Kitchen Knife Glossary redux

Shop Knives and stones on ebay
Advertise with us
Miura knives
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Maybe this:

Recurve - any area in which all or part of the edge or spine of a knife is on the inside of a curve.
 
Last edited:
@RDalman beat ya to it :cool:
1613631329680.png
 
Recurve (n): another curve. Like, there was a curve, but this is totally like another curve. It’s like the one curve wasn’t enough, and then there was this curve on top of it that was totally badass, and like the first curve was like “woah dude, stop cramping my style” but the second curve was all like “read my curves, straightedge!”.
 
The reason I posted anything on this thread is that this latest definition (sometimes word for word) has in fact been assumed to be the correct one by certain illustrious members of KKF. :)
 
ian said:
Sun: A traditional Japanese unit of measure, equal to 3.03 milimeters or 1.19 inches
Click to expand...
Proposed change:

Sun: A traditional Japanese unit of measure, equal to 30.3 millimetres (1.19 inches or one tenth of a foot), often a unit for knife lengths
 
Southpaw said:
What’s the Japanese word that describes the asymmetric convex grind?
It starts with an H I think?
Click to expand...

You thinking of hamaguri or "clam shell"? Does that have anything to do with asymmetry? I thought it just meant a convex grind on a wide bevel, whether single or double bevel, asymmetric or symmetric.
 
I'm a little confused what's happening there. Is that a reflection at the bottom, or? It's definitely convex on the left side in the pic.

I've only heard people use hamaguri to refer to the kind of sharpening of a wide bevel or single bevel knife that results in a subtle convexity on the bevel. If you have a knife that has an entirely convex blade face, I'm not sure if people call it a hamaguri grind. At least, people around here don't seem to. They just say it's convex.
 
ian said:
I'm a little confused what's happening there. Is that a reflection at the bottom, or? It's definitely convex on the left side in the pic.

I've only heard people use hamaguri to refer to the kind of sharpening of a wide bevel or single bevel knife that results in a subtle convexity on the bevel. If you have a knife that has an entirely convex blade face, I'm not sure if people call it a hamaguri grind. At least, people around here don't seem to. They just say it's convex.
Click to expand...

Lol so the answer is No.
 
Delat said:
I’ve been searching for definitions of hamono and no hamono, could I request those be added? @ian
Click to expand...

Hamono essentially means “sharp cutting tool” or something iirc, although it’s used in the same way “knives/blades” is used in

Dalman Knives
Vachon Knives
Kippington Blades

etc… so that effectively it designates a knife shop. I think “no” is just a preposition. Google translate just lists it as “of”, but I don’t know any Japanese, so I’m just guessing.

“Dalman of the Knife”?

Idk.

I can’t edit the original posts anymore (@Angie?) but probably someone who knows Japanese should write this entry.
 
ian said:
Hamono essentially means “sharp cutting tool” or something iirc, although it’s used in the same way “knives/blades” is used in

Dalman Knives
Vachon Knives
Kippington Blades

etc… so that effectively it designates a knife shop. I think “no” is just a preposition. Google translate just lists it as “of”, but I don’t know any Japanese, so I’m just guessing.

“Dalman of the Knife”?

Idk.

I can’t edit the original posts anymore (@Angie?) but probably someone who knows Japanese should write this entry.
Click to expand...
'Blades' is technically a more accurate translation, because hamono can be other things besides knives. But 'blades' sounds wrong in English for a kitchen knife maker. Sounds more appropriate for a knife sold at a gas station with a recurve edge and rambo serrations on the spine (I blame the vampire movie). Unless they sell chisels or something else too, I think it should be 'knives.'

'No' has other meanings but in this case it's a possessive particle. Yes you could translate it as 'of' if you reverse the word order. So Takada no Hamono could technically be "Blades of Takada," but that sounds super weebish. "Takada's Knives" isn't great either, makes it seem like a mom and pop operation set up on a folding table at a flea market.

In the end all translation is a judgment call based on context. Generally I don't feel proper nouns should be translated, because style is so crucial and meaning vastly less so when you're referring to one unambiguous individual or organization. It makes even less sense on a dedicated knife forum talking about knife makers. So I think Takada no Hamono should be "Takada no Hamono" 😛
 
hamono: "blade things" :)

some kkf-specific stuff to add:

tftftftftftftftf

fffffffffffff

i honestly don't know what these mean.
 
sansho said:
hamono: "blade things" :)

some kkf-specific stuff to add:

tftftftftftftftf

fffffffffffff

i honestly don't know what these mean.
Click to expand...

Hah, I haven’t been able to edit the OP for a while. (@Angie?) But

tftftftftftftftf

means

Teruyasu Fujiwara Teruyasu Fujiwara Teruyasu Fujiwara Teruyasu Fujiwara Teruyasu Fujiwara Teruyasu Fujiwara Teruyasu Fujiwara Teruyasu Fujiwara,

who is (a 30000th generation bladesmith that some people are in love with, and some people think has no quality control)^8.

fffffff is probably something one can sound out, unless there’s new lingo I don’t know
 
Last edited:
I got the info below from the incredibly knowledgeable @KenHash
Hamono is cutlery, and includes anything that has a blade. Knives, swords, scissors, scythes (kama), axes hatches, nata, razors etc, Anything that has a blade.
"No" in Japanese means "of". The grammatical sequence is backwards from English though.

DELAT NO NAIFU .....literally "Knife of Delat".....Delat's knife.

So Yoshikane no Hamono.....is simply Yoshikane's cutlery
Click to expand...
 
Huh! How about that... Hey @ian I wanted to see what KKF said about the relationship between bolsters and finger guards (stabilisers?). Neither are in the glossary!

To me, it is a non-commutative property 😋 . Finger guards (almost?) always imply bolsters.... but bolsters dont necessarily imply finger guards
 
Interesting. I have never seen a knife with a finger guard and no bolster!
 
stringer said:
According to @Benuser and @McMan the Sabatier's like that were colloquially referred to as "Canadians". But there were also American blades produced this way like this Clyde from 1963.

View attachment 148074
Click to expand...
The French makers call them Canadians, as they were meant for export. The home market did expect a Nogent, and later a full tang, with a virole or a full bolster. The same are very common by German makers. See the Herder 1922 and the famous Henckels 102.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top