Sakai Takayuki S/S AUS8 Petty 150mm

A petty is a small utility knife, from the French petit. It is commonly shaped like a small gyuto and runs from 120 to 150 mm, up to 180 mm. Its clearest role is detailed work where a larger knife feels cumbersome: fruit peeling, garnish work, condiments, and small board work beside a gyuto or santoku.

A knife maker, Tojiro, frames the petty as a useful second knife, not an automatic necessity, and recommends santoku plus petty or gyuto plus petty combinations. It is not a replacement for a full size chef's knife; it lacks the blade length and belly for efficient chopping, rocking, or breaking down larger proteins. Treat it as a precision tool, not an all-rounder.

Petty knife lengths vary by maker: KAI's guide defines a petty (ペティナイフ) as a small knife with a narrow blade measuring 150 mm or under. Its table gives 90 to 150 mm, and it describes the shape as a smaller gyuto with a pointed tip.

We list petty knives from 70 mm to 165 mm, including lengths above the limit used in KAI's guide.

AUS-8 is made by Aichi Steel, whose page on stainless steels for blades groups the AUS grades with its 13-chromium steels. There, AUS-6M, AUS-8 and AUS-10 are the grades that add still more carbon and add vanadium and molybdenum, which Aichi says further improves hardness, wear resistance and tempering resistance.

By the JSSA's definition, stainless means 10.5% or more chromium, and the JSSA notes that stainless, strictly, means it rusts less, so wash the knife after use and dry it.

Sakai Takayuki (堺孝行) is a brand of Aoki Hamono Seisakusho (青木刃物製作所) in Sakai, Osaka, and the company's own page says so directly. The trademarks for 堺孝行 and 堺菊孝 were registered in 1964.

The company started in Osaka in 1947 as a wholesaler of Sakai forged knives, set up a sales office in Sakai in 1963, and built a factory in Sakai in 1977. So when you see the Sakai Takayuki name, that is Aoki Hamono's own line.

Sakai Takayuki knives are made by Aoki Hamono Seisakusho and its craftsmen in Sakai, Osaka. The company's own traditional-craftsman page profiles its named Sakai smiths.

Aoki Hamono's own page says Sakai knives are made by division of labour: blacksmiths forge the blade, and sharpening craftsmen then grind and sharpen it. Aoki Hamono's Sanpou factory, home to its smiths and sharpeners since 1978, added an automatic grinding machine for Japanese knives in 2015.

A honyaki is a blade of one steel, differentially hardened under a clay or abrasive coating. The quench hardens the edge while the coated parts stay softer, and the boundary shows as the hamon. That quench has a high failure rate, and the hand work is a large part of the price.

The trade-offs are real, and a Sakai knife maker lists them plainly: a honyaki is weaker against impact, chips more easily because the whole blade is hard, is not for hard foods, is harder to sharpen, and suits experienced hands. That maker recommends it for sashimi, fugu hiki and mukimono. Tojiro says a honyaki cuts cleaner than a laminated kasumi knife and suits sashimi, but warns that a wrong warp correction can crack or snap it, and that with modern forging not every honyaki knife is superior to a kasumi.

Sakai Takayuki makes its honyaki with the mizu honyaki water quench in pursuit of sharpness. If your kitchen is busy, an everyday VG10 Damascus line is the easier choice; if you want the craft itself, a honyaki can suit you.