Tsunehisa Gyuto AS Tsuchime 240mm is a multi-purpose Japanese kitchen knife, suited for preparing meat, fish and vegetables. Gyuto translates to something like ‘beef sword’, which indicates its affinity for cutting meat. Especially longer gyutos, such as this beauty by Tsunehisa can be utilized for slicing larger pieces of meat and preparing sashimi, as well as tackling any other produce needed for a nicely rounded meal.

Aogami Super steel is great for achieving a fine sharpness, which is necessary for smooth, precise cuts that Japanese cuisine dictates – the less damage your blade does to the cell walls of your produce, the more of its ripeness and flavor it preserves. This concept is called shun, and it describes the essence of the season, food that can be enjoyed locally and seasonally.

BLADE SHAPE:

Gyuto is the most versatile and useful blade shape in the modern kitchen. It has a wide profile for easy food transfer and tends to be fairly flat towards the heel, enabling easy and fast chopping on the cutting board. A pointed tip allows piercing and precise, delicate work. A slight curve between the tip and the midsection makes the belly great for rocking the blade back and forth when cutting. It can be used for cutting meat, fish and vegetables.

STEEL:

Aogami Super is the crème de la crème when it comes to high-carbon Japanese steels. If you’re looking for the finest sharpness, this is the steel you should be looking at. It is also very easy to sharpen, and the blades can be forged very thin. It has great wear resistance due to high amounts of tungsten and chromium, the latter also adding to its corrosion resistance. This doesn’t mean that Aogami Super blades will resist corrosion as well as stainless steels, as they will develop a patina, while leaving them exposed to water or other food acids could even result in rusting (so don’t forget to wipe them dry after use!). If you’re willing to just put this extra attention to the knife’s maintenance, though, you will be rewarded with a fine sharpness like no other. Aogami Super is made up of carbon (C) 1.50%, tungsten (W) 2.50%, vanadium (V) 0.50%, chromium (Cr) 0.50%, manganese (Mn) 0.30%, silicon (Si) 0.20%.

LAMINATION:

High-carbon steel is hard, but brittle for this same reason. This makes the blades more prone to breakage and chipping. To prevent that, blacksmiths "sandwich" (san-mai) the blade’s core, made from Aogami #2 steel, between two layers of softer steel. This improves the blade’s flexibility and toughness.

GEOMETRY:

It has a double bevel (symmetrical) blade.

BLADE FINISH:

Hammered finish, also known as tsuchime finish was achieved by striking the blade repeatedly, until subtle imprints were left – this also helps with food stickage when cutting, as it will separate from the blade more easily.

HANDLE:

This western style (Yo) handle is made from red pakka wood. It will balance the long blade nicely.

ABOUT THE BLACKSMITH:

Tsunehisa is a brand that combines a variety of high quality knives from different knife centers in Japan such as Tosa, Seki and Sakai. Their philosophy is that each region has its own steel and different manufacturing processes. For example, Tosa is known for its Ginsanko and Aus-8 steels, Seki is famous for producing excellent blades from the V-Gold steel group, and Sakai for its single-edged Honyaki knives.