The word Tamahagane means precious steel. Historically, the word Tamahagane has been known as a particular, very pure and high quality steel produced using traditional Japanese techniques. The Kataoka factory in Niigata Japan uses Tamahagane as its brand name, making exceptional knives that are unsurpassed in sharpness and edge retention.
Tamahagane Tsubame Knives are made with a 3 ply stainless steel constuction. The middle layer is VG-5 which forms the edge of the blade. This layer is exceptionally hard (61 HRC), it is as hard as VG-10 stainless steel but has superior edge retention. The two outer layers are made of SUS-410 stainless steel, which is softer and more stain resistant in order to protect the cutting edge. In all the knife blade material is rolled and thinned to a thickness of just 2mm. The knives are given a ‘hammered finish’ to prevent food from sticking to the blades and add to the beauty of the knives. The handle is black macarta which is weighted for balance.
The word Tamahagane means precious steel. Historically, the word Tamahagane has been known as a particular, very pure and high quality steel produced using traditional Japanese techniques. The Kataoka factory in Niigata Japan uses Tamahagane as its brand name, making exceptional knives that are unsurpassed in sharpness and edge retention.
Tamahagane Tsubame Knives are made with a 3 ply stainless steel constuction. The middle layer is VG-5 which forms the edge of the blade. This layer is exceptionally hard (61 HRC), it is as hard as VG-10 stainless steel but has superior edge retention. The two outer layers are made of SUS-410 stainless steel, which is softer and more stain resistant in order to protect the cutting edge. In all the knife blade material is rolled and thinned to a thickness of just 2mm. The knives are given a ‘hammered finish’ to prevent food from sticking to the blades and add to the beauty of the knives.
The knives are so sharp due to the consitency and skill of Nosawa San's factory. Tamahagane blades regularly out perform better known brands in CATRA tests and tend to be the sharpest out the box knives available. These chef knives are particularly pleasant to look at, with the misty stainless steel material used in the construction and the hammered pattern to the blades.
