Takeo Murata-san is a highly skilled blacksmith who began his apprenticeship in 1965. While the knives may look unassuming, the designs are excellent. Each blade is subtly hollow ground decreasing blade resistance when cutting. Murata-san uses Aogami 1 as his core steel (iron laminate) which is known for it’s sharpeness and edge retention. Aogami 1, or Blue 1 is very similar to Shirogami/White steel, but with more tungsten which helps increase edge retention. Murata-san forges his knives under the light of a 40 watt light bulb to ensure the entire blade is the same temperature while working. This ensures a good heat treatment and even hardness throughout the blade, which increases sharpeness and edge retention. Simplicity at it’s finest.

The 105mm Buho Ko Bocho is a very handy little knife. Most cooks in the US are used to Western style paring knives, the 105mm Ko Bocho has the height of two average Western paring knives stacked on top of each other. The smaller blade with the height of the Ko Bocho design increases utility allowing one to choke up on the blade and use the knife for more food processing. Not only slices, but push cuts, anything highly detailed can be accomplished with the 105. I frequently use mine to bone chicken, it also works wonders with smaller veggies like shallots and garlic.

Blade steel: Aogami 1/Blue 1 carbon steel

Lamination: Iron

Handle: Magnolia wood with plastic ferrule

Cutting edge length: 105mm

Spine thickness: 2.5mm

Blade height: 38mm

Handle length: 4.5”

Overall length: 9.25”

Carbon steel can rust if neglected. To avoid corrosion and rust, be sure to wash and dry your knife immediately after use. Leaving moisture or acidic material on the blade will cause corrosion. Every carbon steel knife will develop a blue grey patina, yellow or orange is rust.