Other Seki Made

[Sharpnshinyknives]

I know this is a kitchen knife, but it so beautiful I thought it deserves a mention. I am still trying to decide if I want to get one of these or not. Master Hattori just made these. They have malachite handles on them, which is magnificent. JCK has these up for sale, probably no more than 10 produced. All hand made by Master Hattori. Here is the link: https://japanesechefsknife.com/products ... cifQ%3D%3D

[Quick Steel]

Using malachite is a touch of genius. I happen to grealy favor that particular mineral.

[Madmarco]

Both are very nice knives Mark, and I'm sure either would certainly do the job in the kitchen!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Using malachite is a touch of genius. I happen to grealy favor that particular mineral.

I agree Garry, that Malachite is sorely tempting me. I have collected a few kitchen knives that really stand out as unique. I guess for diversification sake it makes sense to include collecting knives like these as well. Master Hattori won’t be making knives forever, he is well into his 80’s. He seems to be making mostly chef’s knives lately, with a few hunting knives and I haven’t seen a folder from him for a few years now.
There is something about that green Malachite that always gets my attention. I keep checking back to see if they are sold out yet, and they aren’t and I get so close to buying one each time, I feel my resolve weakening.

Edit, I just checked the website again, and ordered one. I will post it here when it arrives.

[Quick Steel]

Congratulations Mark! Can hardly wait to see it.

[Madmarco]

Good for you Mark! Congratulations! You only live once so why not!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

My Hattori Kitchen knife arrived today and true to form, it blew me away. First of all this knife is “scary” sharp. W/ a scary sharp knife you have to be extremely careful around the edge, you can cut yourself in no time. Each time I wiped down the blade, pieces of the cloth I was using kept getting sliced off from just brief contact the edge.
The beauty of the malachite is amazing. That’s one of the big selling features. Now look at the taper on the blade, this taper runs two directions, it tapers and thins out the closer to the end of the knife you get. It also tapers downward from top edge to bottom edge on the handles. Like all well made chef knives this one has no gap between the bolsters and the blade, that is a bacterial trap when there is a gap in this area. I haven’t bought a Japanese knife that had a gap there. You should look over your cheaper kitchen knives and see if there is a gap. The gap can be caused by soldering the bolster to that blade and bad fitting of the blade to the bolster.
This one is made right and perfect. It’s a great knife. Too bad I won’t know how it works in the kitchen, I am putting this one in the display.
Enjoy the pictures.

[Quick Steel]

I am certain I have never used the word "spectacular" regarding kitchen cutlery. That has now changed. I know it is subjective Mark, but how is the hand "feel" of the malachite?

[Sharpnshinyknives]

The balance feels good. The Malachite handles feel smooth but not too smooth. I can see just a touch of texture that was left to give it some grip, there are slight vertical lines in the Malachite that run up from the bottom to the bolster. Not sure it shows in the pictures, you have to hold this just right to see them. At first I thought that it wasn’t smoothed out properly, but then when you hold it in hand you realize it gives this a better grip. There must me a fine line between too smooth and not smooth enough, and I think he hit it right on them money. The way the Malachite flares out makes it a great feel in hand as well.
I have only collected a few kitchen knives over the years. They have to be ones like this that really stand out to me. I showed it to my wife and said this isn’t for using, it’s for the collection, and she was relieved to hear that. I know she would worry about dropping it, or damaging it in some way. She is hard on knives.

[Quick Steel]

Thanks for the info Mark. Very interesting.

[kennedy knives]

Mark very nice knife and as we all know very well made but I would have to use it especial on Holidays

[Madmarco]

A very beautiful knife Mark, congratulations! You chose the one with the wider blade, and that would also have been my choice. It just looks well made, I can only imagine how nice it is in hand. As it was stated, I'd be tempted to use it, but I can certainly understand your choice to only display it. Enjoy! BTW, I'd love to see some pics of your displays!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Thank you Garry, Gary and Mark.
Gary, I am tempted, but I know if it gets in the kitchen there will be nicks in the edge and my wife has a bad habit of doing something to the tip of kitchen knives. I’ve had to straighten and put a new profile on a few. The stainless on this is very thin, not like a German made kitchen knife. It tapers to a very fine grind on the edge. We have a few Japanese chef knives that we use in the kitchen, but my wife’s “go to” knives are the Henckels, made in Germany. So far she hasn’t hurt those. She has dinged a few of the Japanese knives. You really need to choose the right knife for the job in the kitchen. These Japanese knives are not good all around knives, but when you need to slice a lot, you can’t beat them. This thin profile just glides right through most everything you put in front of it.

[Madmarco]

Mark! I'm really curious how you received it so quickly, FedEx "overnight" or similar?

[Sharpnshinyknives]

DHL Express. Most times when I order from JCK or JKD I get it in less than a week. This only took about 4 days, faster than in normal times.
I just took some pictures of my Japanese chef knives. Will post them shortly, waiting on them to transfer from my IPhone to my Ipad through the cloud.

[Madmarco]

Thanks Mark!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Here are my Japanese chef knives. The Hattori and the black handled one w/ the rainbow damascus are not users, they are part of my collection. As you can see I am fond of stainless damascus.
The Henckel Miyabi knives are included in a separate shot, I couldn’t get them all into one picture. I bought the Miyabi knives at Smokey Mountain Knife Works, down in the lowest level where they have all the kitchen knives and other stuff. These were half priced, I kick myself over and over for not buying all that they had that day. I didn’t realize how great a deal it was until I was long gone. These have black linen Micarta handles w/ mosaic pins, really nice knives. As you can see they have been used a lot.
I have posted this black one w/ the rainbow Damascus before. The handles are hand painted and feature Mt Fuji, there is a scabbard that is also hand painted and a very nice Nishijin pouch. This is one of the most expensive knives in my collection. I’ve never seen these made again after I purchased these. A very limited production was done of these. This is a good looking knife whether it’s a chef knife or not, it really speaks to me.

[Madmarco]

Beautiful group of knives Mark! Your new Hattori fits right in! I never knew there was such a thing as stainless Damascus, and now that I've seen it I find it extremely attractive! Enjoy them all! P.S.-Is the rainbow Damascus the one that has some color in it, right below the Hattori? Oops, never mind, I just realized it's the only one with Mt. Fuji on it!

[Quick Steel]

That is a positively stunning group. You have a remarkable eye for knives, Mark.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Beautiful group of knives Mark! Your new Hattori fits right in! I never knew there was such a thing as stainless Damascus, and now that I've seen it I find it extremely attractive! Enjoy them all! P.S.-Is the rainbow Damascus the one that has some color in it, right below the Hattori?

Yes that is the one. It has copper, brass and several other layers of metals.
By the way, that Mcusta you got is stainless Damascus. VG-10 blade and handles. I think the real beauty of stainless Damascus is when they polish it to a mirror polish, most of the time it’s not polished and it doesn’t pop. When it’s polished you lose some of the character of the layers and lines, but personally I like that.

Thanks Garry, our tastes in knives is very similar.

[Madmarco]

Thanks Mark, I didn't realize my Mcusta is s/d, so I guess I have seen it before! It has kind of a flat satin finish to it, but I'd love to see it mirror-polished, since I'm partial to shiny as well!

[Sharpnshinyknives]

I listed this one for sale today. Thought I would detail it here. This is an A.G. Russell Lockback. Made in Seki Japan. The blade and the bolster is so unique. I have been trying to find out the exact steel used on this but haven’t been able to find out for sure. I compared this to different types of steel on the JCK and JKD website and this looks the most like Powdered Cowry Damascus. The other type of steel that it looks like is White Steel Damascus. Both are expensive and hard to work with. These steels have a very high carbon content and have much higher Rockwell hardness. That would make this difficult to sharpen but it would hold an edge for a very long time. The blade on this is thick at the spine and is masterfully ground to a very sharp edge. The handles are cocobolo wood. The liners on this are made of aluminum. Locks up with a loud “click”. It’s a big knife measures 4 1/2” closed OAL. This is a hefty knife that has a great in hand feel. You can tell when you hold it that it’s built to last, very solid feel and could last a lifetime and then passed down to another generation, it’s really that good.

[WillyCamaro]

Oh wow Mark, that truly tis a wonderful knife, custom maker quality all the way.
If I had the $$$, she would be coming home to me. Some guy, or gal, is going to be super pleased when the receive it.

[Quick Steel]

Its definitely impressive. Its a frustrating thing to have champagne tastes on a Coca-Cola budget.

[Madmarco]

Beautiful Mark! Teriffic in-depth explanation as well!