Japanese Knife Imports in the LA Times

How cool is this?  We are so excited and thankful for S. Irene Virbila for taking the time to come out and meet us.  Here's the article:

Across the Table: Knife expert hopes to sharpen up chefs

They also did a followup sidebar article, which you can find here:

Finding a knife that cuts to the heart

Closed for a few days in March

A friendly reminder... We will be closed from March 2nd, reopening on March 8th. Click the link below for more info...

http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/out-of-town

The World of Hocho

By Sara Motomura-Broida

We started JKI in March, 2010. For Jon, kitchen knives were something Jon always felt strongly about and was passionate about. To me, this world of hocho was something very new and, in a lot of ways, unknown.

The word "shokunin" is most commonly used to describe craftsmen for kitchen knives. Some of them are qualified by the national crafts center and are referred to as "kogeishi" (master of crafts) or “dentokogeshi” (for example, the stickers on our Gesshin Hide knives certify that all of the work done on those knives was done by dentokogeshi in the traditional manner). In Japan, the world of craft and art are two different things, and so are craftsmen and artist. I was more connected to the world where artists live because of my parents (they are artists making traditional yakimono, or pottery) and their crazy artist friends.

Initially when we started JKI, I really wasn't fully aware of what I was getting myself into. I had no clue what my future looked like with this new company - the hours, troubles, emotional up and downs, and also the happy rewards.

We met a lot of "kakkoii" (Japanese for “cool”) shokunin-san through our business. I found the beauty in their philosophy of making tools. Sometimes they make tools (knives, sharpening tools, or whatever they may be) that are so beautiful and artistic, but at the end of the day, they are all functional tools. This was something so new to my eyes. It was so refreshing as was the idea that one can't know how "great" knives are unless they use them.

A lot of our hocho craftsmen told us that "sharp" is not a good enough measurement for kitchen knives, because that's what they are supposed to be as a minimum requirement. It's a regular assumption people have that a knife cuts well, but the real judgment comes with ease of sharpening, edge retention, and the "taste" of cutting (how well it cuts or performs, called kireaji in japanese). Also, most of them say that they are never completely satisfied with their knives because they are always striving for better, and at the end of the day, what is "good" is totally up to the end user. If the knife wasn't the best fit for a user, this knife clearly isn't a "good" knife, not mentioning the "best" knife (not to say it’s not an objectively good knife or not, but that the concept of objectively good has little meaning when it comes to these things).

I thought this mentality is somewhat selfless - of course not in a bad way, but almost in an altruistic way. Maybe this is what differentiated artists from craftsmen? I can't be 100% sure why I thought the two terms feel different and are used in different ways... but I felt that could be it. I find beauty in both crafts and art though.

I decided to write this down and share what I see from the world of Japanese kitchen knives. My view will change with time, but I wanted to share what I see at this particular time... This kind of thing seems not to be online so much, but in the spirit of appreciating our tools, I feel this is something important for me to say.

What we bring from Japan is very inspiring and each thing carries bits and pieces of each craftsman with it...

Have you ever wondered about Carbon Steel Knives?

If so, we've got a video for you ;)

Hope you like is.  Let us know if you have any questions.

-Jon

A bunch of new sharpening videos

This morning, we shot a few new videos on various aspects of knife sharpening/care.  Here they are... hope you guys like them...

Using Carbon Steel Knives

So, have you ever used carbon steel knives before? It takes a little bit of getting used to, but its not so difficult. A lot of what goes into using carbon steel knives is just common sense and learning how to work clean and be well organized. Carbon steel can be reactive when cutting acidic elements. This tends to be the biggest problem for people getting used to working with carbon steel knives. Learning how to deal with this is pretty simple. One very important thing to do is to keep a damp towel folded up in the corner of your cutting board (right corner if you are right-handed or left corner if you are left-handed). This towel will be used to wipe off the sides of your knife from time to time. This helps reduce food/juice buildup on the sides of the blade. When you cut more highly acidic foods, wipe off the sides more often. Also, the moisture from wiping helps to reduce friction while cutting. The damp towel can also be used to wire off your cutting board from time to time. Its also important to keep a clean dry towel nearby as well. I usually keep it near the top of my cutting board. Every time i am done using my knife, i wipe it clean with the damp towel and dry it off with the dry towel. This way i can make sure i am never leaving it wet or dirty.


If you are planning on storing your blade for some time, you may also want to consider giving it a light coat of tsubaki oil or mineral oil (no food oils... they go rancid... also no oils you wouldnt want to eat... i.e. gun oils, etc.). Carbon steel is also prone to forming a patina (a safe form of oxidation unlike rust, which is a harmful form of oxidation). Some people like patinas and that is fine. Just make sure its a patina and not rust (red/orange are bad colors to see). If you dont like patinas, you can clean your blade with a number of tools... anything from rust erasers (we sell these, but they arent on our website... just ask if you are interested), to non-bleach powdered cleansers, to various metal polish (flitz, adams, etc.). If you do notice some rust, clean it up and be a bit more careful in the future. Thats about it.