This would be a great line knife or multipurpose blade for the serious home chef. The 47mm tall heel allows enough room for knuckle clearance while still being useful for off-the-board slicing tasks. The hand-forged distal taper and hollow flats allow this blade to have a robust spine at the handle yet be thin at the start of the bevels. This blade has a touch of heft (balance point at the pinch grip). As is the case with all my knives, the bevels are ready to go straight to the stones for thinning and polishing. No low spots, no coarse scratches lurking to plague you with hours of frustrating work.

The core steel, Takefu Shiro2, is one of my favorite steels to work with. Distinct from Hitachi white/shirogami steel, Shiro2 has better toughness at extremely high hardness, thanks to its nickel addition. My customers find that it also holds an edge longer, while still being easy to sharpen to scary levels of sharpness.

Blade materials: Suminagashi-clad Takefu Shiro2

Handle materials: Roasted quilted maple with padauk spacer

Blade length (tip to heel): 225mm

Length from tip to where the blade meets the handle: 240mm

Blade height at heel: 47mm

Spine thickness at handle: 4.8mm

Spine thickness at heel: 4mm

Spine thickness mid-blade: 2.7mm

Weight: 179g