Gihei 240mm Gyuto ZDP189 Keyaki Handle

Gihei 240mm Gyuto. ZDP189 stainless powder steel blade. Keyaki (Zelkova) wood octagon handle with buffalo horn ferrule.

Gihei knives are forged and hand ground in Tsubame Sanjo, Niigata at a small family business. Gihei works with some old style steels like shirogami and aogami and also works with new alloys such as ZDP-189.

ZDP-189 is a tungsten powder steel made by Hitachi with a very high carbon content 3% (!) and a high chromium content; 20%. It can be made very very hard without becoming brittle but Gihei brings this steel to around 65 HRC (it can be hardened to 67…) which leaves their knives with a both good hardness and good sharpen-ability. It holds an edge very nicely and cuts well as it dulls, we were very impressed with this series during our trials. Though it has nearly twice the amount of chromium needed to provide a stain resistant effect, the counter balancing carbon amount causes it to react more than the amount of chromium would suggest. It’s best to keep it clean and dry when not in use.

Handle is Japanese keyaki / zelkova wood, a beautiful densely grained wood often used for fine woodworking. It has a great grip wet and wears nicely.