Kiseki Santoku

Kiseki Cnife - the (almost) perfect cutting miracle
Nature is the model – in search of the ideal kitchen cnife.

Since ever knife manufacturers have been searching for the perfect knife: one which is very sharp and stays sharp forever, easy to maintain and easy and comfortable to hold. The Japanese KISEKI cnife by CHROMA comes very close to this ideal.

KISEKI is Japanese and means miracle! You will understand once you have worked with your KISEKI!

CHROMA'S new, three-piece cnife range “KISEKI” , was developed by experienced Japanese engineers.

The scientists copied nature. This is called “bionics” or “biomimicry”. The incisors of rodents are made of two different materials: The largest part of the tooth consists of a relatively soft dentin. It has a similar softness as aluminum. In contrast, the tooth is covered a thin layer of extremely hard enamel.

Enamel is the hardest material in the animal kingdom; You can even engrave aluminum with it. It is as hard as construction steel. While using the teeth, the soft dentin wears out faster than the hard enamel. As a result, at the junction of these two layers, a razor-sharp edge of hard enamel always occurs.

This condition has been copied by the engineers. They “amalgamated” the KISEKI metal alloy – that is clearly visible on the left side of the cnife edge, and that is much harder than the already hard enamel.

This very expensive special alloy was originally invented for space travel and protects, among other materials, the engines of spaceships against corrosion in cosmos.

The base blade, a high-quality, stainless molybdenum-vanadium steel is harder than dentin and hardened to 59° Rockwell C. So the cnife stays sharp longer, a lot longer than rodent teeth if those would not grow back. Rodents enamel and dentin grow. Renewable metals do not exist (yet). Therefore, after some time – due to use – mostly after years – also KISEKI cnives become dull. They can be re-sharped using a CHROMA whetstone.

The developers took a different approach for the the KISEKI cnife handles.

They interviewed many good chefs in Japan and observed how they work with their knifes. They also interviewed amateur cooks. They

found out fairly quickly there was a great interest in a wooden handle, which lays firmly in the hand and – different from the traditional Honoki handles in Japan – the consumer no longer wants a handle that needs to be replaced from time to time.

The researchers took the Western concept of rivets that hold the handle and modified the handle in a traditional Japanese way.

The outcome was the “Hachikakukei no” handle, an octagonal form, which is particularly safe and extremely comfortable to hold in the hand. Now, the question for the best wood. At a conference the engineers met colleagues from Lexus, the luxury car manufacturer. They raved about a new type of bamboo laminate, which feels great and is extremely durable.

Lexus has their own bamboo forest. Since the Lexus people welcomed the idea of a cnife handle from their material, they now supply this high quality material, so the handle can be perfected. Bamboo is a renewable resource with good sustainability.

KISEKI is probably not the perfect cnife and will not be – as long as there is no self-renewable metal. However, KISEKI comes very close to a perfect cnife. Also, because you can sharpen it quick and easy yourself and it is so sharp from the beginning.

General

• Series: Kiseki
• Type: Santoku
• Weight: 124,0 g
• Holster included: No

Size

• Blade Length: 17,0 cm / 6,7 in
• Edge length: 17,0 cm / 6,7 in
• Handle length: 12,5 cm / 4,9 in
• height: 4,5 cm / 1,8 in
• Width: 1,8 cm / 0,7 in

Blade

• Stainless: No

Handle

• Material: Bamboo