The workshop
A workshop that only makes knives
Forged Blade is a small cutlery brand working out of Seki, in Gifu — a city that has been making Japanese blades for centuries. We keep a short range on purpose: eight knives, three steel families, one set of standards.
Why the range is short
Most knife ranges grow because a catalogue needs filling, not because a cook needs another shape. We went the other way. Every knife in the range has to answer a question a cook actually asks: what do I reach for when I am breaking down a chicken, slicing a roast, or getting through a pile of onions on a Tuesday night. If a shape does not earn its place on a board, it does not get made.
How a blade gets finished
The core steel is forged, clad, normalised and hardened to its target hardness. From there the blade is ground thin behind the edge and blended by hand into the shinogi line — the ridge where the flat of the blade meets the bevel. That blending matters more than most specifications: a machine grind can leave a shoulder that no stone will ever reach, and a knife with a shoulder never feels truly sharp no matter what it says on the box.
The edge is then set on coarse stones and refined on progressively finer ones until it shaves cleanly along its full length. Handles are fitted hot, sealed, and checked for alignment so the blade sits in line with the ferrule rather than off it.
What we will not do
We will not harden a steel past the point where it becomes fragile just to print a higher number on a page. We will not describe a knife as something it is not, and we will not sell you a shape you do not need. If a gyuto will do the job, we will tell you to buy the gyuto.
Steel before shape
The single most useful decision you can make when buying a Japanese knife is not the length or the handle — it is the steel. Carbon takes the finest edge and asks you to dry it. Stainless forgives you. Powder steel holds an edge long enough that you may forget where your stones are. The steel guide explains the difference properly; it is worth ten minutes before you spend anything.