The Shirogami 1 series is one of OUL’s best offerings. Each knife has a Shirogami 1 core steel laminated by highly polished stainless steel. The lamination is perfect and each has it’s own unique character. Shirogami 1 takes a finer edge compared to Shirogami 2 and makes for a surgical slicer on the cutting board. The blades are thin with clean tapers to the edge increasing cutting performance. Each choil is lightly beveled to make using the knife comfortable for extended periods . The keyaki (Zelkova) handle is very clean and has it’s own unique grain with a red pakka ferrule. The density and individual grain of the keyaki handle further contributes to the knife’s uniqueness, and long term performance.

240mm can be a lot of blade for some knives, but not for the Shirogami 1. While the knife may cover much of the cutting board, the light weight blade won’t slow you down. The gyuto is very popular because it’s utilitarian, one can slice, chop, mince and more. The Shirogami 1 can do all of those and do it with precision. During extended use, the beveled choil will make food prep comfortable and natural. A good 240mm will make you look for any excuse to get in front of the cutting board.

Fukui Hamono, located in Sakai, Japan comes from over 600 years of knife and sword making tradition. OUL, one of Fukui Hamono’s culinary brands stands out from the competition. The Kanji on OUL’s blades translates to “Master’s Style”. After handling, sharpening and using OUL’s knives, I can say the name is befitting of their products. Each knife is made of quality materials, has an excellent heat treatment and a fit and finish of higher quality compared to many other makers.

Blade steel: Shirogami 1/White 1 carbon steel

Lamination: stainless steel

Handle: kayaki wood with red pakka wood ferrule

Cutting edge length: 240mm

Spine thickness: 3mm

Blade height: 48mm

Handle length: 5.5”

Overall length: 15.5”