Cool Gadgets and Things ...

I brought two of these folders from my last trip to Japan.

If you want to know more about history of this knife, read this - best info I found so far.

You can see two knifes on this picture: top one is not a real Higonokame, the bigger one is "the Higonokame (TM)"

Both have San-Mai blade (3 layers) and both are very sharp as of now. There are many Higonokame knifes exist, some are very expensive, but the real "pencil sharpener" one is really cheap. I even saw one for around 5$ (blade made from simple one layer steel).

What is common for "real" Higonokame is it is a roughest example of Japanese craftsmanship. It is so rough, you would  not believe it is Japanese. And when I say "rough" I does not mean "artistically rough": I was making a better tools in school when I was a small kid: sure thing more straight and more finished than this one in a couple of hours. Sure enough this knife would get a very low, no pass mark from our teacher. It is ugly rough ;) Almost any Higonokame I tested was defective in some way. Luckily, blade itself seems to be mostly OK. So it is mostly fit and finish. But still, this would not fly even in China :-) (they do make some cool knifes and swords, btw, nothing to be ashamed off, but what I mean is a cheap knock-off knifes you can buy in USA for cheap: they will fell apart quick (or not!), but it will have a much better finish when you buy it)

Amazingly, that "fake" Higonokame, that came from respectful shop in Kyoto even more rough and handle is touches the blade: I bough some discounted re-sharpened knife with discount just for fun.

http://openkyoto.com/stores/real-kyoto-knives-aritsugu-knives.html

Just like most people I am planing to finish and "fix" my Higonokame :)

Also, they easily rust, so it is not a good "pocket" knife for place I live. Most importantly, there is no lock and I try not use knifes without lock: I have quite a few accidents with my pocket knifes when I was a kid (but luckily still have all my fingers). But there are a special holding bar, that kind of work like manual lock and this knife is probably OK to sharpen pencil :-) or do some wood sculpturing.

Amazingly, we found a new use for this knife: creating cuts in bread dough before putting it the oven. It works amazingly well.

Labels: Higonokame, Higonoknifu