Hello.

Today, I would like to talk about “black finish,” a traditional style of kitchen knives.

The knives in the photo are sold by our company.

Shirojikou black finish Japanese Beef Knife 210mm, Sakura Handle, Togashi Hamono Manufacturing Co.

You can see that the surface of the knife is dyed black.

This finish is called “black finish” in the kitchen knife industry.

It is a kind of traditional sharpening method that has been used since ancient times.

The decoration of these knives is often used for forged products.

Because the surface of knives that have been forged and quenched (a process of heating at a high temperature and then cooling rapidly) oxidize,
The surface of the forged and quenched knife turns black, as shown in the photo.

The black oxidized part is left and only the blade is sharpened, which is called “black finish”.

The reason why such a technique is used is because it has several advantages.

(1) To reduce the cost and the price of products by eliminating the time and effort of the sharpener.

(2) Because already oxidized parts are more resistant to rust (or rather, they are already rusted) and are less likely to rust further.

In the past, the main products with black-uchi finish were rapier knives and de-aberated kitchen knives.

This is because those knives are used for backstage work that is not visible to the public, so there is no inconvenience when the knife decoration is omitted.

Rather, the purchasers of the tools were able to obtain good knives at a lower price than usual.

The black finish was there to meet such needs.

However, that was a long time ago.

Today, many foreign customers are looking for traditional Japanese kitchen knives.

From such foreigners’ point of view, the look of black finish has a unique roughness and handmade feel, It is gaining popularity as a traditional Japanese design.

The foreign people have re-evaluated the value of the knives, which Japanese people had not noticed.

In fact, the black finish used for kitchen knives today is more beautifully processed than the finish of the past.

They are made with chemicals to align and corrode them in order to produce a uniform black color and to achieve a smarter finish.

Rather, it may take more time and effort than polishing the entire piece as in the normal finish.

The black-itching finish, which was used to save the maker time and effort, is a technique used to express traditional knives,
It has been transformed into a highly technical decorative technique.

In the future, Japanese kitchen knives will continue to change to meet the many demands of the market.

See you soon.

Yosuke Kamata, 4th generation of Kappabashi Knife store Kamata Hakensha.

*This is a translation by a translation tool.