Vintage Yoshikane 240mm Wa-Gyuto SKD Tsuchime with New Old Stock Ho & Horn Handle

Very, very lighlty used (maybe only sharpened and not used to cut with?). This is a thicker vintage blade newly fitted with a new old stock D shaped ho wood and horn handle from a collection purchased at Bernal Cutlery between 2013 and 2017, a throwback to older production. Comes with box.

Yoshikane’s stainless clad SKD has the nicest looking tsuchime hammer-marked finish in my opinion and the forging and grinding is excellent. Yoshikane’s heat treatment is characterized by its smooth easy sharpening feeling (it does not feel like 64RHC), excellent edge formation and good edge life, Yoshikane’s forged in geometry and fine grinding make for incredibly smooth cutting and their wide bevels are exceptionally even and flat making for super easy thinning.

SKD steel is a nearly stainless carbon steel at approx 11-12% chromium content (13% and the chromium is able to bond with itself forming a stain resistant film) it is sometimes referred to as ‘semi stainless’ as it rusts slowly and has low reactivity with flavors.

Hardened to 64 HRC, these knives hold a keen edge for a long time, owing to thier excellent heat treatment and despite this hardness they have a good degree of toughness and are very easy to sharpen. Being ground with a wide, kiriba primary bevel, they also allow for easy thinning down the road, especially as Yoshikane kireba grinds are especially flat.

Yoshikane is headed by Kazuomi Yamamoto the fourth generation to operate this family run forging and grinding operation in Sanjo, Niigata which has been making kitchen knives since 1919. They deserve their good reputation for excellent forging and heat treatments, which make for easy sharpening and great edge life for both single and double bevel knives. This is especially true about the thin grinds provided on their double bevel knives. For middleweight Japanese knives, they cut like a much thinner blade.