• Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang
  • Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang – detail view
  • Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang – side profile
  • Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang – handle detail
  • Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang – blade close-up
  • Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang – view 6
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Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang

Santoku 190mm 60 layer Damascus Full Tang

By Martin Huber

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Martin Huber

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A cool and classy piece from Martin Huber. This 190mm Santoku features a full tang handle, carbon pins and a beautifully figured piece of stabilised poplar burl, not to mention the incredibly tight, in-house forged Damascus.

The 190mm blade is somewhat Santoku meets Bunka with it nice pointed tip. The blade is a delight to work with, featuring a fantastic chopping action and just enough curve for a decent push/pull cutting stroke.

The beautiful handle feels very comfortable in the hand with a classic coke bottle profile. The carbon fibre pins adding a subtle and cool element to a super classy piece of wood.

Martin excels at this kind of thing. Dramatic layered steels paired with vibrant, premium handle materials and perfect fit and finish.

Product Specification
  • Blade Type:
  • Edge Length: 190mm
  • Spine Heel: 2.75mm
  • Spine Mid: 2.45mm
  • Spine Tip (20mm before): 1.35mm
  • Blade Height: 57.4mm
  • Weight: 206g
  • Cutting Edge Steel:
  • Steel class: Carbon
  • HRC: 62+
  • Blade Construction:
  • Blade Finish: Brute de Forge, Acid Etched (Forced Patina)
  • Grind:
  • Handle Construction:
  • Handle Materials: Stabilised Brown Poplar Burl, Carbon Pins
  • Handedness: Ambidextrous

Blade type

Santoku

三徳

A shorter, lighter all-purpose knife — usually 165 to 180 mm — built around the same "three virtues" the name describes: meat, fish, and vegetables. The edge is flatter than a gyuto's, with a rounded, sheepsfoot-style tip, favouring a straight up-and-down push cut over a rocking motion. Its compact length and modest height make it easy to control, which has made it the default home-kitchen knife across much of the world.

The santoku trades reach and tip precision for manageability. The flatter profile and shorter blade suit smaller hands, smaller boards, and cooks who chop rather than rock, but those same dimensions limit it on large proteins and tall vegetables where a longer, taller blade does the work more easily. Think of it as a gyuto's more approachable counterpart rather than a replacement.

View full knife type guide →

Cutting edge steel

Damascus

Pattern-welded composite construction (term, not an alloy)

Typical HRC
Determined by core / outer steel
Corrosion class
Varies
Production
Pattern-welded
Origin
Global

“Damascus” is a construction technique rather than a single steel — though that deserves a careful qualification. A damascus billet is built by forge-welding alternating layers of two or more steels — typically a higher- and a lower-carbon partner, or a contrasting-nickel pair — and then folding, twisting, ladder-cutting, or otherwise manipulating the billet to expose the layer interfaces in a pattern. The visual interest comes from the etch, which preferentially attacks one of the steels. A damascus billet is never melted and homogenised into a single chemistry the way a conventional alloy is; but once the layers are forge-welded they are bonded at a molecular level, so for every practical purpose the finished billet behaves as one steel.

For a kitchen knife the relevant question is always: what is the cutting steel? Damascus reaches the edge in two ways. In clad damascus the pattern-welded material is only a decorative jacket wrapped around a separate core — a stainless core such as AEB-L or MagnaCut, or a carbon core such as 26C3 or Apex Ultra — and it is that core, not the jacket, that does the cutting. In full damascus the entire blade is pattern-welded (the more common approach in custom Western work), and the cutting edge is formed by the harder of the laminate’s component steels.

This is one of the points where a customer-facing entry has to be honest: a beautiful damascus pattern is a craft achievement, but it does not on its own tell you how the knife will cut. The cutting steel does that — and a good maker will always list both the pattern and the steel behind the edge.

View full steel guide →

Blade construction

Damascus

Damascus, or pattern-welded steel, is made by forge-welding multiple layers of different alloys together, then manipulating that billet — through folding, twisting, ladder-cutting and similar techniques — to disrupt the layer interfaces and create a distinctive pattern. The pattern is revealed by acid etching, which attacks the alloys at different rates, darkening some layers while leaving others bright.

The result is a single, unified steel. It may be used purely decoratively as an outer cladding layer, or on its own in a solid “mono-Damascus” construction. Because the finished steel is a blend, its hardness and toughness are dictated entirely by the alloys chosen to go into it — which makes steel selection especially important to evaluate in a mono-Damascus knife, where the pattern-welded material forms the cutting edge itself.

You may also encounter “super Damascus,” a name given to pattern-welded steel made from high-performance, high-toughness alloys. These steels are more difficult to forge-weld successfully, and that added challenge is reflected in their value.

View full construction guide →

Grind

Convex

A grind whose bevel bulges outward in a gentle curve from spine to edge, rather than running flat. That extra steel directly behind the edge makes a convex grind notably strong and resistant to chipping, while the curved geometry helps food release and lets the blade glide through dense ingredients with less wedging than a flat grind.

The strength comes at the cost of ultimate thinness and ease of maintenance. A convex edge has more metal behind it, so it is not quite as effortlessly keen as a thinly flat-ground edge, and it is harder to sharpen freehand — holding the curve takes a stropping technique or a deliberate hand rather than a single fixed angle. The reward is an exceptionally tough, smooth-cutting edge.

View full grind guide →

Handle construction

Full Tang

A construction in which the blade steel runs the full length and width of the handle, forming a flat core between two handle scales. The scales are fixed to either face of the tang with pins, rivets, or adhesive, and the tang's outline stays visible as a strip of steel around the top, bottom, and butt of the handle — often with the pin heads showing as a row down each side. It is the dominant construction in Western kitchen and outdoor knives.

Because the steel continues all the way to the butt, the handle is essentially the tang dressed in two scales, and the grip is ground and shaped from that sandwiched assembly as a whole. The extra steel carries weight and balance back toward the hand, giving the solid, blade-and-handle-as-one feel that defines the style, and it leaves the edge of the tang on show as part of the knife's line.

View full construction guide →

Shipping & Returns

Shipping

We process orders 5 days a week (Monday - Friday) and ship from our shop in Sydney, Australia. We ship with FedEx, UPS and DHL.

We are happy to offer free international shipping on a variety of orders depending on location and order value.

Free Shipping Regions and Minimum Order Values

For Australia and New Zealand the minimum is $500AUD. For the rest of the world it is approximately €1000EUR. The discount is applied automatically when you reach the minimum cart value at checkout.

Returns

If you're not entirely happy with your purchase, you can return it within 14 days of delivery for a refund. The item must be in its original condition with all original packaging.

  • Returns are accepted for 14 days
  • The customer is responsible for return shipping costs
  • A 15% restocking fee may be applied to change-of-mind returns
  • We do not accept returns on second-hand items for change of mind

Faulty or Damaged Items

You must notify us within 5 business days of receiving your order. Photographic evidence of damage is required. Once approved, Modern Cooking will cover return shipping costs.

Product Care

Cleaning: Clean by hand with warm water. Avoid wetting the handle when possible.

Sharpening: We advise using whetstones to sharpen your knives and a honing rod or steel to maintain the burr between sharpening sessions.

Reactive Steels: Reactive steels like Aogami Super, Apex Ultra or premium reactive German and Swedish steels are susceptible to rust if not properly cared for. Keep the knife dry between uses and when storing for longer periods, wiping the blade with Tsubaki oil or another food-safe oil is a wise choice. A patina can be a beautiful personal feature on your knife and helps to stop rust forming.

Handle Care: For non-stabilised wooden handles, apply Tsubaki oil or another food-safe oil from time to time. Food-safe wax can be applied to both stabilised and non-stabilised wooden handles. Never apply hot wax or oil as you risk warping or damaging the handle.

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