Takamura Santoku Tsuchime Chromax Brown 170mm (6.7″)

Takamura Santoku Chromax Tsuchime Brown 170mm is a multi-purpose Japanese kitchen knife that won’t require you to break the bank. It’s the first knife that we offer made of Chromax steel, which is a new kitchen knife steel with some enviable attributes. It’s very hard (64-65 HRC), easy to sharpen and semi-stainless, which means it will resist corrosion better than traditional high-carbon Japanese knife steels. Together with a high-quality western (Yo) style pakka wood handle, this is a real performer made for anyone looking to get the maximum out of their knife.

BLADE SHAPE:
The Japanese word Santoku roughly translates to “knife of three virtues” and may refer to the wide variety of ingredients that the knife can handle: meat, fish and vegetables, or to the tasks it can perform: slicing, chopping and dicing – the emphasis being on the number 3 (San). Its distinguishing shape makes the santoku easy to identify: the cutting edge is fairly straight (giving santoku a limited rocking motion), while the spine of the blade curves towards the tip continuously at an approximately 60-degree angle, making it resemble a sheep’s foot.

STEEL:
Chromax steel is a kitchen knife steel with some pretty unique characteristics under its belt. It’s much more corrosion resistant than high-carbon steels, but it’s still categorized as semi-stainless. That means that it’s not as prone to rusting, but can still form a patina over time and react with acidic vegetables and fruit. It also sharpens very nicely, and in that regard behaves much like a high-carbon steel. The steel can be hardened to an impressive hardness of 65 HRC. Chromax steel is composed of 1% Carbon, 5% Chromium, 0.9% Manganese, 1.2% Molybdenum and 0.5% Vanadium.

LAMINATION:
The core layer consisting of the harder Chromax steel was sandwiched between two layers of softer, more corrosion resistant steel. This technique is called san-mai and is used to protect the hard (but delicate) core from outside factors, such as rusting and physical impacts, which could lead to breakage.

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

BLADE FINISH:
The blade’s look is defined by shallow hammer strike impressions, which leave the upper part of the blade with a textured, rustic look. The kanji (blacksmith’s signature) is hand-chiseled, adding to the authentic Japanese look.

HANDLE:
Classic Western (Yo) style handle, made from pakka wood with brushed steel rivets in a sunwashed brick color.

ABOUT THE BLACKSMITH:
Takamura Hamono is a smithy located in Echizen (Fukui Prefecture) owned by the Takamura family for over 60 years. It is now headed by the eldest son Terukazu Takamura, who took over from his father Toshiyuki (who took over from his father, the smithy’s founder Isamu Takamura-san). The knives Terukazu-san has been making since 1985 are known for their outstanding geometry, sophistication in design, and sharpness. Their quality was recognized in a consumer test report Smartson in Sweden, where they beat the competition. Takamura Hamono has gained notoriety since the knives became the #1 choice of world-renowned chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, René Redzepi, Mark Best, Hiromi Yamada, and the TV personality Martha Stewart (just to name a few!).

All of this makes Takamura knives very difficult to obtain and the wait time is very long due to a limited production capacity. Nevertheless, the craftsmanship and sophistication of their products make the wait well worthwhile.