Sakai Takayuki Grand Chef SP Chef's Knife, 240mm / 9.5"

An excellent choice as your main weapon of choice for home or professional use, especially if you're looking for something a bit larger than the typical 8" chef's knife or 7" santoku. This size is the #1 choice for professional chefs, so it's definitely a great choice for the working chef, culinary school student, or home cook looking for a longer knife to add to a growing collection... it's not that big really, and being thin and light and super sharp in the Japanese tradition, it's really doesn't "feel" especially big in your hand and in use. The handle is just the right size for the blade and the fit and finish are excellent, making this a fantastic value for someone looking for a quality Japanese made knife with high quality steel and those cool square dimples (granton edge). This is a super-sharp knife that will be sure to offer years of pleasure in the kitchen!

All Grand Chef series knives are made from high quality Bohler N685 stainless steel. This is a martensitic chromium stainless steel with added molybdenum and vanadium, which results in high hardness and good wear resistance, with excellent corrosion resistance -- an ideal steel for durable and sharp kitchen knives! Grand Chef blades are hard and tough with long lasting edges. HRC approx. 59-60 for sharpness and ease of maintenance and sharpening.

The dimples are only on the one (front) side.

I'd recommend the fine ceramic hone (see below) for regular/daily maintenance of the edge. As with any knife, use the hone regularly and you'll keep the edge in good shape for a LONG time before you need to think about doing any serious "re-sharpening" or real grinding and refinishing of the edge.

NOTE: This knife is sharpened mostly on the right side, which means it's not really suitable for left-handed use.