Tojiro Senkou Kitchen Knife 15cm

Tojiro Senkou knives are superbly crafted cutting implements designed for use by the worlds best chefs. Over one thousand years of Japanese sword making tradition has informed the modern day craftsman and the result is a technically advanced knife utilising the very latest materials.

Tojiro Senkou knives are made of 37 or 63 layers of steel, (Deba knife with 19 layers), this results in the beautiful Damascene effect, a pattern formed by the many layers of steel, which is known in Japanese as kasumi nagashi or floating mist.

The technique of laminating steel was first seen in Damascus, Syria around 400AD. It was later adopted by Japanese sword smiths who would fold and hammer many layers of steel into their blades.

A perfect blade needs to be hard, but also strong and flexible. In many respects, these features can be contradictory. The harder the steel the more fragile it becomes. The cutting edge of the Tojiro Senkou knife is made from extremely hard steel (hardened to Rockwell 60 62). This allows the knives to be sharpened to a more acute angle and to emerge from the factory with a razor sharp edge. If the knives were made solely of this hard steel, however, they would be inflexible and brittle, breaking easily if dropped or misused.

The solution lies in using the process of lamination to cushion the super hard inner core by adding outer layers of stainless steel. The result is a knife as flexible and strong as any single layer knife, but with the cutting edge that is harder, sharper and lasts longer.

The handle of the Tojiro Senkou knife is made from practical, hardwearing and stylish Micarta, which is inlayed with stainless steel (which can be engraved if required).

In Russums opinion what makes these knives superior to other multi layered knives is their weight balance and general feel of the knife. Tojiro Senkou knives have a more substantial bolster allowing them improved poise, strength and balance.