No glue, no filler: urushi lacquer and real gold powder bond broken pottery, and the golden seam is meant to stay imperfect because that flaw is the point.
Nicole
Nicole wrote for the Oishya Journal from 2017 to 2021: recipes, Japanese food culture and the early knife guides.
The Best Way To Store Your Kitchen Knives And Metal Tools Safely
Why a loose drawer ruins knife edges, and how magnetic racks and blocks keep blades sharp, space saved and out of children’s reach.
8 Ways To Use A Magnetic Kitchen Knife Rack
That magnetic strip will hold more than knives: drill bits in the workshop, drying paintbrushes, makeup brushes, pot lids and stray bobby pins.
How To Fillet A Fish With A Japanese Knife (+ Video)
Trim the fins, open the belly, run the blade along the spine: filleting a round fish like sea bass or mackerel with a Deba, with a video to follow.
Are Japanese Carving Knives As Good As The Western Ones?
The Sujihiki packs 240-300mm of thin, double-bevel blade, and some sushi chefs reach for it over the yanagiba when slicing sashimi.
How Do I Check If My Kitchen Knife Is Still Sharp?
How to tell if a kitchen knife still needs sharpening, using the paper slice and everyday cutting tests, plus how edge angle affects sharpness.
Knife Drawer, Knife Stand or Magnetic Rack – What Is Better?
Knife drawers, blocks and magnetic racks compared on space, usability, hygiene, child safety and price to help you store blades well.
Guide: Kitchen Knife Handle Types And Materials
Most buyers obsess over the steel, but the handle carries the knife: cocobolo, ebony and rosewood compared, plus why soft woods fail in a wet kitchen.
Tobacco, Portuguese & The Japanese Knives: The History Of Sakai Knives
Portuguese traders brought tobacco to Sakai in 1543, and the knives farmers needed to cut the leaves became the cooking blades the town is famous for.
15 Kitchen Tips Every Pro Cook Should Know
Fifteen working tips from chefs like Emeril Lagasse and Daniel Boulud: spotting ivory marbling in beef, skipping the £110 mandoline, and braising cheap cuts tender.
How to Prepare Wagyu, The Most Expensive Steak Ever, At Home
Wagyu runs around £200/kg, but 1kg feeds six and the cooking is almost insultingly simple: sear, season, serve from a screaming-hot cast-iron pan.
How To Mount A Blade To A Knife Handle?
Tape the edge, wear the glasses, mind the dust: fitting a handle to a razor-sharp Japanese blade, plus a simple antler mount borrowed from hunting knives.
Top 25 Kitchen Tricks That Will Help Any Aspiring Cook
Run a pizza wheel through dough, drop a bread slice in with clumped brown sugar, microwave a lemon for 30 seconds: 25 fixes for everyday kitchen snags.
The Difference Between Aogami #2 And Aogami Super Blue
Both come from Hitachi, but Aogami Super adds vanadium for a harder, longer-lasting edge, while #2 stays easier to sharpen. Which fits how you cook?
Steel Qualities Of Kitchen Knives – A Cheat Sheet
One chart lining up Shirogami, Kigami, Aogami and the GIN stainless grades by hardness, price and what each blade is actually built for.
What Is Yasugi Steel And What Makes It So Great?
Smelted from sand iron in Shimane, Yasugi steel splits into yellow, white and blue grades. Top smiths favour the white and blue and skip the cheap yellow.
What Is Rockwell Hardness (A.Ka. HRC)?
An axe sits near 50 HRC, supermarket knives 54-58, good kitchen blades 60-66. What that diamond-point test measures, and why harder isn’t always better.
Different Types Of Kitchen Knives, What They’re Used For
Most homes own three or four knives without really thinking about it. Here are the ten common types sorted, and the four worth buying first.
How To De-Rust And Sharpen An Old Knife Like A Pro
How to remove rust from an old knife using vinegar or lemon juice, then sharpen the blade back to a clean edge on a stone or honing rod.
All About Cooking Knives
The chef’s knife began as a butchery tool for slicing through cartilage. Here’s how the gyuto and its French and German cousins compare today.
Our Latest Trip To Takefu & Sakai – Japanese Knife Villages
Back from the forges of Takefu and Sakai, where an ageing trade and few young smiths explain why a handmade knife can take months.
Top 10 Most Expensive Knives In The World
A $5,300 Yoshihiro Honyaki with a hamon shaped like Mount Fuji is only number ten here. Above it: diamonds, gold and rare wood.
What’s The Difference Between German Vs. Japanese Knives?
One holds a near-scalpel edge but will rust; the other shrugs off abuse. It comes down to Rockwell hardness, high 50s against mid 60s.
Are Japanese Knives Worth Their Price?
A £1,000 knife can take five weeks and a workshop of four to forge. What the price buys: layered steel, hand-welding and balance.
Do I Need a Special Knife like a Sashimi or Yanagiba Knife for Sushi?
Can you make good sushi at home without a Yanagiba? Where single-bevel slicers ground 70:30 or 90:10 actually earn their keep, and when they don’t.
Shirogami (#1) & Aogami (#2) Steels – The Difference
The difference between Shirogami (#1) and Aogami (#2) steels, how their carbon and alloy content compares, and which blades each suits best.
Guide To The Best Knife Steel: VG10, Blue Steel And More
A guide to knife steel including VG10 and Blue Steel, explaining hardness, toughness, wear resistance, and edge retention in plain terms.
3 Ways You May Be Ruining Your Japanese Knives
The three most common mistakes that ruin Japanese knives: the dishwasher, loose storage in drawers, and how to avoid both with simple care.
The Difference Between A Single And A Double Bevel Blade
Western blades meet in the middle at roughly 20 degrees; most Japanese knives are ground on one side only. What that single bevel buys you, and where it doesn’t.
How The Japanese Knives Are Made
How Japanese knives are forged, from joining iron and steel and the role of tamahagane to the hammering that gives each blade its strength.