Kanetsugu Saiun Chef Knife Damascus Blade 23cm

The Kanetsugu Saiun series offers Japanese knives of exceptional quality that honour the renowned prestige of Japanese cutlery. The kitchen knives from this range are designed for passionate chefs that cook at home. The excellent cutting performance as well as the dazzling look of these knives make them fine pieces of cutlery.

For example, the chef knife 23cm in this page is one of the most polyvalent knife that you can find in the Kanetsugu Saiun series. This Japanese chef knife (also known as gyuto) is perfect for the preparation of your daily recipes as you can use it for working with vegetables, fruits, herbs, and boneless meat.

Its damascus blade is made of several soft steel layers that cover a core made of an ultra hard steel. This type of blade construction is not only aesthetical but it also helps the blade to be rigid and flexible at the same time, and thus it can have an ultra sharp edge without being too fragile.

The core of the blade is made of VG10 steel, which is a famous Japanese steel alloy characterised for its durability. With its 1% of carbon content, the blade is very rigid, which enable the knife to reach a high level of hardness of 60/61 HRC in the Rockwell scale. The main advantage of having such a hard blade is that its edge remain sharp for longer time.

Around the core, there are 32 soft steel layers that are visible as wavy lines on the blade’s surface. We can thus say that the blade is made of a total of 65 steel layers (32 layers folded around each side of the blade + the core). However, on the blade you’ll see the mention “33 layers”, but this is because it refers to the 33 layers that are visible on each side of the blade. 

Furthermore, the blade received a special treatement to improve further its rigidity and thus make its edge remain sharp for longer time. The treatment is known as the Sub-Zero treatment, and it consists in heating up the steel to then put it immediately at a temperature of -70C°. 

Elegant and comfortable to hold, the handle is made of micarta, which is a resistant material characterised for its durability. Micarta is a composite material that is composed of 40% resin and 60% linen. This material is widely known for being resistant to humidity and changes in temperature, which makes it perfect for kitchen environments.

Moreover, the handle also has 2 rivets that are fixed to the full tang inside. The bolster is directly integrated into the blade to avoid any liquid or food to get trapped in between both parts of the knife. Last but not least, a red line between the black micarta and the steel bolster adds a touch of cachet to the knife’s look.

Maintenance: To preserve this knife’s look as well as its excellent quality, we recommend you to wash it by hand using lukewarm water. Then, dry it with a soft cloth and store it in a dry place.

The Japanese manufacturer Kanetsugu makes all its knives in the city of Seki, which is probably the most iconic and historic city for the Japanese cutlery. For more than a century, Kanetsugu has been putting in practice its remarkable expertise to manufacture knives of outstanding quality that meet the expectations of even the most demanding cooks.

To complete your collection, we invite you to have a look at the rest of Kanetsugu Saiun knives on our website!