Description

Takeshi Saji gold vg10 nakiri 170mm is a traditional Japanese blade, it is the ambidextrous version of a Usuba. This blade is intended for cutting vegetables mainly.

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). His goal 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 Gold Damascus series which takes its name from the colorful Damascus that characterizes the blades. Saji-san added alternating brass notches in the bending of the steel to achieve this pattern. Despite the presence of brass, this Damascus steel is stainless. The core of the blade is made of vg10 steel, with a hardness of 61-62 HRC (Hardness Rockwell “C”). This alloy is one of the most used in knife making, and it can acquire incredible mechanical properties when worked by masters like Saji-san.

The handle

The handle is made with stabilized blackash burl, copper and resin spacer with gold leaf inclusions, boxelder burl ferrule.

Technical sheet

Here is more detailed information for the Takeshi Saji Gold vg10 nakiri 170mm:

Blacksmith: Takeshi Saji

series: Gold

steel: vg10 with stainless coating

type: nakiri 170mm

length: 16.7cm

blade thickness: 1.6 mm

blade height: 5.1 cm

weight: 166 g