Masakage Yuki by Kato san

Close-up view

Carbon Steel Knives Need Extra Care

Hiroshi Kato-san

Masakage Yuki knives are handmade with Shirogami carbon steel clad with stainless steel. Shirogami is my kind of steel, super easy to sharpen, takes a brilliantly sharp edge and cuts like silk. The extremely hard white carbon steel core is laminated between softer stainless steel. In my mind this is a great method of manufacturing kitchen knives. You get all the performance of carbon steel (a very long lived edge, ease of sharpening and a silkiness when cutting) without most of the maintenance issues (possible rusting).

These knives have been named Yuki (snow) as the nashiji finish looks like snow and paired with the white (magnolia) and red (pakka wood) handle gives an overall wintery look.

Hiroshi Kato san is a 68 year old blacksmith from Takefu Village who has been practicing his trade for 51 years. He runs a very professional workshop with great apprentices like Yu Kurosaki san and Toru Tamura san.

All Masakage Knives are handmade in Japan by blacksmiths chosen for their excellence. Shibata san,Hiroshima’s top knife sharpener, selects and design these knives. All Masakage knives are hand sharpened by Shibata san with his unique technique of using a different grit on each side of the blade. This gives a smooth, sharp edge that stays sharp longer than standard sharpening.