mm
Spine at middle         1.9mm         1.8mm
Spine 1cm to tip        1.0mm         0.9mm
Middle at blade (heel)  1.6mm         1.3mm        
Weight                   62g           65g

The spine tapers from thick at handle (heel) to the tip which is a proof that it has been forged. You cannot see so much difference at the spine of these 2 knives but when you look at the geometry (middle of spine and edge at heel) the 150mm is thinner by 0.3mm. It has also only a 3g increase in weight though it is 18mm longer.


To cut with it and to make maintainance to this knife my friend has 2 nice videos with his suji:

Yoshikane Suji polish
Shigefusa VS Yoshikane

I hope my customer is happy with this kitchen knife when he receive it.

To order such custom made kitchen knives made by Shigefusa or Yoshikane agree to the terms and conditions and make e-mail. The e-mail address is at About me in the left side.

Iwasaki and Jnats (part one)

From left:Mizuochi san, Iwasaki san  and me

After visiting Shigefusa I drove to Iwasaki's Workshop in the afternoon. The official name of this workshop is "Sanjyo Seisakujo". In this workshop blacksmith Mizuochi is making the Iwaski brand Kamisori now. Mizuochi san worked here when he was young but he had to succeed his fathers shop and stopped making razors. When he got 60 years old he came back because Iwasaki san got ill and could not fulfill orders. Mizouchi san is working here only at afternoon because he has other things to do before noon.

Here I want to report what Iwasaki san and Mizouchi san told me about honing razor with natural stones.

My first question was about difference between synthetic and natural stones. Why natural stones makes hazy finish to jigane and why the mirror finish to the hagane is not so bright compared to synthetic stones.

Iwasaki san answered it is the difference of the abrasives and the binders. The synthetic stone have uniform size abrasives and these abrasives do not change size during honing. The abrasives do not move so often from the matrix too. Then he draw lines with his finger in the air and said that the resulting scratches on the blade are uniform, deep and long.

The natural stone abrasives are softer and break during honing. Also the clay which is the binder for naturals will scratch jigane. The scratches to the hagane are interrupted and short because part of the abrasives move from the matrix more easily. The scratches are also more shallow. Iwasaki san said you can see the difference at the blade surface when you magnify it with microscope. Magnification of 400x or 500x would be enough.
The short scratches reflect light different (it will scatter more  than just straight long lines) so the steel look better and more hazy at the same grit.
I made a drawing what Iwasaki san told me and draw with his finger in air:

Iwasaki san continued that if the scratches comes to the edge the synthetic stone will make more serrated edge than the natural stone edge at same grit.

I thanked Iwasaki san about the precisely explanation and asked if I can make pictures of the naturals he has.
The answer was we do not have finishing stones in this workshop. There is too much dust here.

Iwasaki workshop picture

Yes there was dust there. Mizuochi san said he has the finishing stone at home where he make the final finish to the Iwasaki razors. He assured me that I can make pictures next time at his home.
He added how he makes final finish to the razors and what is important.
You must have clean air without dust. Some years ago a new home was build at his neighborhood. It was a sunny day in March and he had his windows open. The carpenters who build the new house where cutting hard boards outside. On that day he could no make the finish on the razors. The dust contamination from the new house made it impossible.
He also said it is not only for finish the razor.
If he comes home after work in the workshop (especially when he has done the coarse sharpening with coarse stones) his face is contaminated with hard and coarse particles. He must wash his face very carefully with soap if he want to shave. Otherwise he does get very small chips at the razor edge and cannot get a clean shave.

I asked Iwasaki san and Mizuochi san about how to prepare the finishing stones and what is most important. I asked if they flatten it with Atoma because I read it on the internet in English but never read about it in Japanese language (that Iwasaki uses Atoma).
The answer was they do not use any diamond stones. They said they use the 3 stone method to flatten and smooth the stone surface. They have more than 3 similar finishing stones so that is their method.
(3 stone method is to flatten with 3 stones like at the picture below. If you use only 2 stones you may have 1 stone convex and 1 stone concave but with 3 stones you get 3 flat or 3 slightly convex stones) 

3 Stone Method

I said thank you very much but not everybody has 3 similar finishing stones.
Is there any suggestion how customers of razor can do with minimal equipment?


to be continued....

Birthday Party Sushi

I had birthday party with family and relatives at a nice Sushi Restaurant.
My friend Maksim from JNS wanted to see the sushi pictures I had.
Here we go:

Shigefusa and his Whetstones

Iizuka-san,his wife,two sons, me

 I visited Shigefusa Hamono on 15th. I talked with Iizuka-san  2.5 hrs about kitchen knife making etc.

 I think one of big interest of my readers is what kind of whetstones he use in his workshop. I write the conclusion at first. There was no mysterious Jnat to make the wonderful finish. It is his craft which makes the wonderful finish and  not the stone!

 I asked what stones he uses for kasumi finish. He said "I use whetstones suitable to make the finish." It was to me that he did not care about mines or strata. It was more like if it works it's OK.

 I asked him to if I am able to take pictures of his stones and he said please.I think to show you the pictures is much better than to explain by my bad English words so here you have it:

 

Shigefusa Workbench

You see many stones. Many synthetic stones too.(you can click on picture to enlarge)

More Stones above Workbench

Nagura

I asked Iizuka-san if he uses nagura and the answer was he do not need to use nagura because his knives are clad with jigane.

Japanese Natural Stone

I think this is the natural stone he uses most. Iizuka-san did not say the mine or starta to me but I got information from the source who sold it to him that it is a very good Ohira Renge Suita. It had a big and ling toxic line and  other toxic inclusions but Iizuka-san dug it out as you can see on the picture.
I felt with my fingers that this stone is medium in hardness and I think it will make very nice kasumi (haze finish) to jigane (soft steel).
It is also a stone which inexperienced customer would send back to the seller because of toxic lines.

Edit to add: I did not see a single Jnat in his collection which had a maruka stamp.

I hope these information have been useful to the reader.

More Q & A with Yoshida san

I asked Yoshida san about his family line, who else is working in his workshop, about relation to other famous blacksmiths and what he thinks make him special.

"My family line is sword smith with several generations." Then he added with a humbling gesture "But my family is not main family, my family is a branch family."

"Two nephews are helping me"
Their names are Kaozumi Yamamoto and Masashi Yamamoto. I will introduce them later when I write about heat treatment.

About relationship with Iwasaki san:
"He gives advice to blacksmiths including me"
I felt from his gesture that he respect Iwasaki san but on the other side he has pride that his family line is sword smith.

About relationship with Heiji（V) and Heiji (VI).
"Heiji (V) was new to the Kitchen Knife Smith Assosiation of Sanjyo(包丁組合 It may be not the official translation of the Assosiation). After the meeting we had Sake (rice-wine).  He asked me to teach Heiji (VI) his son. I was in good mood with Sake and said yes. Heiji (VI) came to our worshop as apprentice. He had a room for living upstairs in the workshop."

I asked Yoshida san why Heiji use similar steel.
"Heiji comes often to Sanjyo to buy some stuff. If he comes to Sanjyo he will visit my workshop too and he find some stuff here too."
I think the relationship is Senpai and Kohai (one's senior and junior relationship).

About Heiji's workshop tsunami.
"He and his family are OK. He can begin producing cutlery soon; maybe end of April"

I did not ask him directly what makes him so special because the supposed answer is "Nothing Special"
Instead I asked him to show me his famous very long maguro hocho.

I asked him why he is able to make so many variety of knives.
"I like challenging. I made variety of special order knives. I want to keep one sample of them in my workshop but if some of the visitors want it so bad they take it home. So I do not have them all here."

I asked him abouit his KU SLD sekisou finish.
"I wanted more contrast to the stainless(SS) sekisou (Damascus) finish. So I tried to oxidize the SS in the furnace. I got a condition where layers of one special SS oxidize more and got deeper black color. To make KU sekisou is not easy. You must forge the knife very flat because you cannot take so much at the polish step."

I hope you have got some interesting information from Yoshida san.

Q & A with Yoshida san

First Yoshida san explained me his forging.
He put the two deba he forged on the table. He explained showing the front side (omote) that the next step is grinding before the heat treatment (HT). After grinding the yellow broken line will become the shinogi.

On omote you can only see the soft steel(jigane) surface. The surface did not have hammer marks and that is his craft. With grinding the lower part of the shinogi hard steel(hagane) will come out at the next step comes out.

I found a border line at the backside(ura) and asked him if it is the border of jigane and hagane (jizakai). He answered yes. Then he draw a line (the red broken line) with his finger and said with a modest smile:" For top line knives the jizakai is here. You put more hagane on and most of the ura is hagane"
I asked if he will grind the ura to make it concave.

"Look at the hammer. The lower part is not flat. It is convex to make the concave ura (urasuki). You should not grind the hagane so much. You must forge the ura concave."
"To hammer the steel is very important. It becomes better steel. Even stainless steel will get better. The resulting kitchen knife cut better, it is easier to sharpen and it will hold the sharpness longer"
Then he left to search something. He came with a piece which would be a santoku I think.

He put it on the table and said:"This is the thin laminated precursor of a kitchen knife which is mass produced in a factory nearby. You cannot hammer/forge these thin laminates. I use these thick bars for forging"
And indeed I could only find thick bars in the workshop.

              to be continued....

A picture is worth a thousand words (Yoshikane Part2)

More video and pictures....

Yanagiba

 Making another deba.

 Hammering the the second deba

 

Note that the attachment of the hammer has changed.

 The bottom part is convex and it will make the concave ura

of the single bevel knife.

 The upper hammer is also build that the jigane of the omote side

 will get thinner.Yoshida san said it is important to hammer after the steel get cooler as you see here. "The more you hammer you get better cutting steel."

Cut in coarse form and the hizukuri is completed.
"Look it is so easy" "You can do it too" said Yoshida san to me with a nice smile.

The forged 2 deba and yanagiba.

2 deba close up.

Will be continued......

A picture is worth a thousand words (Yoshikane Part1)

I do not know how much a video is worth.
I just put the pictures and video what I saw at Yoshikane Hamono.
The story will come later.
Read copyright notice on right side.

Entrance of Yoshikane Hamono Workshop

Some samples of kitchen knives

Mr. Yoshida want to show me the Hizukuri (forging)

                   He will make 2 deba and 1 yanagiba at once.

Tansetsu

Tansetsu (hagane is placed on top of jigane)

I am back from Sanjyo

I am back.

I had no internet connection and have been toooooooooooo busy visiting blacksmith etc. that I could not answer e-mails.
I will catch up soon so please be patient.

Here is the list of places I visited:

Day one (14th) Yoshikane Hamono　Seisakujyo, Wakui Ba-ru Hamono Seisakujyo (Wakui crowbar and cutlery workshop, I do not know the official English translation), Honshin (saya craftsman Mr.Honda),  Sanjyo Kaji Doujyou (I do not know the official English translation) http://www.ginzado.ne.jp/~avec/kajidojyo/index.html, Sanjyou-shi Rekishi Minzoku Shiryoukan (a small Museum about Sanjyo history culture. I do not know the official English translation) http://www.city.sanjo.niigata.jp/rekimin/ and Sanjyo Shiritu Toshokan (Library of Sanjyo City,  I do not know the official English translation) http://lib.city.sanjo.niigata.jp/ .

Day two (15th) Shigefusa Hamono, Sanjyou Seisakujyo (Iwasaki) and another blacksmith. I had long and intensive conversation with Iizuka-san and Iwasaki-san. So not so many visits.
Drove to Yahiko Onsen (hot spa) to relax.

Day three (16th) Yahiko Shrine (got purified at the shrine by the priest) , drove back to Tokyo.

Data of the trip: about 670km, fee for highway to Sanjyo on weekday 5,300Yen, back to Tokyo on Saturday 1400Yen, gasoline about 55liter (my car is not an ECO car)

I hope that you see how busy I have been and excuse me not no answer e-mails.

Tokyo to Sanjyou

On a nice sunny day I went with my car to Sanjyo.
I used Kanetsu highway. Highway are quite exp in Japan.
I think the toll was 5800YEN for about 270km.
I made some video and pictures during drive.

 

At Akagikougen SA the mountains in front separate Gunnma Pref. and Niigata Pref.

  The Highway has the Kanetsu-tunnel which is 11km long and is the 11th longest tunnel in the world.

When you drive through the tunnel you are in Niigata Pref. Many snow left here.

 \\

You will see that many lights are off in the tunnel. It is for electricity saving because of the Quake.

After the mountains with snow here is plain with many rice agriculture.

Same as above.

I do not know the exact name of this in English. It is a trap if you drive to fast.

Another "trap".

Way out to Sanjyo.

Driving to Yoshikane Hamono

Yoshikane workshop was in downtown but because of noise his workshop is now in a section of many industrial factories. I am quite near here to his workshop.