• Gyuto 230mm Dammy Line KuMai Ironwood Full Tang
  • Gyuto 230mm Dammy Line KuMai Ironwood Full Tang – detail view
  • Gyuto 230mm Dammy Line KuMai Ironwood Full Tang – side profile
  • Gyuto 230mm Dammy Line KuMai Ironwood Full Tang – handle detail
  • Gyuto 230mm Dammy Line KuMai Ironwood Full Tang – blade close-up
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Gyuto 240mm Dammy Line KuMai Ironwood Full Tang

Gyuto 240mm Dammy Line KuMai Ironwood Full Tang

By Martin Huber

$2,469.00 NZD
$2,469.00 NZD
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Low stock: 1 left

This one-of-a-kind Gyuto is forged by Martin Huber and his small team in Garsten, Austria, whose work is defined by a geometry-first discipline and an exacting standard of fit and finish. At 240mm the blade carries a long, gently curved edge that moves as readily through push cuts as a gentle rock, with a tall 56.49mm heel for generous knuckle clearance and a fine tip for detailed work. It is built to be the knife you reach for first — assured across proteins, vegetables and herbs, and sized for real presence on the board.

A pronounced distal taper carries the spine from 3.49mm at the heel through 1.57mm at mid-blade to 0.93mm near the tip: rigid and composed through the rear, increasingly agile toward the front. Wide convex bevels move the blade through dense produce with little drag, releasing food cleanly from the face rather than letting it cling. Behind that edge is Martin's signature “Dammy Line” design — a symmetrical nine-layer Ku Mai lamination stacked around an Apex Ultra cutting core, with nickel, nickel Damascus and nickel to either side beneath an outer skin of mild steel. From the spine down to the top of the bevels the surface is left brute de forge, the as-forged texture keeping the Damascus wild and raw; across the bevels an acid etch darkens the surrounding steel so the nickel Damascus is drawn out as a single bright line running the length of the blade. A smooth matte polish settles the whole into a quiet, subtle, elegant finish — character without distraction from the knife's intent.

Hardened here to 66 HRC, that Apex Ultra core holds a keen edge far longer than its thinness would suggest and, for all its hardness, still sharpens cleanly on whetstones; a low-alloy carbon steel developed specifically for fine kitchen edges, it will take a patina and wants the care any carbon steel does. The handle is a full-tang construction in richly grained ironwood, and the tang itself is tapered — narrowing through the grip to settle the balance into the hand and to leave a fine, tapering line of steel around the handle, a quiet highlight that accentuates the quality of the handcraft.

The result is a workhorse Gyuto that carries Huber's restraint into a Western full-tang form — expressive in its damascus and ironwood, but built first to cut. It is a one-off from one of the workshops we are proudest to carry, resolved down to the tapered tang and made to be kept.

Product Specification
  • Blade Type:
  • Overall Length: 354mm
  • Edge Length: 240mm
  • Spine Heel: 3.49mm
  • Spine Mid: 1.57mm
  • Spine Tip (20mm before): 0.93mm
  • Blade Height: 56.49mm
  • Weight: 188.8g
  • Cutting Edge Steel:
  • Steel class: Carbon
  • HRC: 66
  • Blade Construction:
  • Blade Finish: Brute de Forge, Acid Etched (Forced Patina), Matte Polish
  • Grind:
  • Handle Construction:
  • Handle Materials: Ironwood
  • Handedness: Ambidextrous

Blade type

Gyuto

牛刀

The Japanese take on the Western chef's knife, and the most versatile blade in a modern kitchen. A gyuto carries a long, gently curved edge — most often 210 to 270 mm — that allows both push cuts and a rocking motion, with a pointed tip for fine work and enough height at the heel to keep knuckles clear of the board. It handles proteins, vegetables, and herbs without complaint, which is why most cooks reach for it first.

Compared with a European chef's knife, the gyuto is usually thinner, harder, and lighter, ground to a finer edge that rewards good board technique and regular honing. That same thinness is the trade-off: the edge is less forgiving of bone, frozen food, and twisting cuts, and it asks for a little more care in maintenance in exchange for its keenness.

View full knife type guide →

Cutting edge steel

Apex Ultra

Low-alloy fine-grain carbon tool steel

Typical HRC
64–68
Corrosion class
Carbon
Production
Conventional
Origin
Austria (ApexUltra project — developed by Larrin Thomas, Marco Guldimann and Tobias Hangler; FFG-funded, associated with Messerschmiede Hangler)

Apex Ultra is one of the most carefully engineered non-stainless kitchen knife steels in modern circulation — a steel designed from the ground up specifically for handmade knives, rather than borrowed from another industry. It was developed by metallurgist Larrin Thomas together with smiths Marco Guldimann and Tobias Hangler. It is a low-alloy carbon steel — roughly 1.25 percent carbon, 2.6 percent tungsten, 1.5 percent chromium and a 0.4 percent vanadium addition, with manganese and silicon kept low. That composition is tuned for high purity and a fine, evenly distributed mix of chromium-enriched iron carbides, tungsten carbides and vanadium carbides — the structure that lets it hold a very hard edge without the coarse carbides or plate martensite that sap toughness in other high-hardness carbon steels.

What this means for a cook is unusual permission. Apex Ultra carries very high toughness in the 66+ HRC range — the highest of any knife steel its developers have tested at that hardness — so you can ask a maker to grind it thin and run the heat treatment hard, and the edge will hold far longer than the carbon steels smiths usually forge, without microchipping. It forges and forge-welds much like 52100 or 1.2562, sharpens cleanly on natural and synthetic stones without needing diamond plates, and its modest chromium slows patina a little — though it is not stainless and should be cared for as a carbon steel.

Apex Ultra has become a signature steel of the European maker community, and the Modern Cooking catalogue carries an unusually deep bench of smiths working in it. Tobias Hangler himself heads that group, alongside Marco Guldimann, Benjamin Kamon, Martin Huber, Jonas Johnsson, Karol Karyś, Birch & Bevel, and MCx. It is genuinely a step forward — one of the relatively few cases where the marketing claims and the underlying metallurgical data are saying the same thing.

View full steel guide →

Blade construction

Laminated Steel

A category covering knives built from multiple layers of different steels forge-welded together. The hard cutting steel is sandwiched between softer outer layers (cladding) that protect the core, add toughness, and often contribute visual contrast.

The most common laminated constructions in the Modern Cooking catalogue are:

SanMai (三枚) — three layers: hard cutting steel in the centre, softer cladding on both sides. The traditional and most common form.

GoMai (五枚) — five layers: a hard core, two intermediate layers, and two outer layers. Adds visual depth and structural complexity.

KuMai (九枚) — nine layers: similar logic, with more cladding layers for additional pattern and structural variation.

GoMai and KuMai are often chosen not only for the additional layers and visual depth, but also because the intermediate layers can act as a nickel diffusion barrier — limiting carbon migration out of the core into the cladding during forge welding, and protecting the core's intended carbon content through the heat of the forging process.

In all cases the cutting performance is determined by the core steel; the outer layers are cosmetic and structural. The lamination contributes corrosion protection (when a stainless jacket clads a carbon core), reduced reactivity, and the visible boundary between core and cladding that gives the knife its character.

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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