Blade December 2022

Gerald Willey W. Gerald Willey, founder of the long-time Willey Knives mom-and-pop retail knife store in Greenwood, Delaware, passed away July 24. He was 79. In business since 1970, Willey Knives sells and/or has sold the knives, sharpeners, knife accessories, scissors, kitchen gadgets, cutting boards and other edged and related items by just about every big name in the factory knife industry—Case, Benchmade, Buck, Spyderco, CRKT, Gerber, Chris Reeve Knives, Victorinox, William Henry, Wusthof, Henckels and many more—not to mention some custom knives as well. The store also has a full-time sharpening service for walk-in customers, those who mail in their knives and that caters to about 90 area restaurants. Though the store has a website, its specialty is and always has been handson service. Willey Knives celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020…

The three featured cover pieces (page 12) are custom household cutlery with a Japanese design flair. The Honyaki Gyuto hybrid chef’s knife by Dmitriy Popov boasts a 9.45-inch blade of differentially heat-treated W2 tool steel, an ideal material for the handsome hamon. Dre Laborde’s straight-edge kiritsuke chef’s knife has a curly maple handle and a handsome matching sheath of stabilized maple (page 45). And the Haetori Honesuki, an all-around kitchen utility knife by Tony Cetani, is highlighted by a 5.5-inch blade of Chevron copper-mai steel with an 80CrV2 carbon steel core forged by Baker Forge. The mosaic damascus pizza cutter is by ABS Master Smith Andrew Meers. Enjoy it all you can in the story on page 82, as Andrew is focusing on making his award-winning fixed blades and folders and…

Chef ’s knives are among the most exotic and spectacular of custom pieces, as witnessed by the cover of our annual kitchen knife issue and lead story (page 12) on examples of the “food fighters” with a Japanese flair. Not only are custom chef’s knives exotic and spectacular but they also come in a wide variety of designs and materials, all of which helps make them some of the most versatile knives in terms of both utility and aesthetics. Custom chef’s knives have enjoyed a nice run the past several years, and as with many custom knife trends, many makers have tried their hand at building them. Consequently, as with most custom knife trends, chef’s knives have exploded in numbers. If you’ve been reading BLADE® in recent months, you may have seen…

The Japanese influence on custom knives is everpresent in the marketplace, and, aside from the tanto, nowhere is its flair and focus felt more than with chef’s knives. These tools of the culinary trade are functional as much as they are eye catching, especially in examples of some of the top makers in the genre today. Dmitriy Popov has conjured up a masterpiece he calls the wide-bevel Honyaki Gyuto Hybrid, a new take on a recognized Japanese style. “It isn’t a traditional gyuto, as it has an upswept tip and the height of a nakiri,” he commented. “Having the tip aligned with the spine of the knife gives the user a feeling of control for precise tasks requiring use of the tip. Having the extra height in the heel allows me…

Mostly used in connection with chef’s or cook’s knives, the handle known as a wa, or traditional Japanese, tends to have an overall lighter feel and bladeforward balance. “The design is simple, functional and aesthetically pleasing,” notes tophamknifeco.com. “Nine times out of 10 [the wa is] of a hiddentang construction where the tang is narrow and burnt into the handle to ensure a tight fit.” Full-tang versions are uncommon. According to The Cook’s Edge, knives with wa handles have a tang that is around three-quarters the length of the grip. The wa is often octagonal in shape/has octagonal facets and comes in all types of materials. The geometry indexes the knife so you can tell by feel where the blade is and how it’s oriented. Again, according to tophamknifeco.com, Japanese handle…

SPEC CHART MODEL: Mini Cleaver BLADE LENGTH: 3” BLADE MATERIAL: 1084 carbon steel BLADE GRIND: High flat w/aged patina on the bevels, and forged finish on the flats and small l secondary cutting edge bevel HANDLE: Multi-part combo scales of blue-dyed camel bone bolster w/a sandwich stack of black fiber, brass and natural linen Micarta®; finished w/ironwood, brass pins and blue vulcanized fiber liners KNIFE TO KNOW: There’s a hidden pin behind the bolster for added handle stability; Chris James also makes the cleaver in an smaller micro version OVERALL LENGTH: 6.5” SHEATH: Tooled leather pouch by Chris James MAKER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR CLEAVER (INCLUDING SHEATH): $550 MAKER: CJ Knives, attn: Chris James, Dept. BL12, 614 Seminole St., Russellville, AL 35653 256-810-4535 Cjknives1@gmail.com, cjknives.com (SharpByCoop image) SPEC CHART MODEL: Chef’s knife BLADE LENGTH: 10.25” BLADE MATERIAL: 360-layer random pattern damascus BLADE GRIND:…