Description

Takeshi Saji Ginsan yanagiba 300mm is a traditional Japanese blade. The yanagiba is a single bevel blade used to slice meat and fish. Mainly it is used to process raw proteins.

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.

When we talk about Saji-san we think directly of his blades with Damascus steel patterns, one more beautiful than the other. This is not the case here, we could define this piece as a “rare nugget”. Saji-san makes very, very few single bevel blades. The core of the blade is Ginsan steel, with a hardness of 61-62 HRC (Hardness Rockwell “C”). This alloy is an excellent compromise for those looking for super sharp blades thanks to their high carbon content. But also offers us a very good resistance to oxidation thanks to a sufficiently high rate of chromium in the alloy.

The handle

The handle is made of stabilized and dyed boxelder burl, with resin and brass spacers.

Technical sheet

Here is more detailed information for the Takeshi Saji Ginsan yanagiba 300mm:

Blacksmith: Takeshi Saji

steel: Ginsan (stainless)

type: yanagiba 300mm

length: 29.5cm

blade thickness at heel: 3.2 mm

thickness of the blade at the tip: 1 mm

blade height: 3.73 cm

weight: 220 g