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simona said:


is a film of Okubo Kajiya working making a, yes I do not know the name, a farm tool, a hoe...?



is a very warm and I think sympathetic film about him and his son working together. I especially enjoy seeing the regular folk, the women cooking at home, the local sushi chef, using his knives. Cool and relaxed is the atmosphere I pick up.

and finally -



is a very short film of him and his son working silently together.

I will steal some text from the very fine Michael of www.knifejapan.com who provides a warm description of this smith.

Enjoy.

Tokushima Prefecture lies between the knife-making powerhouses of Sakai city in Osaka Prefecture and Tosa city in Kochi Prefecture. From a smithy point of view things have always been fairly quiet in Tokushima.

But nestled in a small valley just far enough from Tokushima City to be called the country, there's a small, elven-like forge producing traditional edge tools of wonderful quality.

Okubo Kajiya is the sole knife maker in the prefecture and without a great deal of information to uncover beforehand we weren't quite sure what to expect on our first visit. What we found was a rich spirit of craftsmanship, and that welcoming generosity that makes traveling around Japan such a pleasure.

Wow. What an experience. The kind of experience that makes all we do at Knife Japan more fascinating with each passing year. Seated inches from Okubo san's anvil and forge we witnessed a wonderful demonstration of the craft. Great cleaving strikes of the long hammer through to delicate final shaping, all the while the younger Mr Okubo sharing a patient and thoughtful explanation of his father's work throughout the forging process. Wonderful.

Output from this small family concern is modest, and there's usually a wait involved in purchasing one of Okubo san's fine knives. But what will arrive will be a beautifully-executed hand-crafted tool, with lovely cutting feel right out of the box.View attachment 239068View attachment 239069View attachment 239070
Click to expand...

two interesting write ups about Okubo. the second one mentions a book (or magazine?) written about him but I couldn’t track it down

https://www.east-tokushima.jp/feature/detail.php?id=147
https://sotokoto-online.jp/sustainability/1118
 
@Choppin

1. The hammering by the sharpened is indeed to straighten the knife. It needs to be done before and throughout the sharpening process. Removal of steel can cause the knife to warp. The knife heating up from the wheel can cause it to bend. The force applied to push the knife onto the rotating wheel can cause it to bend. A big hammer is used for bulk straightening. A chisel carbide hammer is used for warps. A handheld metal block is used to hammer iron on the blade road to bend the edge to make the ura contact there.

2. The spine isn't as heat-sensitive as other parts of the knife, so a different wheel that runs hotter is fine. Also, all use of the wheel wears down the wheel in that shape, just like a sharpening stone. So a separate wheel helps for that. And there are multiple different wheels for finishing or different grits. Varies by maker of course

Yeah though, you're right about your assumptions or observations
 
refcast said:
@Choppin

1. The hammering by the sharpened is indeed to straighten the knife. It needs to be done before and throughout the sharpening process. Removal of steel can cause the knife to warp. The knife heating up from the wheel can cause it to bend. The force applied to push the knife onto the rotating wheel can cause it to bend. A big hammer is used for bulk straightening. A chisel carbide hammer is used for warps. A handheld metal block is used to hammer iron on the blade road to bend the edge to make the ura contact there.

2. The spine isn't as heat-sensitive as other parts of the knife, so a different wheel that runs hotter is fine. Also, all use of the wheel wears down the wheel in that shape, just like a sharpening stone. So a separate wheel helps for that. And there are multiple different wheels for finishing or different grits. Varies by maker of course

Yeah though, you're right about your assumptions or observations
Click to expand...
thanks, that’s very interesting

I thought I knew a thing or two about thinning / repairs from my double bevel projects on bench stones but single bevels and machinery work is a whole other universe…
 
A couple of old kanna are on their way to me so I can practice polishing wrought iron. It's looking down into a new rabbit hole, and with that in mind I came across




"In this video, we are in Yoita, Niigata, Japan spending the day with Mr. Funatsu, the Japanese Master of Traditional Crafts, making a Kanna (鉋) blade"

where you can see the process, learn a little of the history of Japanese railroad steel, uses for borax and generally enjoy an expert craftsman at work.
The carpenter whose channel it is, is also worth exploring; he visits some interesting events along the way.
Enjoy.
 
Tofu knife. I think the second time I've seen it mentioned online.

https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/u1090465078#&gid=1&pid=2
Screenshot_20230510-000046.png
Screenshot_20230510-000107.png
 
I've tried sukehisa and they have a couple lines, nihonko and swedish steel. I tried the nihonko and it was very similar to masakane in grind and steel. Steel was slightly slightly better. Haven't used the site though
 
Choppin said:
interesting. have you tried them?

looks a lot like vintage Minamoto no Masakane knives.
Click to expand...
I sell Minamoto Sukehisa, among other vintage brand knives. I think they are great quality and they were produced on the Tokyo area which is cool because there's not many knives coming from there anymore. I believe they made OEM knives too.

They are getting harder to find as production has stopped (Masayasu Yoshitomo was born 1936 so fairly sure he's not forging) so anything you find will be old stock.
 
refcast said:
I've tried sukehisa and they have a couple lines, nihonko and swedish steel. I tried the nihonko and it was very similar to masakane in grind and steel. Steel was slightly slightly better. Haven't used the site though
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly, I contacted them a few years ago, and they told me they did not ship outside Japan.
Which is a shame for those of us not living there :(
 
This was posted a while back in an old knife forum I think, I remember seeing it. But the info is really really good. Suisin blog on knife making and sharpening

https://www.suisin.co.jp/toku02/index.html
https://suisin.co.jp/appearance-of-aike/Aike is serious delam and separation of iron and steel, as opposed to the black delam that is good

アイケ 鍛接不良

Why takohiki and some usuba have the step near the tip (more practical to manufacture, because to make one without it means it's easier to mess up while grinding on the vertical waterwheel, less area to contact the wheel)

https://suisin.co.jp/thin-blade-and-tip-of-octopus/
 
Last edited:
https://www.pref.hiroshima.lg.jp/site/hiroshima-summit/gift.html
is a list of the gifts given to leaders and others at the recent G7 summit in Hiroshima, very kindly passed on to me by Michael at Knifejapan. Scroll down and you will find a small tamhagane paper knife made by Sadanao Mikami and presensted to Mr. Zelensky, among others with a thoughtful text accompanying it. If the OP thinks this is not the place for this, let me know and I will remove it.
Cheers.
 
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