Tsunehisa Santoku Aogami Super Cherry 165mm (6.5″)

The Tsunehisa Santoku Aogami Super Cherry 165mm (6.5″) is a multi-purpose knife with hammer dents and a beautiful cherry wood handle. The shape of the blade will suit anyone looking for a smaller, versatile knife for vegetables, fish, and meat. It excels at chopping vegetables on the kitchen board. Due to the choice of steel, the blade is also very easy to sharpen.

STEEL:
The centerpiece of this knife is Hitachi’s Super Blue Steel (Aogami Super), which is the very top quality of traditional Japanese steels. Hammer dents on the upper part of the blade give it a unique and rustic appearance.

This knife was heat-treated to around 63 HRC. It is a very hard steel,  meaning that it will retain a super-fine sharpness for a long time. In addition, due to the high carbon content (1.4-1.5%), the knife is very easy to sharpen. Among the high carbon steels, Aogami Super is also the least sensitive to rust. It also contains 0.4% vanadium as an admixture for micronized metal grains, which gives the steel more toughness. Aogami Super is rated as the most advanced carbon steel. The outer layers are of softer, stainless steel, giving the knife extra rust protection.

BLADE FINISH:
The blade was treated with hammer blows, resulting in a textured tsuchime look, which gives it a beautiful finish and also prevents food from sticking to the blade.

HANDLE:
The handle (traditional Japanese Wa) is oval and smooth, with no discernible transition between the cherry and red pakka wood. It’s suitable for both left- and right-handed users.

BLACKSMITH:
Tsunehisa knives are a brand that combines a variety of high quality knives from different knife centers in Japan such as Tosa, Seki and Sakai. Their philosophy is that each region has its own steel and different manufacturing processes. For example, Tosa is known for its Ginsanko and Aus-8 steels, Seki is famous for producing excellent blades from the V-Gold steel group, and Sakai for its single-edged Honyaki knives.