Sakai Takayuki 33-Layer Damascus Kengata Santoku, Walnut Handle, 190mm / 7.5"

A great variation on a standard santoku shape, giving you the versatile santoku blade shape, but with a more standard chef-knife style tip/point. A perfect all-around kitchen knife, especially for those who prefer a smaller knife but still like the idea of a blade with a larger surface area and without too much curve, making it easy to chop and slice and dice everything from vegetables to common items like boneless chicken breasts. This makes a great alternative to a small chef knife. Many people who try a santoku never go back to their old chef knife. The VG10 cutting core and 33-layer stainless Damascus steel makes for a high performance, durable, affordable and good-looking knife.

These knives really are very sharp, with excellent construction quality and they just look spectacular with the layered steel, hammered finish and gorgeous octagonal (and so good for right- or left-hand use) walnut wood handle.

Note: the handle colour may vary, from light to dark. It is made of natural wood, and so variations and imperfections are to be expected and are not considered defects.

The handle is made of natural walnut wood, so it's very light and feels great in the hand, but of course you need to take a bit extra care to keep it dry and clean (and of course NEVER put this -- or any knife -- in the dishwasher). If you like the damascus layered steel look but don't like the artificially high prices by domestic knives and kitchen stores, this is a truly excellent choice. You get a super sharp and long-lasting VG-10 steel cutting core (this is a very hard and high quality knife steel, with a Rockwell hardness of approximately 60), with a 33-layer hammered stainless steel surface and a beautiful and comfortable handle.

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 50/50 (equally on the right and left side), so it's easy to maintain and fine for right or left hand use. If you look carefully at the edge, you'll see a slight right-side bias, this is just because the final edge is so tiny and because of the way they finish the edge; it has NO bearing on right- or left-hand use, sharpening or maintenance and can be ignored, so you should treat the edge just like any standard 50/50 edge.