How do you feel about "Riki-zai"?
Dec 15 2019
“Riki-zai” is a topic that cannot be avoided in Japanese knife production.
"Riki-zai" means "a material for a knife that cuts well" in Japanese.
In the first place, “Riki-zai” is a material that TAKUMI does not forge by joining steel and soft iron, but forged by machines.
Therefore, knives made from “Riki-zai” were evaluated as inferior to knives forged by TAKUMI.
Certainly, the knives that TAKUMI forges one by one have high value and good quality.
Today, however, the number of highly skilled TAKUMI has decreased, and the time and effort required to forge knives has led to a decrease in production volume and an increase in price.
“Riki-zai” was developed to deal with this situation.
The advantage of "Riki-zai" is that stable quality materials can be supplied in large quantities at low cost. At present, the quality of "Riki-zai" has been improved to the point that TAKUMI is not much different from that forged by TAKUMI.
Nonetheless, we are always fascinated by TAKUMI's knives, which have inherited historical and traditional techniques.
This is because the quality of the knives is fluctuated by hand-making them one by one.
Next time, I will write about the problems of "Riki-zai" and hand-made forging materials.
"Riki-zai" means "a material for a knife that cuts well" in Japanese.
In the first place, “Riki-zai” is a material that TAKUMI does not forge by joining steel and soft iron, but forged by machines.
Therefore, knives made from “Riki-zai” were evaluated as inferior to knives forged by TAKUMI.
Certainly, the knives that TAKUMI forges one by one have high value and good quality.
Today, however, the number of highly skilled TAKUMI has decreased, and the time and effort required to forge knives has led to a decrease in production volume and an increase in price.
“Riki-zai” was developed to deal with this situation.
The advantage of "Riki-zai" is that stable quality materials can be supplied in large quantities at low cost. At present, the quality of "Riki-zai" has been improved to the point that TAKUMI is not much different from that forged by TAKUMI.
Nonetheless, we are always fascinated by TAKUMI's knives, which have inherited historical and traditional techniques.
This is because the quality of the knives is fluctuated by hand-making them one by one.
Next time, I will write about the problems of "Riki-zai" and hand-made forging materials.
