Somewhat Off-Topic - Japanese Kitchen Knifemaker Family

[ddavelarsen]

These guys are so utterly cool I had to point it out. Good shop tour (Roger, there's an idea for keeping your belts wet) and so many great photos of their knives and methods it's boggling...

Wantanabe - The Blade Craftsman

I'm wondering whether to invite them here, actually. Seven generations of traditional Japanese knifemaking experience would be a real asset! Anyway, enjoy.

Dave

 

[Guy Thomas]

Not off topic at all Dave in my opinion. I can't wait until I have a bit more time to check it out thoroughly. I was almost late to work this morning looking it over!

 

[Sweany]

Gotta love that Junkyard hammer

 

[RokJok]

I bumped into Shinichi Watanabe at last fall's Northwest Knife Collectors show in Puyallup, WA. He happened to be in the USA at the time visiting his cousin in Spokane, so brought some wares over to the show. He's a very personable guy to talk to, in spite of language issues. I got a santuko kitchen knife for my wife from him. It has a white steel core with wrought iron wrapping. It came at a pretty reasonable price ($70'ish) and it is just insanely sharp.

Shinichi-san enjoys a good reputation on the Kitchen Knives forum at Knifeforums.com. Seem to be lots of stories of knives being made, shipped, and arriving in the USA within 4-5 days of being ordered from him. Incredible! I highly recommend his work as a reasonably priced, extremely high quality traditional alternative to the (IMHO overpriced) European commercial kitchen blades.