One knife · made in batches of forty

The Kaji 210. A knife you will still be sharpening in twenty years.

A 210 mm chef's knife with a carbon steel core clad in stainless, hardened to 62 HRC and finished by hand. It rusts if you leave it wet, holds an edge far longer than the knife in your drawer, and comes back to us for sharpening free, for as long as you own it.

$189 210 mm · walnut handle

In stock, dispatched within two working days. Free sharpening for life, and a 30-day return even if you have used it.

Total, delivery included $189
Add to basket Engraving is free and adds four days. Ask for it in the order notes — three characters or a short word, on the spine rather than the face.
Product photograph of the chef's knife on a dark surface
Product detail of the blade and the clad steel line Product detail of the walnut handle Product photograph of the knife in use on a board Product photograph of the leather sheath
62 HRCMeasured, batch by batch
178 gBalanced at the bolster
FreeSharpening, for life
4People who make it
Specification

Every number, measured on the batch you will receive

Hardness is tested on two knives from every batch of forty and the certificate goes in the box. A maker who will not tell you the hardness is asking you to buy a story.

Blade length210 mm
SteelCarbon core, stainless clad
Hardness62 HRC ±1
Spine thickness2.4 mm at the heel
Edge angle15° per side, from the factory
Weight178 g
HandleWalnut, smoked oak or ebony
Made inOne workshop, four people
Interior photograph of the workshop with a blade being ground
Nine days per batch

How one is made

Forty at a time, because that is what two people can finish in a working week without hurrying the part that matters.

01

Forging and clad

A carbon core is forge-welded between two stainless layers. The line you can see on the blade is where those layers meet — it is structural, not decorative.

02

Heat treatment

Quenched and tempered twice, then two blades from every batch are destructively tested for hardness. Batches that miss 62 HRC by more than a point are reworked, not sold.

03

Grinding by hand

Three hours per knife on the wheel and the stones, thinning behind the edge — the part that decides how the knife feels and the part machines do worst.

04

Handle and finish

Fitted, shaped and oiled by one person, whose initials are stamped inside the ferrule. The last cut it makes in the workshop is through a sheet of newspaper.

Honestly

Against the two knives you are probably also considering

Both are good buys. The rows where they beat us are left in, because you will find them anyway and we would rather you found them here.

 Kaji 210$60 stainless$340 Japanese
Price$189$60$340
Hardness62 HRC56 HRC63 HRC
Time between sharpenings3–5 months3–5 weeks4–6 months
Rusts if left wetYes, at the edgeNoYes
DishwasherNeverTolerates itNever
Free sharpeningFor life—First year
Replacement handle$45, fitted—Not offered
Return after use30 daysUnused onlyUnused only

If you will put a knife in the dishwasher, buy the $60 one. It is a better knife for that life, and this one will disappoint you within a month.

What you are taking on

Three habits, and one you can ignore

Wipe it dry after use

Not immediately, but before you leave the kitchen. The exposed carbon edge will spot in about twenty minutes on a wet board, and those spots are cosmetic rather than damage.

Wood or plastic boards only

Glass, stone and steel boards chip a hard edge in one session. This is the mistake that brings knives back to us for a full regrind rather than a sharpening.

Send it back once a year

Free, both ways, for as long as you own it. Post it in the sheath, and it comes back in about ten days sharper than it left. Most owners use this twice in five years, not annually.

And the one you can ignore: the patina. The blade will grey and blotch within a month. It is not rust, it protects the steel underneath, and polishing it off simply starts the process again.

412 sold · 4.7 average

What owners say, including the complaint

★★★★★

"I cook every night and I have sharpened it twice in two years. The first time I sent it back and it returned better than new; the second time I did it myself on the stone they sell."

Portrait of owner Marta Bielik
Marta BielikOwner · 2 years
★★★☆☆

"Three stars from me: nobody warned me loudly enough about the rust. It spotted in the first week and I panicked. It is fine now and I use it daily, but say it louder on the page."

Portrait of owner Rafael Costa
Rafael CostaOwner · 8 months
★★★★★

"I run a small restaurant and bought four. One got dropped and chipped badly; they reground it for the cost of postage and it is still in the pass two years later."

Portrait of owner Yohan Petit
Yohan PetitOwner · 4 knives · 3 years
Before you buy

Six questions

The edge will, if you leave it wet — the core is carbon steel and the cladding does not cover the sharpened part. Wipe it dry and it will not. Within a month it develops a grey patina that then protects it, and that patina is normal rather than neglect. If this sounds like a nuisance, the $60 stainless knife in the comparison table is genuinely the better buy for you.

Free including postage both ways, for as long as you own the knife, with no limit on how often. We can afford it because a properly sharpened knife comes back roughly every two years, not every month — and because a customer who sends their knife back tends to buy the second one from us too.

Yes, within 30 days, used and sharpened and patinated. Cook with it — a knife you cannot try is a knife you are guessing about. We resharpen returns and sell them as seconds at $130, clearly labelled, which is where the honesty in this policy actually comes from.

Because 210 mm fits the boards most people own and the way most home kitchens are laid out. A 240 is a better knife on a professional bench and worse on a 30 cm board with a sink behind you. We make one size well rather than four sizes adequately.

Send it back. A small chip comes out in the normal free sharpening. Anything larger is a regrind at $35, which is our cost — a hard edge chips, that is the trade for holding an edge, and charging a penalty for it would be dishonest.

Two working days if the handle you want is in stock, which is shown live above. Ebony is often three weeks because we buy it in small lots. Engraving adds four days. If a batch sells out the page says "next batch" with the actual date rather than taking your money and going quiet.

In stock · dispatched in two days

One knife, made forty at a time.

$189 with delivery, free sharpening for as long as you own it, and thirty days to change your mind even after you have cooked with it.

Choose a handle and order