The most essential knife for the kitchen which no chef can be without.

The gyutos meaning is “Cow sword” in Japan as gyu means “Beef” and to means “Sword” this is also known as a Chef’s knife or French knife. It is the one and first knife all chef’s/cooks needs in their kitchen. When buying your first gyuto you have to consider how and what will be built around your first knife as it will do the majority of the work in your kitchen. 

Gyutos like chef’s knives go from 150mm up to 370mm which is massive, when starting out go for something in the range of 180mm to 210mm depending on the size of your hands. Later you can go for a larger chef’s knife like a 260mm to 280mm which can be used for larger jobs like cabbages, large dicing and meat cuts like beef sirloins and fillets.

Honyaki is another answer to the deformation of a knife that can occur over time. Instead of forge-welding different hardness of steels, it is forged by a single piece of steel. Instead of hardening it the same way throughout the entire area of the blade, (which would make it so fragile that it would break in half if dropped on a hard surface) they use a technique called differential heat quenching to give it different hardnesses throughout the blade.

The blacksmith prepares the blade before quenching by coating it in clay. A thin layer of clay is applied to the bottom of the blade along the edge. A very thick layer of clay is applied to the spine. By doing this, the spine will not get as hot and not cool down as fast when quenched in water so it does not harden at the same rate as the edge side. This extreme differential heat treatment can only be done in those steel that has low quenchability. It is true that some Honyaki knives are made with blue carbon steel or even stainless steel, but real, true Honyaki is usually made with white #1 or #2 and water quenched.

Shirogami #2, or White Steel #2, is one of the most common types of high-carbon knife steels, particularly when forging handcrafted traditional Japanese kitchen knives. While the composition of Shirogami #2 (White Steel #2) is virtually the same as Shirogami #1, the carbon content is slightly less (1.0-1.2% carbon). This allows the knife to be less prone to chipping and is generally preferred by most chefs, given the option of White Steel knives. It is also easier to sharpen than Shirogami #1. Both White Steel #1 and White Steel #2 allow Japanese chefs to make very fine, particular cuts of fish, vegetables, and garnish.

Weight: 220g

Handle Material: Black, Ebony with Silver Ring

Handle Length: 137mm (5.3")

Blade Length: 200mm (7.8")

Blade Depth: 45mm

Thickness at spine: 2.8mm

Thickness at tip: 0.3mm

Cutting Edge: Double 50/50

Blade Material: White 2

Hardness (Rockwell scale): 62 - 63

Layers: 3