Len's News, Notes, and Stuff

How Handmade Japanese Knives Are Made

To a kitchen knife afi­cionado, japan­ese knives are some of the most insanely well-made cut­ting machines one can use.  To a col­lec­tor of high-quality goods, items made by the hands of skilled arti­sans and mas­ters are par­tic­u­larly delightful.

For all the won­ders of auto­mated man­u­fac­tur­ing, the results that come from the skilled hands of a mas­ter black­smith are still bet­ter than any­thing that rolls off a fac­tory assem­bly line.  Of course, the end cus­tomer pays for this plea­sure and per­for­mance — it’s some­thing any Fer­rari owner knows first-hand, and which any high-end j-knife owner also knows.

So, here are two videos from two very renowned smiths show­ing you how those won­der­ful japan­ese kitchen knives are made!