Requesting help with information about this Japanese knife.

I know this knife is a kikuichi (the chrysanthemum gives it away), but I know nothing else about it. The blade is definitely carbon. It's shaped like a Bano Ko-Bocho, but that is a style almost strictly Takeda. After hours of searching online, I can't find another Kikuichi like it. Does anyone know anything about this knife? I would love to know what kind of steel it is made from. It sharpens like a White #2 carbon, but it feels more like a blue #2 when I use it and touch the blade, so I'm not certain. Any help is appreciated. The blade is only 4" long.

What does the other side look like? 3"-er?

looks like one of those chestnut peeling knives. single sided grind from the looks of it.

could also be a small kamagata usuba... those exist too. but kuri muki is possible as well.

JBroida said:

could also be a small kamagata usuba...

Click to expand...

That's what I figured it was.

It isn't single bevel. It has an asymmetric 70/30 edge. After using it on the line last night, I'm convinced it's a white carbon so I'm pretty sure it is white #2. Thank you for all the help so far. I have searched everywhere I can and talked to everyone I know about knives and I can't figure out anything about it other than it's a kikuichi and the things I've already mentioned. I'm going to try sending an email to Kikuichi to see if they can identify it.

Could it be have been a suji or guyto that was broken and then reground? The kanji seem awfully big for a knife that small, at least compared to the Kikuichis I have seen or owned?

There are no signs that it has been reground or broken in any way. The chef that I got it from said that he bought it new like that, but he couldn't remember anything about it since it has been so long since he bought it. He couldn't even remember the maker, I only recognized it as a Kikuichi because of the chrysanthemum (I suck at kanji identification).

Edit: The handle is also way too small and the blade too thin to belong to a bigger knife. So if it was ever broken and reground, there was a hell of a lot of work put into it via thinning, grinding the tang down and fitting a smaller handle to match the blade, which is very unlikely.

I'd say it's a kawamuki. The plastic ferrule indicates it's from their tatsutogi line, so it's probably SK4.

http://www.kikuichi.com/catalog/kiku1-33_17.pdf

considering the double bevel nature, i would have to agree

I got a reply from Kikuichi. You are right, it is a Kikuichi Tatsutogi Kawamuki parer. They did specify that it is solely for vegetables, so by calling it a parer, I think they meant it to be a kamagata usuba. Thank you everyone for the help. The tatustogi steel explains why I had an issue identifying it. The ferrule isn't plastic as you specified though, it is water buffalo horn.

Isn't this forum great?

I was under the impression all the tatsutogi line had plastic ferrules, and the step down from the handle to ferrule usually suggests plastic too. My mistake.