Gyuto 215mm Honyaki Kogatana Set

Joel Black has polished and etched to revel a stunning hamon and incredible alloy banding on this honyaki kogatana set. If you have ever wondered how this kind of finish is achieved, it’s a long process of skilfully polishing the steel on a variety of specialty whetstones, some of which are very rare and often extremely expensive. The steel is also etched in various contrast solutions like citric acid, which highlight the hamon and alloy banding.

Joel has a passion for this kind of finish, and it shows in the results, which are stunning. 

From a performance perspective the edge is very sharp, and geometry is beautifully shaped. Perhaps one of the best features of a stone finished knife like this is that it’s very difficult to achieve such a clean and beautiful finish while also hiding inconsistencies in the bevels. So, what you get is perfect bevels that are easy to maintain and a geometry that is a pleasure to cut with.

This is one of two honyaki kogatana sets that we recently received from Joel, both have walnut, dear antler, and buffalo horn handles and walnut sayas. Both knives also feature a kogatana utility knife as part of the package, which is also finish in the honyaki style.

This is a stunning piece of work from Joel, the kind of thing we would happily take home ourselves.