Amazing skill, and a very good scraper !!

Thanks, Vic

MichaelG.

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Edit: and the final couple of minutes [putting the signature on] are a joy 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 20/12/2016 10:25:39

Fascinating, not least the way the elderly gentleman bends his knees to squat on the floor. If I tried that, I'd never move again. The skills demonstrated are impressive.

If you want to buy one, they're quite expensive!

Are they a triumph of style over substance though? Does a very costly Brand Name guarantee quality, or is being 'reassuringly expensive' just another way of fleecing lazy customers?

Western reviews of the knives are mixed (example). Many positives – the knives are sharp, well balanced and have a high "IT" factor. Also many negative comments about the reactivity of the steel used to make the blade. Presumably they stain and rust easily, and would need careful maintenance. Reactivity might not be such a problem in Japan where the knives are mostly used on fish and vegetables.

Dave

They are a bit cheaper here but my chef's skills wouldn't warrant one. I do have a 15th century Japanese sword tha was made using similar techniques but I haven't use it in anger!

Russell.

If you look back at pre-war copies of ME you see people routinely cut metal with cold chisels because they didn't have anything else. We progress. Once Sheffield steel and Swedish steel had a special cachet but mass production moved things on.
Add the obsession some people have with knives, then the obsession some cooks have with knives in a more useful context, then the obsession some people have with things Japanese, throw in a hankering for old time craft work and bingo you have a recipe for hyping up the price.

Do we have similar things in ME to go ape about? How about tangential tools, rear parting tools, QCTPs.

many years ago before such were banned by H & S for any use serving public food, I had a set of carbon steel cook’s knives – they could easily be made razor sharp and cut through food stuffs with ease – however they would stain food if left for any short period damp (especially if acid eg lemon juice, vinegar was used or with meat)

I also owned a suoerb carbon steel kitchen knife. It came in very handy on my wife's 3rd kitchen fire (don't ask) – one swipe cut straight through the 30A cable to the cooker (yes I'd turned off the power) so I could push the flaming cooker out through the door…

Current fashion for ceramic knives.. but they need sharpening too.

My brother has a Wilkinson's Sword (actually I think it's in Dad's loft)….

No it isn't a razor, it's a cavalryman's rapier and it's bone-shape in cross-section aside for about 6" et the end which is sharpened and the blade is all engraved. It's amazingly flexible, we used to drop it tip-first onto the carpet, it would go through and embed into the floorboard and swing like an inverted pendulum.

If you think about it, the rather unpleasant use of it is to run people through when you are on horseback, so it has to flex to allow you to stab then pull it back out of your victim as you ride past which must put some severe bending stress on the blade (not to mention the stress for the poor sod who has been run through).

Until I realised this I assumed that all 'swords' were much of a muchness and just slicing weapons, in face there are a huge variety of sword designs all meant to carry out their grim work in different ways.

Neil