Knives by Shinichi Watanabe

Santi · Jul 4, 2005

Just received a "true" native/traditional blade made by the Japanese MasterSmith named Shinichi Watanabe.

This one's called a "Echigo-Santou" and is made from Hitachi blue steel laminated wrought iron.

A bit more detail on these steel here: http://watanabeblade.com/english/pro/pro.htm

Total length: 380mm Blade: 220mm Thickness: 5mm
Handle: Cherry blossom, Ho wood sheath

The guard is made of Japanese Peg

-- LOVELY --

More on Watanabe's knives here: http://watanabeblade.com/english/special/index.htm
(A bit difficult to walk around the site, but it's really worth the time IMHO, as I learned a lot of new stuff here.)

Thanks for looking!

Order · Jul 4, 2005

His knives are both astoundingly beautiful and rugged-looking.
I think I may have found my next blade...

Jose Reyes · Jul 4, 2005

Awesome, love the way he did the handle.

ANGRYMOB · Jul 4, 2005

I am in no way meaning to put down the quality knife you have as I love the rustic and rugged look and I am sure quality of it as well, but noted on his site he touts the steel he uses as being far harder than western steel at a rockwell hardness of 64-65. O-1/A-2/and D-2 are all capable of that rockwell hardness but it is considered to be too brittle at that hardness and most are tempered to 59-60. Like I said, not putting the knife down as I would love to have it

, just knocking his marketing strategy a little bit.

ANGRYMOB · Jul 4, 2005

P.S. Just wanted to add, I like the knife. Very cool.

Keith Montgomery · Jul 4, 2005

I like the overall look of this knife and really like the blade, but I would like to see a higher degree of fit & finish in the handle and guard. I am sure this knife looks the way it does by design, but overall it doesn't turn my crank.

Mr.BadExample · Jul 5, 2005

I love it, I've been eyeing that model for a while. How does it cut?

JeremyM · Jul 5, 2005

i'm with keith on this one. though i like the blade itself, and the design concept. someone posted one of his cord wrapped utilities knives a while back and i think that might be a little more useful for me.

shaldag · Jul 5, 2005

I bought one of these at Blade. I think that it is by the same maker, but the paperwork got lost in the shuffle. I will check tonight if the Kanji characters are the same. Mine is a small kukhri-shaped knife. This was the only balde shaped like this on the table, the rest were similar to yours. My knife had a cord-wrapped handle, so I went over to knifemaking supplies and picked out a beautiful piece of maple burl, and sent them to my brother who is a woodworker.

I just received the finished piece over the weekend, and went out to clear some brush.

Hw does it cut? Like a dream......