Description

Takeshi Saji rainbow aogami gyuto 180mm is the equivalent of a chef’s knife. The gyuto was traditionally used for cutting large pieces of meat. Today it is a blade that lends itself to a much wider range of use.

History and curiosity

Takeshi Saji is one of the pillars of Japanese cutlery, with his 83 years including 56 years of experience in forging, he is a pioneer in the creation of extraordinary 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 village of the knife of Takefu (Takefu Knife Village). Its aim was to bring together the blacksmiths of 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.

This blade is part of the Rainbow Damascus series which takes its name from the colorful Damascus that characterizes the blades. Saji-san added alternating brass and copper notches 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 #2 Aogami steel (Japanese blue steel), with a hardness of 62-63 HRC (Hardness Rockwell “C”). This alloy is less reactive than Shirogami steel, but it has better wire retention, while still being very easy to stone maintain.

The handle

For this blade we’ve chose an handle with sober colors but at the same time with character. Handle made of black onyx stone, silver nickel spacers, curly maple ferrule and white ebony bottom cap.

Technical sheet

Here is more detailed information for the Takeshi Saji rainbow aogami gyuto 180mm:

Blacksmith: Takeshi Saji

series: rainbow damascus

steel: Aogami #2 with stainless coating

type: gyuto 180mm

length: 18.9cm

thickness at heel: 2 mm

thickness at the tip: 0.4 mm

blade height: 4.5cm

weight: 159 g