As the Nakiri is not designed to be used for roll cutting (very straight profile makes this extremely awkward) the blade is best gently raised and lowered to achieve optimum cut. The Hammer Nakiri being only 138 grams is probably just about the easiest Nakiri or Japanese fruit and veg knife to use. 

The Nakiri may for all the world look like a small cleaver but it is a far more accurate blade, in fact more a precision instrument; whilst fans of British TV cookery may observe chefs confidently applying the Nakiri to a multitude of meat and fish ingredients this would be totally anathema to the Japanese who reserve these thin fine edge blades for things like getting thin rolls of Daikon which are then minced to absolutely delicate angel hair vermicelli. Japanese chefs and home cooks use the Nakiri to make powder of various herbs as well as transform onion or garlic with incredible efficiency into fine rings or fabulously even, meltingly small, diced pieces. Actually this shape truly lends itself to the process of properly cutting an onion from the halving all the way through to following the lines and then mincing. The rounded tip can be guided with relative safety against the finger tips to cut along ridges of halved fruit or vegetable; and as for tears with an onion, as with all well made Japanese knives, there is no way the user could possibly be reduced tears unless they have allowed the edge to dull after a lot of heavy use without the requisite polishing.
 
Totally hand made in Seki by a group of highly skilled 3rd generation nokaji – the Hammer Collection of hand hammered Damascus blades glide through everything. Remember to wet blade before cutting very dense ingredients like swede or butternut squash. This enables the edge to slide through very dense substances without resorting to dangerous application of downward pressure on spine.
 
HANDLE NOTES - D shaped, composed of luxurious sandalwood with black lacquered wooden collars.


MODEL CHARACTERISTICS 

● Blade construction – 45 layer. Central core of Swedish Sandvik 19C27 laminated with layers of soft stainless . 

● Handle construction – D shaped red sandalwood with black lacquered wooden collars. 

● Cleaning – NEVER WASH SHARP KNIVES IN DISHWASHER. Wash only by hand keeping sharp edge away from potential harm using any domestic washing up liquid. Rinsing with very hot water will facilitate the most essential thorough drying process prior to storing safely. Avoid leaving blade soaking in bowl of washing up. This can loosen blade from handle and, more importantly is DANGEROUS. 

● Sharpening – Ideally sharpening should be performed with regularity so blade is simply polished before it loses effectiveness, just as edge is fading slightly. This can be done by simply stroking blade on newspaper – a technique known as stropping demonstrated on our sharpening video. The ideal sharpening systems are whetstones. We also sell a vast selection of fabulous steel rods as well as the exceptionally easy KC200 Water Wheel Sharpener. This takes all guess work out of process and is extremely effective. JKC also provides one of the best sharpening services outside Japan. Please see SHARPENING SECTION for further information. 

● Storage – Sharp knives should always be stored so that the edge is not compromised; we sell an array of fantastic storage solutions including the Original Quarter Moon Magnetic Block and Luxury Hand Made Magnetic Block, these are the number one systems we recommend but we do have 4 other magnetic block models available to choose from. The simplest most beautiful way to store your new Hammer blade is the hand made, hand stitched leather shield. Please go to STORAGE and BLOCKS sections on our site or even better call us. 

● Country of origin – JAPAN 

● Special notes – Hammer Collection whilst being amongst the smoothest, silkiest edges in their price category and beyond will benefit from regular stropping to keep this awesome edge. BEWARE, such light keen edges DO REQUIRE A LITTLE EXTRA CARE IN USE AND HANDLING. The ultra keen edge seems to catch hands when cleaning, picking up and putting away. Keen edged blades should never be heavily banged on the board or used for edge stress creating tasks like twisting, prizing OR FORCING. NEVER USE FINE EDGED BLADES ON FROZEN FOOD OR FOR BONES.