Bunka Black Damascus 200mm (7.9″)

Bunka Black Damascus in 200mm (7.9″) blade length is the larger version of our Bunka Black Damascus 165mm knife. It is a multi-purpose kitchen knife, handmade by Japanese knifemaker Suncraft in the famous knife city Seki in Gifu prefecture. Suncraft made this Bunka exclusively for us! It will serve well to all those knife lovers who prefer a slightly longer blade – it helps when cutting larger vegetables and steaks, as well as for filleting bigger fish.

BLADE SHAPE:
The shape of the blade is called Bunka which means culture in Japanese. Bunka Black Damascus makes for a highly versatile knife suitable for cutting vegetables, meat, and fish. The blade is wide and flat at the handle, has a softly curved belly of the blade, suitable for both long and short cuts, and a pointy reverse tanto tip for precise cuts and carvings. The angle of the spine rapidly changes to meet the tip which is referred to as a »K-Tip«. Besides looking badass, this shape allows the user precision and makes getting to the hard-to-get-places a bit easier.

STEEL:
The heart of the knife is the most popular and widely-used steel Japanese knives are made of – VG-10 steel.
When selecting which steel to choose for a specific knife, we look at the steel features such as hardness, the ability to hold a sharp, smooth edge for a long time, ease of maintenance, the graininess of steel, how easy it is to sharpen, and finally the price and availability of the steel. In the case of Bunka Black Damascus, VG-10 ticked all of the boxes! VG-10 (V for Vanadium, G for “gold” as in “gold standard”) is made in another cutlery-famous city Echizen, just a short 2hr drive from Seki. VG-10 is made by Takefu Special Steel Company, a relatively small steel company that around 60 years ago managed to find just the right balance of different elements to create the most popular Japanese knife making steel today.
VG-10 steel is stainless steel with relatively high Carbon (C) content (1%), 15% Chromium (Cr), 1% Molybdenum (Mo), 0.3% Vanadium (V) and 1.5% Cobalt (Co). The combination of Cr, Mo, and V forms a lot of hard carbides, making the steel abrasion resistant, which translates to long-lasting, smooth sharpness. Heat treated to the hardness of 60-61 HRC.

LAMINATION:
The excellent VG-10 steel with the hardness of 60-61 HRC is clad into 32 layers of softer stainless steel (san-mai damascus).

GEOMETRY:
It has a double bevel (50/50 symmetrical) blade.

BLADE FINISH:
Bunka Black Damascus features a 200mm (7.9″) long blade, clad in what is called Black Damascus. A 33-layer Damascus cladding means every piece has a unique pattern on the blade, making every knife one-of-a-kind.

HANDLE:
The handle attached to the knife followed the same logic as the blade – universal and easy to maintain. A beautiful, dark brown, octagonal-shaped Pakka wood handle sits well in your hands regardless if you are left- or right-handed. Pakka wood is a mixture of laminated wood and epoxy resin which is highly durable and will not get stained easily.

ABOUT THE BLACKSMITH:
Suncraft is a family company spanning four generations and specializing in the production of kitchen tools. The smithy was founded in 1948 and is located in a thriving manufacturing area of Seki in Gifu prefecture, where steelwork dates back to the times of the Samurai warriors.