Hatsukokoro Shinkiro knives are made in collaboration with Fukushima blacksmith Takahiro Nihei. These robust blades are not only beautiful to look at they also feature a nice thick spine and perfect distal taper resulting in super smooth cuts. The word Shinkiro roughly translates to “Mirage”.
Takahiro Nihei is another talented young blacksmith who studied in Sanjo at the renowned Yoshikane Hamono. All all of his work on these blades is done in house from laminating the steel to sharpening the knives, he attention to detail is some of the best in the business. Takahiro san is also known for his amazing work with the popular knife brand Konosuke.
For the Shinkiro knives he utilizes Aogami Super for the cutting edge which has been hand forged with a very rustic kurouchi/tsuchime/damascus cladding. Aogami Super is one of our favourite knife steels at The Cook's Edge. It is very easy to sharpen and a little less reactive than other carbon steels due to the slight addition of Chromium.
We have chosen to fit each of these knives with octagonal walnut handles. Walnut is a hardwood that is great for handle making because it is easy to work with and is wear resistant.
