Kengata • 190 mm • 33 Layers Hammered • VG-10 • Japanese handle of Zelkova and Spanish mahogany • for left and right handed use

Features of the 33 layers series

33 Layers of hammered and highly polished damascus steel with a comfortable classic handle of Zelkova (Japanese Elm). The crop is made of Spanish mahogany wood, giving this series a clear identity. A classic Japanese WA handle, big enough for western hands and ideal for its weight. The blade has been taken out at the heel, close to the crop, so that the knife can be held closer to the balance point during cutting. This makes the knife extremely comfortable and a pleasure to cut with.

The blade is made out of 32 layers softer stainless steel (16 | 16) on the outside and has a core of VG10 steel. The blade is nicely thinned on the cutting edge, making it a joy to use. In practice, this also turns out to maintain easily with a whetstone or fine ceramic steel. The outer layer is hammered (Tsuchime) and ensures less contact with the product during cutting. I always add: "the potato will not fall off, but it certainly gives less friction."

Many chefs are very enthousiastic about this series: a high end performing knife for a affordable price. 

Elwin de Veld about Sakai Takayuki

We usually start our trips to Japan in Osaka, from where we take a Shinkansen ( a bullet train) to Seki, in Gifu prefecture. We start in Sakai, in south of Osaka, where we always recieve a warm friendly welcome from Aoki san and Ogawa san from Sakai Takayuki. In recent years the customers in our shop have been asking for special Japanese traditionally forged knives: Yanagiba, Sakimura, Kengata: all the names of models which are used in Japanese kitchens for preparing various sorts of fish. Sakai Takayuki is my key which opens the door to the world of traditional Japanese knives and to top it all, their product range is targeted for the western market. For making of the traditional Japanese knives Sakai Takayuki employs the best of the best: Itsuo Doi and Kenji Togashi, among others. The blacksmith Yamatsuke san, with his stable hand on the Kaiten Toshi (Japanese water stone), is a guarantor of an exceptionally sharp finish. Sakai Takayuki buys lots of their steel from the Aichi steel (their headquarters are situated close to Nagoya) and works among other with carbon steel shirogami white and aogami blue. A nice detail: the colours in the names of the steel have nothing to do with the colour of the steel itself- it's just the colour of the packing in which the raw steel is being stored in the factory. The western models are manually finished at the company's quarters in Osaka (sharpening), but largely manufactured in Seki, in Gifu prefecture. The finish and the quality is sublime- just what we can expect from Takayuki.