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Miki M132 Nakiri VG-1 Tsuchime (vegetable knife), 170 mm
Miki M132 Nakiri 170 mm
This Japanese vegetable knife has a core of Japanese VG-1 carbon steel (stainless). This double-sided sharpened knife has a beautiful hammer-forging pattern (Tsuchime). The hammer-and-drop pattern on the blade ensures that products stick less quickly during cutting. This knife is completely hand-forged by the mastersmith of Miki Hamono and is unique in its kind. The blade is very thin and manually sharpened and has no thickenings which makes sharpening very easy. A Nakiri is the typical Japanese vegetable knife and is ideal for chopping vegetables and herbs.
- Blade length: 170 mm
- Total length: 290 mm
- Weight: 134 grams
- Blade thickness: 1.8 mm
- Steel type: core steel: Japanese Takefu VG1 steel (stainless) with 2 layers of stainless steel, Sanmai forged with fine Tsuchime hammer pattern. VG-1 steel was tested by Cold Steel and was the best in the test compared to Shirogami # 2, V-SP-2, 10A, 440C, VG-10 and ATS 34. Test criteria were: sharpness retention (kirenaga), point strength, impact strength and blade strength.
- Hardness: 60-61 (Rockwell C)
- Handle: Western handle of light brown packing wood with sunken Nakago
Like all Japanese knives, the handmade knives from Miki Hamono are not dishwasher safe, after every use cleaning and drying is the best treatment for these exclusive products. There are no wooden sayas available for this knife.
Cutting techniques for a nakiri
Chopping is a cutting technique that is mainly used for leafy vegetables, herbs and softer vegetables (such as cucumber, mushroom, zucchini and gherkin). The technique is characterized by the knife being completely detached from the cutting board during cutting. Chopping is always done at high speed. The technique requires a lot of practice and a razor-sharp knife.
- Stand straight in front of the cutting board, firmly on 2 legs with the shoulders backwards.
- Hold the knife as if you were giving someone a hand. Keep the knife when cutting in the extension of your forearm.
- Let the knife go straight down during cutting. Then move the knife along the finger joints of the non-intersecting hand.
- Cut quickly and pull the fingers back evenly so that the slices are just as thick.
When chopping leafy vegetables and herbs, first roll up the leaves into a kind of cigar. You can then cut these into very fine strips. If you mention a recipe that meat or fish must be chased, it is not the intention to cut them fine. With chopping, in that case the superficial scoring of the meat or the fish is meant. With fish, the fish is prevented from warping or the skin bursts ugly. Meat is cut to promote the yarn and prevent shrinking.
Here a video of a knife made of VG-1 steel:
