NORA #1151 - Honeycomb Kiritsuke - CTS-XHP
$ 365.00
KNIFE HIGHLIGHTS
- Blade Type: Kiritsuke
- Blade Length: 7.5 Inches
- Total Length: 12.75 Inches
- Handle Style: Western | Right or Left Hand Use
- Steel: CTS-XHP Stainless Steel
- Handle Materials: Stabilized Lacewood, Urethane Resin (honey-gold color), brass pins, tan G10 liners
- Rockwell Hardness: 62 HRC
- Grind Type: Full Flat Hybrid
- Weight: 8.6 oz / 244 g
- This Blade is Ground...
- Thin for Performance (best performance but can be delicate)
- Thick for Durability (tough, built to last for heavy wear-n-tear)
- >>>Mid-Range with Special Geometry (specially ground for food release and glide but blade is kept slightly thicker for durability)
- This Knife Feels...
- >>> Heavy in Hand (hefty, durable)
- Light (nimble, maneuverable)
- Not too heavy, not too light (Switzerland)
GENERAL USES OF THIS KNIFE
Kiritsuke Knife
NORA knife #1151 is our take on the traditional Japanese Kiritsuke knife.
A Kiritsuke knife is one of the very few Japanese knives that is considered multi-purpose. It is a hybrid between a Yanagi (fish slicer) and a Usuba (vegetable knife.). A Kiritsuke knife works well for slicing and breaking down protein but it also excels at vegetable prep. and general purpose tasks. In Japanese kitchens, the Kiritsuke knife is reserved only for the executive Chef as a sign of respect and also due to the skill needed to efficiently use these knives.
Our Kiritsuke design does not have as flat of a belly as the more traditional Japanese style knives. We have done this to allow just the slightest amount of rock in the cut. We feel it adds a bit more versatility to the knife.
STEEL INFORMATION:
CTS-XHP Stainless Steel
This knife blade is made from CTS-XHP stainless steel which is a premium stainless steel that we rarely offer because it is fairly hard to source. This steel has excellent durability for a stainless steel and it also can be taken to a fairly high hardness at 62 HRC. A higher hardness generally translates to greater edge retention and sharpness which is why this is such a sought after steel. Besides this, the actual stain resistance on this stainless is high. This may seem counter-intuitive as it is a "stainless" steel but many other stainless steels have a tendency to form small rust spots. They are "stainless," but just barely.
In a nutshell, this steel has a great combination of performance, durability and stain resistance. You're not sacrificing one for the other which is nice when it comes to kitchen use.
HANDLE DESIGN & MATERIALS:
Every one of our knives is handmade, numbered and unique. The design for this NORA knife, number #1151, was originally conceived for a knife we made for Chefs Roll which was sponsored by the National Honey Association. They wanted a honey themed knife and so we decided to fire our tiny CNC machine up and cut a honeycomb pattern into some wood scales and then fill the voids with resin. We liked the result so much that we decided to make another handle with the same design. This is the result of that effort and its a very classy looking knife. The resin has beautiful honey gold color with very light hints of metallic and the reddish-brown tone of the lacewood is a nice complement to the resin. We kept all the colors in the same neutral color scheme by adding brass pins and tan G10 liners.