A santoku is the Japanese general purpose kitchen knife: shorter and taller than a western chef knife, with a flatter edge and a sheepsfoot tip. The name means three virtues, which is usually read as meat, fish and vegetables. In practice it suits people who chop rather than rock, and it is the knife most cooks reach for once they have one.
The kitchen range
The santoku here has a buffalo horn handle and a leather sheath. Around it sits the rest of the kitchen work, all forge welded 1095 and 15N20 Damascus at 58 to 60 HRC apart from one cleaver in plain 1095 high carbon at 54 to 58 HRC with a Damascus steel guard and a blue resin handle. The chef knives cover buffalo horn paired with pakka wood over a brass bolster and a mosaic pin, hardwood with a brass bolster and fiber spacers, stag horn with olive wood, wenge wood with a steel bolster and a mosaic pin, and plain wood with a steel bolster. There is a cleaver with stag horn and walnut, four fillet knives with stag horn, natural bone, wood and blue resin handles, and a five piece chef knife set with rosewood handles, vegvisir etched blades, full tang construction and a leather knife roll. Every piece comes with a leather sheath. Prices run from 109 dollars for a single cleaver to 529 dollars for the full set.
Living with a carbon steel kitchen knife
These are not stainless. They will take a patina, and they will spot if you leave them wet in a sink, which is the one thing that puts people off and the one thing that is entirely avoidable. Wash by hand, dry immediately, and keep them out of the dishwasher. Our notes on caring for a hand forged kitchen knife cover the routine, and the whetstone guide deals with keeping the edge. If you are choosing between shapes, our pick of Damascus chef knives compares them, and the full kitchen range is in chef knives.
Ransack Viking is a US company based in Chicago, Illinois. These pieces are handmade in the Czech Republic, then imported, inspected and shipped from Chicago. Engraving is done in the US after arrival: text 19 dollars, symbol 39 dollars, family crest 49 dollars.
Free US shipping
On most pieces. Heavier and oversized ones carry a flat charge.
Hand Forged
Heated, hammered and ground by hand.
Engraving available
Names, dates or Norse runes on most pieces.
