Is the Miyabi Artisan Santoku a Good Buy?

The answer to this question is a definite yes. The Miyabi Artisan santoku is a great general purpose knife made from the highest quality materials and a top of the line production process. That is If you don’t mind the budget. The Miyabi Artisan line features both the small and large santoku knives, plus a version of 7 inch rocking Santoku. Meaning you have a variety of santoku knives to choose from. But in order to know if this line of knives is suited for your requirements you have to first take a look at the features of the Artisan Santoku knives.

Miyabi Artisan Santoku Features

The Miyabi Artisan line contains some of the best Miyabi knives on the market today. All knives are made in Seki, Japan under the Miyabi brand which is owned by Zwilling J.A. Henckels. Here is where the concept of Miyabi knives came to life. Zwilling has acquired a traditional Japanese knife manufacturing and combined Japanese traditional techniques in knife making with high end german engineering and western design. The result is a world wide recognized, high-end kitchen knife.

Blade

The blade of the Artisan Santoku knife has a clad construction, made in 3 layers. Basically you get a SG2 micro carbide powdered steel core, encased in nickel and stainless steel Damascus layers. The SG2 is a very hard steel.perfect for kitchen knives. Knife connoisseurs say the SG2 stands for “Super Gold”. You can imagine how special this material is. But, it is basically one of the best high carbon stainless steels for kitchen knives on the market.

The clad construction of harder and softer steel plus the special material used to create the santoku knives, is special in every way. But in order to give the knife its amazing qualities the blade has to undergo hardening. This process was introduced by Zwilling and is called CRYODUR. Here the knives blades are heated to a specific temperature, in vacuum sealed oven and then ice frozen. This process will harden the steel at an impressive 63 Rockwell. Remember that a knife’s blade is hard when it reaches 60 HRC but everything 62 HRC and over is super hard, basically almost as hard as it can get.

Sharpening

All Artisan Santoku knives come extremely sharp out of the box. And you can be sure of that because all knives are Honbazuke, 3 step hand sharpened. Honbazuke is a traditionally Japanese sharpening method applied in 3 steps for perfect results. First the santokus are ground on rotating whetstones. Second they are sharpened and third polished on leather belts for a razor like edge. Effort is put into every detail in the Artisan line.

Handle

The handle of the Artisan santoku knives is made from Cocobolo Rosewood. Cocobolo is a dense, durable material with plenty natural oils to help it resist moisture and changing dry to wet conditions. Because of its qualities, it makes for a great high-end knife handle. Usually, the material is used for fine artwork or furniture and musical equipment. Thus, also, being in limited supply, its price tends to be high. But what other material to use on your top of the line knives if not this one?

When it comes to such high-end knives, the materials and construction process are not enough in order to rate it. Design, is also a major factor to take into consideration.The handle of the Artisan santoku knives is a basic Japanese D-shaped handle with visible western influences. The most obvious factor is the belly shaped design on the underside of the handle. With this design the knife becomes more comfortable to hold but it makes for less space in between your hand and the cutting board. In any case, that should not bother you if you don’t have very large hands.

Aesthetically, the handle, is just beautiful. There is much attention to detail. The grain and color of the wood, works perfectly with the red and bras spacers plus the center mosaic pin. The pin is actually a rivet made from individual bars pushed through the knife in a mosaic design. On top the stainless steel end cap with the Miyabi logo just completes the piece.

Which Miyabi Artisan Santoku should I buy?

In order to know which Miyabi Santoku you want to buy you must first know that there are 3 versions of santoku knives available on the Artisan line. Thus, you have a rocking and a straight edge 7 inch Santoku plus a 5.5 inch Santoku. So 2 sizes and 2 different styled of blades. There are advantages and disadvantages of each Santoku and we will discuss it further.

Miyabi Artisan Rocking Santoku 7 inch

The Miyabi Artisan 7 rocking santoku is most preferred by western cooks as the curved edge allows for rock chopping (a western style of chopping). Also, the 7 inch size, makes it a good size for even people with larger hands. The santoku knives in this line do not feature a Granton edge like other westernized santoku models. But, in this sense it keep more to the Japanese tradition by using a Tsuchime hammered design. This hammered design allows for air pockets to form between your blade and the slice so that it won’t stick to the wide blade.

Miyabi Artisan Santoku 7 inch

The straight edge Artisan 7 inch Santoku has all the qualities and features of the rocking 7 inch Santoku just for the fact that it has a straight edge. This design will help people who prefer to use a up and down cutting motion when cooking. Because of the straight edge this techniques is easy to employ as the edge slices straight on the cutting board. The up and down cutting technique is mostly used by asian cooks. Thus, if you like to employ asian cutting techniques to your cooking method this knife is the choice.

Miyabi Artisan Santoku 5.5 inch

The 5.5 inch Santoku from Miyabi Artisan’s line is a straight edge Santoku at obviously 5.5 inch. The smaller brother of the 7 inch is a great choice for a beginner, or a cook that is not really sure about how to handle a larger blade. People with smaller hands also tend to choose the 5.5 inch size because of a increased security feeling when handling it. But the knife doesn’t come short on specs. It is made from the same great materials and through the same rigorous process as all Artisan knives. Thus, you will receive a high quality knife with a lifetime manufacturer warranty.