Takeshi Saji Rainbow Damascus santoku EN

Takeshi Saji is one of the pillars of Japanese cutlery, with his 83 years of age including 56 years of experience in forging, he is a pioneer in the creation of unusual Damascus steel patterns. He has announced his retirement, so his creations will be increasingly difficult to find.

Saji-san with other pillars like Katsushige Anryu, Hiroshi Kato among others, in the year 2000 created the Takefu Knife Village (Takefu Knife Village). Its goal was to bring together blacksmiths in the area so that they could work together and share their knowledge, but also to inspire new generations to continue this tradition.

Today, many world-famous blacksmiths work side by side in the village of Takefu, such as Yu Kurosaki, Yoshimi Kato, Takumi Ikeda and even Takeshi Saji among others.

Blacksmith: Takeshi Saji
series: Rainbow damascus
steel: VG10
type: santoku
length: 16.6cm
thickness of blade at heel: 1.8 mm
thickness of the blade at the tip: 0.5 mm
blade height: 4.9 cm
weight: 131 gr

For this blade we chose a handle made from stabilized boxelder burl, resin and bronze spacers, resin ferrule.

This blade is part of the Rainbow Damascus series which takes its name from the colorful Damascus which characterizes the blades. Saji-san added alternating layers of brass and copper in the bending of the steel to achieve this pattern. Despite the presence of copper and brass, this steel is stainless. The core of the blade is made of vg10 steel, with a hardness of 62 HRC (Hardness Rockwell “C”).