The Birth of the Unique Japanese Style Blade

One of the popular legends is that Amakuni and his son Amakura were standing outside their sword smithing shop when the army was returning from battle. As a sword maker to the Emperor's army Amakuni was expecting to be acknowledged by the Emperor, as had been the norm in the past. However, in this case he was snubbed by the Emperor and soon understood why when he saw many of the sword blades carried by the soldiers were broken. He was determined to research and build the perfect sword.

After a period of sabbatical and reflection, Amakuni and his son went about developing a superior weapon. The next summer when the Emperor returned from another battle, none of the swords were broken and the Emperor passed and said to Amakuni, "you are an expert sword maker, none of the swords you made failed in battle". What Amakuni is said to have developed is a style of sword that was hard enough to hold an edge but flexible enough not to break or shatter, the paradoxical combination needed for a good blade.

Asian Knives

The Japanese did this by creating a sword from two different types of metal. The core was made of steel with a high carbon content.This makes the steel very hard but very brittle. Folding it over itself over and over again to create steel with up to 30,000 laminations strengthened this hard core. Around this hard core, softer and more flexible steel was wrapped. The two steel were welded together and the edge was tempered (tempering created the Hamon on the blade). The end result was a blade with exceptional edge holding and cutting ability. And with the flexibility to withstand continuous contact with other weapons or armour on the battlefield. This is how the unique nature and shape of the Japanese blade is believed to have been created

The myth of blood grooves. Why do blades have blood grooves? Answer: - to allow air or blood to escape from a STABBING attack because it will enable you to with draw the blade from the body. However the samurai sword was made to cut or slash not stab. So what are these grooves for?

Answer: - The grooves (hi) exist for 2 reasons.

1) To reduce the weight on the heaver blades making them easy to deploy. By using this method the balance was undamaged.

2) Grooves were also used to cut defects out of the blade occurring from the forging process. This could happen to the best sword smith on occasion.

The Birth of the Unique Japanese Style Blade

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Japanese Chefs Knives

Japanese chef knives are made with the most excellent steel materials that are found there. These have been growing in popularity with professional chefs who want to increase the excellence of the foodstuff they provide in terms of uniformity of cutting, swiftness and sharpness. Nowadays, those who are aware of this piece of information, choose to buy Japanese chef knives as an alternative to expensive European knives in order to take their cooking to a "professional" level.

Since the time Food Network started screening professional chefs producing dishes of the best possible quality, housewives as well as businessmen are yearning to achieve the same outcome as that of chefs who are professional.

Asian Knives

However, professional hand made knives nowadays have a price tag of more than 100 dollars a piece, in a full set of 5 or 6 knives. That amounts to around 500 to 600 dollars. Best class of Japanese hand crafted chef knives used in restaurants and hotels in the whole world costs around 68 to 80 dollars per piece, along with fine quality as well as durability.

Some good quality Japanese chef knives that are a must in any kitchen are:

• Paring knife are useful in all kinds of kitchen cutting work like deseeding jalapenos, de-veining shrimps or cutting small morsels of garnish. It is very light as well as easy to use. Its length is 180 mm, while the thickness of blade is 1.5 mm and weight is 55 gm.
• Petty knife: this knife is handy in slicing soft and lightweight vegetables like onions, string beans and any other vegetables that are medium in size. Its length is 225 to 260 mm, while the thickness of blade is 1.5 mm and weight is between 70 to 80 gm.
• Boning knife: used mainly for boning fish, meat and poultry. It is pointed with a narrow blade. It is 275 mm long, blade thickness is 3 mm and weight is 190 gm. Using this knife is easy especially where extreme delicacy in maneuvering is required.
• Santoku knife: this is a general all purpose knife and can be used to cut bigger vegetables like cabbage, potatoes and pumpkins. It can slice, cut, dice and mince in minutes.

Originally chef knife made in Japan was crafted from carbon steel. The expensive knives have the same quality that contains an inner core of brittle and hard carbon steel along with a substantial layer of ductile and soft steel sandwiched all around the central part so that the steel (hard) is only exposed at the edge which is used to cut.

Nowadays stainless steel is used to manufacture Japanese knives, and blade construction using san mai laminate is only used in the more expensive knives so that it is corrosion resistant while maintaining durability and strength. These knives can be bought online at http://shunknives.org. Shun stainless steel chef knife cost 4.95.

Japanese Chefs Knives

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