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Santoku • 165 mm • White #1 • 3 layers • Zelkova handle • for both left and right-handed use
This traditional steel is not named after its colour, but named after the colour of its paper wrapping, in which it is stored in the Hitachi steel factory in Japan. There are 3 grades of Shirogami white steel: #1,#2 & #3. From these 3, #1 contains the highest amount of carbon and #3 the lowest. Generally we say at our knifeshop, grade #1 can be made extremely sharp, but will be a little more fragile as #3. While #3 is a little softer, also easier to resharpen, but has less edge retention. Grade #1 & #2 is most common in white steels. White steel is a refined steel with a low percentage of iron, loved by many, as it is relatively easy to maintain. In practice it can be maintained with a whetstone and in a short amount of time it will become very sharp. This does not mean that these knives never have to be resharpened by a professional, even all knives in Japan need to be refurbished at a certain moment. This Shirogami steel is embraced by sushi chefs who demand extreme sharpness of their knives. White steel oxidates relatively quick and therefore needs to be maintained more often, but on the other hand you will get all benefits of this beautiful steel characteristics.
An Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is a company that manufactures an original product that is sold under another company’s brand name. In the case of knives, an OEM might manufacture a knife and sell it to several different companies who then simply add their price margin and sell the knife under their own brand name. This is a common practice in the Japan knife industry. Does it affect quality? No it doesn't, in fact, it can mean a stable production for the knifemaker.
In this particular OEM case, a well known knifemaker from Sakai, provides knives from other producers from the region. A well overthought choice, to provide a beautiful blade with a stunning handle.