Kato Petty VG-10 Nickel Damascus 150mm (5.9″) [Rosewood]

The hypnotic Suminagashi pattern and perfect blade profile left us speechless at first glance at this very special knife. Suminagashi (“floating ink“) is a term for a marbled pattern (called Damascus in knives), made by Yoshimi Kato in this petty.

Kato Petty VG-10 Nickel Damascus 150mm is a knife we warmly recommend to all you knife collectors and aficionados of superior design.

BLADE SHAPE:
Petty knives are intended for all those smaller tasks where larger knives are deemed unwieldy, both on and off the cutting board. A must-have knife in every kitchen, it can be used for peeling, mincing, paring and decorating food. The blade is extremely thin, which allows the user to work precisely even with the smallest pieces of ingredients.

STEEL:
The VG-10 is currently the most popular Japanese steel, and when deciding which steel to use for a particular blade, one has to weigh its properties such as hardness, retaining sharpness, ease of maintenance, steel graininess, ease of sharpening, and lastly, cost and affordability. The VG-10 (V for Vanadium, G for “gold”, which means top quality) is produced by Takefu Special Steel Company, a relatively small company that 60 years prior managed to find the perfect balance between elements forming this famous Japanese steel.

VG-10 is a stainless steel of relatively high carbon content – 1% (C), 15% chromium (Cr), 1% molybdenum (Mo), 0.3% vanadium (V) and 1.5% cobalt (Co). The combination of Cr, Mo and V forms many solid carbides, which gives the steel abrasion resistance and consequently better retention of sharpness.

LAMINATION:
The core of the knife is made of VG-10 steel, which is clad in several layers of intricate marbled pattern, which the blacksmith obtained by interweaving different layers of materials (Nickel damascus lamination).

BLADE GEOMETRY:
The blade edge is sharpened to 50/50 angle, and stays sharp even after hours of constant use. 

BLADE FINISH:
The blade features an astonishing damascus pattern also called a Suminagashi pattern (“floating ink“).

HANDLE:
The traditional Japanese (Wa) handle is made of rosewood and due to its symmetric oval shape fits perfectly in the left as well as the right palm. The distribution of weight between the handle and the blade makes it extremely comfortable to work with and easy to handle.

BLACKSMITH:
Hiroshi Kato is one of the most revered master blacksmiths in Japan. He started his apprenticeship in 1960 under the watchful eye of his father. Thirty-three years later, he was one of the founders of the renown knife-making cooperative and a hothouse of young talented artisans – Takefu Knife Village. He’s been making knives for more than 50 years and, during this period, his precision and unusual designs earned him an honorable place among the best blacksmiths in the world. After spending half a century striking the hammer against the anvil, Hiroshi passed his work on to the younger generations and his son-in-law Yoshimi Kato took over the Kato smithy.