The Chiku is the one of the most popular product line of the rising bladesmith, Yu Kurosaki, from the Takefu village. While he is young, he has been the apprentice of some well known masters, and his work is exceptional: balances well with some of the best grinds in its class.
Chiku is the first line is stainless clad with Aogami Super core steel hardened to about HRC62, and with kurouchi finish. The cladding is finished in a unique hammered pattern, the blade a rustic 3D feel that I think is really cool. Blade comes with thick spine behind the heel, and tapers down fast towards the tip.
The conventional Echizen knives mostly featuring a simple darkwood handle that is neither hardwood, nor with horn ferrule, and without any taper. I decided that the Chiku line warrants a better handle in the future. For the older knives, since we also receive them handled, the cost of replacing them with K&S handles are quite expensive. So this time around I ordered the blade only and as a result I am able to install the much better quality K&S handles. The standard handle is the K&S octagonal handle with ebony and black buffalo horn ferrule. We sell them at AU$80 a pop (check it out here), and sells a lot of them, so you know you are getting one heck of a deal here!
Measurements
| Measurements |
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Weight |
145 g |
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Total Length |
313 mm |
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Tip to Heel Length |
170 mm |
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Blade Height at Heel |
47 mm |
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Width of Spine Above Heel |
3.2 mm |
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Width of Spine at Middle of Blade |
1.9 mm |
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Width of Spine at about 1cm From the Tip |
0.9 mm |
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Steel |
Aogami Super Core, Stainless Cladding |
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Hardness |
HRC 63 | |
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Handle Design |
K&S ebony handle with various design option | |