orn in 1950, knifesmith Hideo Kitaoka works in Takefu Village, Echizen in Fukui Prefecture. He learned his craft from his father in Echizen as a child. He is known for traditional style knife making with single grinds and does excellent work in a variety of carbon steels. . He specializes in the production of high quality, traditional Japanese blades. In 1980, Echizen was the first production center for forged blades to be awarded the nationally recognized Traditional Craft Product accolade.

The cutting edge is forged from Blue Steel No.2 also known as Aoniko. Forged to a very hard Rockwell hardness of 63:64 these knives have extremely long edge retention and are less brittle than some carbon steel blades.

He says, although sometimes he faces difficulties, when he achieve to create number of blades by for forging read iron bar by hand, he feels satisfaction and loves of making knives. He is the third generation of Kitaoka Knives.

Specifications:
Knife Type:Deba Chef Knife
Steel Type: Blue Steel No.2 
Blade Type: Single-edged Blade
Blade Length: 165mm
Blade Height: 49mm
Blade Thickness: 7.3mm
Handle Length: 130mm
Weight: 277g
Handle Material: Rosewood

 Use & Care

- Do not attempt to cut, hit or chop frozen products or bones. The blade can chip or break.
- Hand wash with warm water and towel dry.
- Use a sharpening stone to maintain the sharpness of the blade.