Hatsukokoro Hayabusa Blue 2 Rainbow Damascus

The Hayabusa rainbow damascus line sits inside Hatsukokoro's established Hayabusa series: three shapes, a 210 mm gyuto, a 180 mm santoku and a 150 mm petty, each on the K&S teak wood handle with optional handle upgrades.

The core is Hitachi's staple Blue 2 carbon alloy steel, supplied through Takefu Special Steel, hardened to 62 to 63 HRC. The cladding is a copper / brass damascus under stainless, an eye opener in itself, and this kind of cladding usually comes at high prices. Hatsukokoro's Hayabusa goes the other way, with a very thin grind and excellent value.

Because the core is carbon steel, the routine is short but firm: wipe the blade dry after use rather than leaving it by the sink. The gyuto weighs 163 g, the santoku 146 g and the petty 91 g, and the spines run 2.3 to 2.6 mm above the heel and taper to under a millimetre near the tip on the two smaller blades.