Tsubaki Blue #2 Tsuchime Bunka 170mm

Tsubaki Blue #2 Tsuchime Bunka 170mm is a new knife from a young blacksmith, and we are very excited about it. We discovered Mr. Miyazaki recently, and he works from his one-person forge on a small island off the southern coast of Japan close to Nagasaki. Right across the street from his workshop is a beautiful marsh where his father grows long reeds that he harvests and uses for making traditional thatched roofs on buildings.

Mr. Miyazaki was kind enough to write an explanation of the manufacturing process, which we have translated and included in this product description:

"Please let me explain how I produce this knife. I manually insert Hitachi Aogami #2 steel into quality mild soft suminagashi cladding. I carefully made it annealed into the ash of rice straw, which adds carbon powder.

After forging (the steels together), considering the hakata's original character, I hardened it (using) pine charcoal at about 800 degrees centigrade. Then (it is) immediately (quenched) in water at about 28 degrees centigrade to (make) it much tougher. I ground the blade to be what is called a clamshell finish, to have the cutting feeling lighter and (to make) re-sharpening even easier."

Hamaguri is Japanese for clam or clamshell, and it describes a blade ground with convex radiused bevels. Also called an Appleseed or Moran grind, it is produced by grinding the blade on a slack grinding belt.

Brand: Tsubaki

Blacksmith: Miyazaki San

Knife Line: Tsuchime

Construction: San Mai, Hammer Forged

Edge Steel: Blue #2

Cladding: Hammered Iron Kurouchi

Handle: Oak Octagonal

Weight: 7.2 oz (206 g)

Edge Length: 177 mm

Total Length: 330 mm

Spine Thickness at Heel: 3.7 mm

Blade Height at Heel: 50.8 mm