Today, I received an order for a round knife. Our round knives are made in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, one of the three major production areas for cutlery in Japan. Sakai is particularly famous for its “cutting tools” that are handmade by craftsmen one by one, and it is said that it boasts a 98% share of the domestic market for professional cook knives. Round knives include bronze (called aohagane) and white steel (shirohagane) cutting edges, both of which are alloy steels with improved sharpness and durability by adding chromium and tungsten. The handle is made of magnolia obovata, a wood that has been used for kitchen knives for a long time. Nowadays, cutters are cheap and convenient, and the number of craftmans who use round knives for Japanese traditional work is decreasing, but I hope that you will consider the traditional tool, round knives.
