sachem allison
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2011
- Messages
- 4,306
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Hello, guys
A couple of months ago I posted a vintage deba that I received asking for some ID help. We weren't able to find out who made the knife and the only Kanji on it said "Sanyo" which is a knife making region in Japan also spelled "Sanjo". I brought it to Korin hoping to get some assistance from them. Ms. Kawano was there and said the piece is very old and very well made but, she couldn't tell me who made it. She said the Kanji was hand chiseled and very well done. I left the knife with them for Mr. Sugai to sharpen and he says pretty much the same thing. He thinks it was made by a small maker maybe 50 years ago and it is very well made. He says it takes a very excellent edge and that he sharpened it good enough to chop heads off in one whack. I asked what type of steel, he says really no way of knowing but, perhaps virgin Swedish carbon steel and quite possibly Honyaki as there doesn't appear to be a core steel or any lamination lines at all. There is a slight over-grind at the heel and some little micro chips at the same spot but, nothing that won't come out in one sharpening. The blade is around 210-215mm. It has what I believe to be a burnt Hinoki wood handle as the texture and feel doesn't feel or look the same as Ho wood. It has and internal metal supporting collar. I have seen this in a few vintage sushi knives and it was fairly common 50 years ago. The Ura appears to have been hand scraped with a sen as there are scrape marks not associated with sharpening on the hollow side. If you put a little elbow grease into it you could make it look new again. If you want to see how they made knives 50 years or more ago then keep it the same. This is not the same type of knife you will get today. This is an old school knife made by a knife maker with no power hammers and modern electric tools, using a charcoal forge and handmade hammers. $300.00 shipping conus included. international pm me we'll work something out
A couple of months ago I posted a vintage deba that I received asking for some ID help. We weren't able to find out who made the knife and the only Kanji on it said "Sanyo" which is a knife making region in Japan also spelled "Sanjo". I brought it to Korin hoping to get some assistance from them. Ms. Kawano was there and said the piece is very old and very well made but, she couldn't tell me who made it. She said the Kanji was hand chiseled and very well done. I left the knife with them for Mr. Sugai to sharpen and he says pretty much the same thing. He thinks it was made by a small maker maybe 50 years ago and it is very well made. He says it takes a very excellent edge and that he sharpened it good enough to chop heads off in one whack. I asked what type of steel, he says really no way of knowing but, perhaps virgin Swedish carbon steel and quite possibly Honyaki as there doesn't appear to be a core steel or any lamination lines at all. There is a slight over-grind at the heel and some little micro chips at the same spot but, nothing that won't come out in one sharpening. The blade is around 210-215mm. It has what I believe to be a burnt Hinoki wood handle as the texture and feel doesn't feel or look the same as Ho wood. It has and internal metal supporting collar. I have seen this in a few vintage sushi knives and it was fairly common 50 years ago. The Ura appears to have been hand scraped with a sen as there are scrape marks not associated with sharpening on the hollow side. If you put a little elbow grease into it you could make it look new again. If you want to see how they made knives 50 years or more ago then keep it the same. This is not the same type of knife you will get today. This is an old school knife made by a knife maker with no power hammers and modern electric tools, using a charcoal forge and handmade hammers. $300.00 shipping conus included. international pm me we'll work something out
