Considered one of the finest blacksmiths in the region, Yoshikazu Tanaka, the master blacksmith behind the Yoshikazu Tanaka gyuto, has been a blacksmith for over half a century. He now works with his son and an apprentice. He is a traditionalist, but he is always looking to improve his process and skills. He uses the traditional method of tempering with pine charcoal and then uses straw ash. It is a very old way of making knives.
He doesn't use a thermometer for tempering; he manually calculates the steel's temperature by examining its color. Tanaka-san is always striving to improve. He uses a temperature-controlled furnace for tempering, which only a few blacksmiths in the region use. This Damascus gyuto is a perfect example of his meticulous craftsmanship. He and his team only forge 30 knives a day between the three of them. For reference, some blacksmiths forge up to 100 blades in a single day.
The reason he only forges thirty is that he takes his time, carefully forging at a very low temperature. At low temperatures, the steel doesn't stretch as quickly, but it retains its grain size much better. Stretching the grain size will make the steel brittle, which he strives to avoid.
He frequently moves the steel in and out of the furnace to check the color, and then, when the entire blade is a specific shade, he quenches the steel in water. Water quenching (Mizu) is the most difficult to perform and requires very careful handling. The Yoshikazu Tanaka gyuto shown here, with its spectacular damask pattern, embodies the balance between tradition and precision.
