Articles

One of us showing a Japanese chef's knife to two customers in the workshop at Teknostallen

Your first Japanese knife: one chef's knife is enough

Your first Japanese knife should be one chef's knife: a 210 mm gyuto or a santoku, in stainless steel. Here we cover length, handle, Japanese versus German and what to...

Hand in a pinch grip finely chopping red onion with a Japanese chef's knife on a light wooden board

Knife types

How to hold and use a chef's knife

The pinch grip, the claw hand and the three motions. With them you dice onion and cut herbs and tomato without crushing anything and without your fingers in the way.

Sharpening

How to sharpen your knife on a whetstone

One stone, water and an angle you hold. How to sharpen the knife yourself, step by step, and when it pays to send it to the workshop.

Four Japanese knives, one with a dark forge finish, on blue cloth with a wave pattern

Craft

Carbon steel or stainless: the steel in your knife explained

Carbon steel gets the sharpest and is the easiest to sharpen, stainless copes with a busy kitchen. Hardness, patina, rust and care, and who should choose which.

Sharpening

Natural whetstones: the stones from the mountains near Kyoto

Japanese natural whetstones are quarried in the mountains north of Kyoto and have no grit scale. How they differ from synthetic stones, and when they are worth it.

Beech leather strop with green compound, a bar of Dialux polishing compound and the box on a dark slate surface

Sharpening

Leather strop and honing rod: keeping the edge between sharpenings

The strop and the rod straighten the edge, they do not make a new one. How to use them on a Japanese knife, and how to tell when it needs...

Twelve octagonal knife handles in coloured resin laid out in two rows on a white background

Craft

Wa handle: the wooden handle on Japanese knives

The wa handle is light, sits on the tang without rivets and can be replaced when it wears out. The shapes, the woods and what a new handle costs.

Four Japanese knives with forge finish, damascus pattern and polished edges on a black surface, with a paring knife and scissors

Craft

San mai: Japanese knives built in layers

Most Japanese knives have a hard core between two layers of softer steel. How san mai, ni mai and warikomi are built, and what the layers mean for sharpening.

One of us at the forge, with a glowing blank on its way into the heat

Craft

Honyaki: the knife made from one piece of steel

A honyaki is a Japanese knife forged from one piece of steel, where clay and water give a hard edge and a tough spine. How it is made, and what...

Participants jointing chicken with a honesuki on a boning course at Teknostallen

Knife types

Honesuki: the boning knife for chicken and poultry

The honesuki is the Japanese boning knife for poultry. How to joint a chicken with it, and what it cannot take.

Hands in work gloves holding a knife blade against a sanding belt, sparks flying in a dark Japanese forge

Craft

How a Japanese knife is made: from steel to handle

A Japanese knife passes through the forge, heat treatment, the grinding wheel and the handle maker. What each step does to the knife you end up with.

Hand guiding a Japanese chef's knife through a watermelon on a wooden board

Knife types

Japanese or German knife: the differences that matter

Japanese knives are harder and thinner, German ones take more punishment. The differences in steel, angle, weight and care, and when the German knife is the right choice.

Sharpening

Knife sharpening prices: NOK 149 and NOK 249 per knife

Knife sharpening costs NOK 149 per knife for standard sharpening and NOK 249 for whetstone sharpening. This is what affects the price, in the shop and by post.

The knife wall in the shop at Teknostallen with rows of Saisei IRO knives with coloured handles

Knife types

A Japanese knife as a gift: how to choose

A Japanese knife for the home cook, the beginner and the chef, with price levels, engraving, gift cards and 30-day returns on online orders.

Japanese chef's knives in different lengths and shapes, among them santoku and gyuto

Knife types

Santoku or gyuto: how to choose

The choice between a gyuto and a santoku depends on how you cut, how big your cutting board is and what you cook most. This is how to find the...

Man grilling meat on a konro grill outdoors, with bowls and plates beside it

Kitchen

Konro grill at home: charcoal, yakitori and seafood

A konro is a compact Japanese charcoal grill for direct grilling over high heat. Here is the charcoal, yakitori with a tare recipe, and seafood and vegetables.

Three people outside the Masutani Hamono workshop in Japan

Knife types

Why are Japanese knives so often sold out?

The knife you wanted is sold out, again. Here is why it happens so often with Japanese knives, and what you can do to get hold of it.

Close-up of a hammered damascus blade with a green and blue handle

Craft

VG10 and Ginsan: two stainless steels

VG10 and Ginsan are two of the most widely used stainless steels in Japanese knives. VG10 is made for low maintenance, Ginsan sharpens almost like carbon steel.

Smith in a head covering holding a glowing knife blade in the forge

Craft

Aogami and Shirogami: the blue and the white paper steel

Shirogami and Aogami are Japanese carbon steels from Proterial. Here is the difference between them, what the numbers after the name mean, and how the steels behave in the kitchen...

Santoku with a damascus pattern and wooden handle on a chequered end-grain board

Care

End-grain boards: how to choose one and look after it

On an end-grain board you cut down into the ends of the wood fibres, and the board gives way to the edge. How to choose thickness, wood and size, and...

Five Japanese knives with different blade finishes on an end-grain board

Craft

Tsuchime, kurouchi, damascus and honyaki: what the blade tells you

The layers, the hardening and the surface of a Japanese knife blade are traces of how the knife was made. Here is what they mean for the knife you choose.

Long, narrow knife with a light octagonal wooden handle on blue patterned cloth

Knife types

Yanagiba or sujihiki: which one suits you?

Both are long, thin knives for cutting clean slices. The difference is in the edge, and that decides which one you should have.

Long kiritsuke with a damascus pattern and dark wooden handle on a black leather mat

Knife types

Bunka and kiritsuke: the chef's knives with the angled tip

Bunka and the modern kiritsuke are chef's knives with an angled, dropped tip. Here is the difference between them, the traditional kiritsuke, and who the shapes suit.

Hands in black gloves holding a deba with a thick blade

Knife types

Deba: the knife for fish and poultry

Heavy blade, thick spine and an edge ground on one side only. The deba is built for breaking down fish, and for little else.