Working With Carbon Steel Knives- Japanese Knife Imports 

make sure you pay him some money for that knife, it is bad luck to recieve a knife as a gift.

@@piworower I gave a knife as a gift to a friend and told him to pay me one cent fot it because of this reason - you cut your friendship. His girlfriend and daughter of a Tokyo kitchen chef told me there is no such belief in Japan, forget about it, superstition brings misfortune

@@resuscitationpicture better safe then sorry.

Hi from 4 years after. You can always get a carbon steel for even 60$ from ebay. Just make sure it's from a seller from japan. I got mine for 4000¥ on sale from kappabashi, tokyo. They sell them online i think too.

Yeah... i actually dont recommend keeping the dry towel on the board... its usually on my side or on the table nearby. Also, keep it clean and change it often to avoid cross-contamination.

+Colin Pennington thanks... i was wearing samue... the one in that was traditionally dyed with indigo i believe.

+Japanese Knife Imports thanks for the response!

+sonespazz518 in general, my feeling is that if it looks like rust (brown, orange, or red), clean it off. Its not really worth risking.

yup... in LA, right on wilshire blvd, between robertson and la cienega :)

The kurouchi finished knives (the ones with the black finish) are more common in home kitchens and smaller knifemaking regions than in fancy restaurants like those that you see in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo. These are a few reasons for this, but its more a function of availability in those regions (the fancy, shiny knives far outnumber the black ones). That being said, kurouchi wouldnt be a problem if the blade was well kept and taken care of. However, it seems most japanese pros still prefer polished blades.

Ideally, in between each food you are cutting (i.e. when switching from chives to tomatoes, or meat to veggies, etc.). Just keep it clean ;) Hope this helps. -Jon

Hi again Jon :) It does. And concisely so. Once again i must thank you for your useful advice. Please do keep up the good work on youtube. It is much appreciated. :) Claus

Severin Bahman rather often... or i continually clean my towel. Usually i use paper towels though, so they are disposable. In general, every time i switch to a new kind of food (i.e. switching types of fish, types of veggies, etc.), i change the towel, so as to avoid cross contamination. The dry towel is only used after the knife is clean, so i dont worry about that one as much. It pretty much only comes into contact with water.

bon ami works well... Bar keepers friend is ok, but can cause a patina too if not used properly. I actually carry some japanse versions here in-store (but not online... extremely limited stock for now).

Japanese Knife Imports Thanks for the reply :). I so wish I could pop into the store in person as it looks absolutely amazing, but unfortunately I'm not located even remotely close, haha. Maybe next time I visit home in Monterey!

nope... will make things more messy, as you'll have oil on your food too in that case. And the parts that wipe off due to contact will still be reactive.

+Jake Jemas Its possible to clean it up... we have a video on how to use rust erasers... thats probably your best bet

are you talking about a kurouchi finish, patina, or something else?

Yan Nguyen Its about learning how to incorporate it into your work flow. It really doesnt slow me down at all, but it takes some getting used to. The more acidic the food, the more often you have to wipe.

Yan Nguyen the edge is still carbon, so it depends on how you care for the knife. If you let the edge patina, you dont have to wipe off as much. If you keep it polished, its pretty much the same. For what its worth, you can also patina carbon steel knives without stainless cladding if you want an easier knife to use/care for.

Hi again. I gonna work in a restaurant and since i gonna buy a aogami super stainless cladding knife and at my restaurant's kitchen only have the plastic cutting board. I wonder if it will damage the knife. And furthermore i wonder how to maintain the knife since i will wipe off the knife after washing it.(Do i need to apply the oil or i can just put it in the box)

An Nguyen not necessarily, but aogami super can be on the brittle side, so you can test and see. If you see chipping, try a microbevel or adjusting the angle of sharpening. On the wiping down and oil, it depends on where you are and what kind of environment it os. Is it very humid over there? If so, oil would be helpful at the end of the day. If not, you should be ok. If you plan to store the knife for a couple of days or more, oil would be great though.

lol... i know its dorky. My wife's family are artists in northern japan, and they have a ton of cool older craftsmen's clothing. I think its cool, and have very few times in my life where i can get away with wearing them. Thanks RU-vid. Imagine if i walked around on the streets like this ;)

we use microfiber towels because they were what i had around at the time... any decent towel should be totally fine though.

vegetable oil can go rancid over time, so i would generally recommend avoiding it (along with most food-based oils). Mineral oil would be better. Vinegar works fine for patina development, if you're trying to force a patina. Hope this helps.

i didnt know what edci was so I had to look it up. According to what I read, it would seem so. But i don't have enough experience with it or product knowledge to be able to answer definitively myself. Sorry. Very cool sounding stuff though. Gonna get some to test out.

kurouchi finishes on stainless cladding are fundamentally different from kurouchi on carbon. They will be SIGNIFICANTLY less prone to rust than their carbon counterparts, but even stainless steel can rust if left wet or dirty (especially with acidic foods) for long enough. Kurouchi on carbon also is not 100% stain resistant, but it does help make that area less prone to rust.

Sorry, I meant to ask if the kurouchi finish on stainless steel cladding is more prone to rust than its original form. As we know, the thin chromium oxide layer that covers the surface is what protects it from oxidation with oxygen in the air. And what I know, the kurouchi finish is the sign of the forging process. So, will the forging process of the kurouchi finish break this thin layer, making it even more susceptible to rust?"

@@olan5668 ahh.. i see. No, on stainless, the kurouchi finish is not more prone to rusting than the original stainless. Also, the kurouchi finish is not always indicative of being forged... like in stainless knives, the kurouchi look can be a function of chemical applications that are used to create that specific look. And, on knives where the kurouchi finish is a function of forge scale, the areas where that breaks down and flakes off will not be any more reactive than the normal exposed carbon steel on that knife. Certainly not worse.

@@JKnifeImports Are there any reasons why using iron cladding instead of soft stainless steel cladding?

@@olan5668 soft iron cladding moves much more easily under the hammer, allowing for knives to be forged thinner, which is never a bad thing. Overall, the process of making simple iron knives is easier in terms of grinding, heat treating, etc. This allows for craftsmen to focus more on other aspects that have a larger impact on performance relative to the additional care required by non-stainless knives. Managing galvanic reactions also seems more manageable with two similar steels (both non-stainless in this example) than two dissimilar steels (i.e. stainless cladding on a carbon core). But, most importantly, some makers just have simple workshops and prefer to work with carbon steel only, and being able to use carbon steel equally well to things that have stainless cladding will allow you to choose knives based on the most important performance factors without worrying as much about the care factors.

yes... it can change the way it looks. However, its not damage per-se. Also, the damascus pattern can often be brought back with some etching. If the damascus finish is a concern though, i would recommend using something like simichrome a bit more often and not letting rust or patina build up.

Thank you very much, John, for your fast and useful reply! Thank you, I will follow your advice!

for sure... feel free to bug me with any other questions

yeah... it helps with food stickage as well. Thats part of the reason you will see many sushi chefs using water on their blades before cutting. In terms of metal taste, yes... i've experienced it first hand with a wide vareity of knives in varying carbon contents and at varying hardnesses. Its pretty common... expecially with high acid foods.

the main reason we dont recommend this is that olive oil can go rancid and also has a different pH balance. There are better options out there.

haha... i actually can speak japanese, but many of our customers feel like they are being looked down on when i'm super uptight about that kind of thing. That being said, i'd be happy to be more appropriate in the future.

Japanese Knife Imports Yeah you're right, I was trying to say it nicely but living in Japan I haven't heard the goofy American way of saying Japanese words in a while and wasn't expecting it. You're right though, people will think you're trying to sound better than them. In Japan they would think "Oh he's so good at pronouncing foreign words, what a cool guy" In America they think, "Who's this guy think he is???" Culture...

IzzualYamakawa its one of my favorite things to joke about in japan... heck, even the yoshimoto comedy people make jokes about this all of the time

indeed we do... www.japaneseknifeimports.com

i would not recommend this. While it might be fine for some people in short term cases, oils like that can go rancid over time. So, if you're storing it that way for a long time, if you store it inside a saya after oiling, or if you don't clean it well between uses, you'll likely end up with rancid oil somewhere along the way. Oils that don't go rancid and have a more PH overall are preferable.

@@JKnifeImports interesting answer Mate and fine for me using daily, as for long term storage never thought of storing any of my knives i guess if one was a knife collector should use the product you spoke of. funny thing though 20 years ago most of us butchering all used high carbon steel knives at the end of days business we just cleaned off the knives and stabbed them into animal fat and pack away until tomorrow. At the end of the day, hygiene is upmost importance before cooking everything should be cleaned off ready for work including my knives. thanks for your follow up.

@@JKnifeImports `what belt are you on this video please?

@@ladallance12 huh? What belt am i wearing? We arent using a belt grinder here, so i'm not quite sure what you're asking.

Being that blue steel is also a carbon steel, the same concepts apply.

@@JKnifeImports I am a new chef and i really want to know that this knife are made for i got i set of knifes from my dad (nagiri-usba-deba-gyuto-yanigiba-the samoray sword looking one) please tell us how to use them

@@itzibrahimm2616 check out this playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLDgLV2bW_MlCtt2LOAYJ5fhw5N7eakBYx

some people prefer the ease of sharpening and edge taking of carbon steel

David Gaudette yes... how sharp the knife can get and how easily it will get there

David Gaudette not 100% of the time, but for the most part, carbon steel has a finer carbide structure, and will thus get sharper... of course there are exceptions to the rule, and it depends greatly on the quality of the heat treatment, but generally this is true

lol... thats a first for me. Doesn't that normally relate to crazy anime fans usually? Not really my jam.

any particular reason you were unhappy with the content of the video or was it something else?

lol... fair enough. The coat i was wearing in the video is vintage indigo, which I happen to be a fan of, and the apron (maikake) is something that I wore in kitchens when cooking in Japan, so they happen to be things I enjoy, but I can see how it looks a bit ridiculous in the video. Then again, as long as the content was good, that was my main focus. I'm sure its clear from the video that videography is not my strong point ;)

videography, sound, content...most sharp and informative, thank you!

@@nmssis and thats what matters most to me ;)

haha... fair enough... I rarely get an excuse to wear traditional Japanese clothing, so I jump on the opportunity when I can

I actually like it.