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Interesting facts about
KAI kitchen knives

A sharp and high-quality chef's knife is an indispensable tool for every passionate cook. To ensure that your chef's knife is always in top condition and maintains its cutting performance, regular and appropriate care is essential. In this chapter, we would like to tell you more about our high-quality chef's knives and give you information worth knowing about the materials used and the different types of knives. Dive with us into the world of chef's knives and learn what distinguishes a first-class chef's knife and why it is a valuable investment for every chef.

Japanese blade types

Japanese blade shapes are characterised by their traditional and proven shape, which support a variety of cooking techniques and facilitate the cutting of different foods. Learn more about the most popular blade shapes.

Grinding Instructions

Sharpening is part of caring for your KAI kitchen knives. The right sharpening technique is crucial to achieve professional results and to enjoy your kitchen knives for a long time.

Japanese
Blade types

Santoku -

the three virtues/benefits

The Santoku is the traditional Japanese shape for a utility knife, comparable to the German chef's knife. The name 'three benefits' is derived from its versatility for cutting fish, meat and vegetables.

Usuba -

the vegetable cutter

The Usuba blade shape is a traditional Japanese vegetable knife, and it is therefore used primarily for this purpose. Despite its axe-like shape it is not suitable for chopping bones.

Yanagiba -

the willow leaf blade

The Yanagiba is a traditional Japanese slicing knife. Due to the slender, one-sided, hollow-ground and relatively long blade, the knife is particularly suitable for very thin cuts. The knife guarantees a skilful - and particularly clean, smooth cut. Such cuts are particularly important in the preparation of sushi. The length and shape of the blade allow for a long, pulling cutting movement.

Deba -

the protruding blade

The Deba is used in Japanese cuisine as a traditional axe. The sturdy, heavy knife has a strong, broad blade and a single cutting edge. The front part of the blade is used mainly for filleting fish. The rear part of the blade is stronger and is used, among other things, for cutting small chicken and fish bones.

Material

Damascus steel

is in its modern form an alloy consisting of multiple visible layers produced in combination with a core steel. The base material used for the production of modern Damascus steel derives from steels with various contents of accompanying elements. The combination of steel grades with contrasting properties allows the production of particularly hard and at the same time flexible steels.

HRC

refers to hardness tests according to Rockwell's C scale, employed for particularly hard materials. The Rockwell hardness value arises from the depth a testing object reaches whilst penetrating the test material (diamond, as the hardest material, serves as the value of reference with 100 HRC).

A(US)10 steel

00 (±1) HRC

characterized by its high carbon content which ensures a high hardness and enables an excellent cutting quality. The other elements give the steel more flexibility and toughness, which contribute to a better resistance to wear and corrosion, making AUS-10 knives less likely to rust and giving them a better edge retention.

SUS420J2 steel

56 (±1) HRC

is a corrosion-resistant stainless steel with a high chromium content (14%) and an average carbon content (0.3%).

6A/1K6 steel

57 (±1) HRC

is a newly developed steel. Blades fashioned from this material are especially resistant to corrosion due to their high chromium content. This is a very pure type of stainless steel. Its greater carbon content ensures a better edge holding ability.

VG 2 steel

58 (±1) HRC

is a Japanese steel distinguished by its high flexibility and resilience. Thanks to its high chromium content, this blade steel is particularly resistant to both wear and corrosion.

VG 10 steel

61 (±1) HRC

is a classic Japanese high performance steel with excellent properties that have awarded it the moniker "gold steel". It is a stainless blade steel of the highest quality with a high carbon content. This allows it to be tempered particularly well in contrast to other stainless steels. Moreover, VG 10 boasts a particularly good edge retention.

VG MAX steel

61 (±1) HRC

is based on VG 10 steel with further optimisations to its properties. Enriched with a higher chromium and vanadium content than VG 10, it demonstrates improved edge retention and resistance to corrosion. A higher carbon content also makes it harder than other steel grades.

VG XEOS steel

00 (±1) HRC

A very hard stainless steel, represents the further development of VG-Max steel. This steel allows the production of knives with even thinner cutting edges, which reduce friction while cutting and allows a better edge retention. Although VG-XEOS is made without cobalt, it still achieves the same hardness and resistance to corrosion as VG-Max. As a result, it offers an outstanding cutting performance and a high resistance to wear.

Pakkawood

does not refer to a particular wood species, but rather the general term for impregnated layered wood veneers bonded using high quality resins to ensure the handle's stability and guarantee lasting durability in the face of moisture and organic material.

Care
Instructions

Cutting

We recommend that you cut on wooden or plastic chopping boards. Glass, stone, and granite are unsuitable as cutting surfaces, as they can cause permanent damage to the knives' delicate blades.

The blades are principally not suitable for cutting bones, including fish bones or frozen foods.

Cleaning

Rinse the knives in hot water before using them for the first time. After each use, make sure that the knives are washed without delay (with a mild detergen) and dried off with a soft cloth. Acidic foods in particular should be rinsed off immediately after use.

For your own safety, you should always wipe the knife away from your body and away from the cutting edge with a cloth or towel.

Knives do not belong in the dishwasher, under any circumstances. Always wash the knives by hand in order to protect the material and maintain long-lasting sharpness.

Storing

When storing the knives, make sure that the blade does not come into contact with other metallic objects. This way, common causes of damage and staining can be avoided.

The best way to store the knives is in a knife block, in a wooden drawer insert, on a wooden magnetic knife rack, or in the drawer with a blade guard or sheath.

Sharpening & Care

Ensure that all knives with natural wooden handles do not remain in water too long. Oil the handle from time to time with a little neutral vegetable or camellia oil.

It is also advisable to have the knives professionally resharpened from time to time to repair signs of wear on the cutting edge and to ensure lasting sharpness.

Due to the high degree of hardness of our knives, sharpening steels are completely unsuitable. From the traditional whetstone to a complete electric system, our range offers the right tool for each of our knives.

Grinding Instructions

Before use, the whetstone should be completely soaked in water for about 10 minutes. Please make sure that a light film of water is always visible on the surface of the stone during grinding. By doing this you ensure the knife edge is sufficiently cooled.

I. Blades ground on both sides

a. Place the whetstone lengthwise in front of you on the work surface. Place the knife in front of you with the edge facing you at an angle of 45° to the grindstone and lift it off at a grinding angle of 15° to the grindstone.

b. Start grinding at the tip of the blade. Apply a little pressure so that there is no gap between the whetstone and the blade.

c. Push the knife away from you over the grindstone with light pressure and then pull it back towards you over the grindstone without pressure. Continue in this way, moving your fingertips towards the handle as you pull the knife towards you, thus moving the knife towards the handle, until you have sharpened the entire edge. Repeat this sharpening process depending on the condition of the knife. Experience shows that at least five passes are necessary for this.

d. Turn the knife over and repeat the sharpening process with the same number of repetitions.

e. Rinse the knife and the whetstone thoroughly with clean water.

II. Blades ground on one side

a. Place the whetstone lengthwise in front of you on the work surface. Hold the knife in front of you with the edge facing you at an angle of 45° to the grindstone and place it with the sharpened side in the lower part of the grindstone.

b. Start sharpening at the tip of the blade. Apply a little pressure to the edge with your fingertips so that there is no gap between the whetstone and the blade. The grinding angle results from the original grind and should not be changed if possible.

c. Push the knife away from you over the grindstone with light pressure and then pull it back towards you over the grindstone without pressure. Continue in this way, moving your fingertips towards the handle as you pull the knife towards you, thus moving the knife towards the handle, until you have sharpened the entire edge. Repeat this sharpening process depending on the condition of the knife until a small burr* can be felt. Experience shows that at least five passes are necessary for this.


* Definition: A burr is an extremely fine layer of metal that is formed during the grinding process on the side facing away from the whetstone.

d. Turn the knife over and now place the hollow-ground side of the blade flat on the whetstone. Push the knife over the whetstone with a little pressure until the burr can no longer be felt. Alternatively, you can remove the burr* with a nylon brush or newspaper.

e. Rinse the knife and the whetstone thoroughly with clean water.

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