Gokou 165mm Santoku Knife

This is a high-carbon steel chef knife designed to cut produce and boneless meats.

Pros: Sharpness, edge retention, ambidextrous handle, easy to resharpen, stainless-cladding.

Cons: Fragile, blade will tarnish.

Goko knives are hand-made in Kashiwa City, on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan, by head blacksmith Yamakawa Norihiko and his son Yamakawa Yoshito.

The blades are stainless-clad Shirogami #1 Japanese steel (aka White Steel).

The handle is octagonal walnut with purpleheart ferrule.

The best sharpening tools for Japanese knives are leather strops and fine whetstones.

Japanese chef knives are brittle and the blades can chip if not handled carefully. High Carbon steel chef knives can rust and corrode if not dried promptly and kept dry.