At the Seki Outdoor Knife Show, we met with a passionate Young Forge Smith (Although he already has over 20 years of knife making experience) called Daisuke Nishida, who is from Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyūshū Island.
Master Nishida started his knife making career when he was 19 years old and he apprenticed with an experienced and sophisticated forge smith, who taught him traditional hammer forging techniques, knife handcrafting methods and other knife making knowledge.
Now, over 20 years later, Forge Smith Nishida runs his own workshop and he continues to challenge himself to produce the best possible knives and to impact the hearts and spirits of knife lovers and collectors.
Recently, the numbers of traditional forge smiths that make handmade knives has been decreasing, while the number of factory-made knives has been increasing.
Among these few remaining forge smiths, Master Nishida preserves his traditional handcrafting practices and continues to make his knives using the traditional Tan-Setsu ("Forge-Welding") process; In other words, Forge Smith Nishida makes his own laminated blade material using his own experience and forging skills rather than buying pre-laminated blade material. While this means he can only produce a limited number of traditional hammer forged knives, it allows him to activate and use all of his creativity, technical skills, experience, passion and spirit to produce wonderful one-of-a-kind custom knives.
In addition to preserving traditional blade forging and handcrafting techniques and skills, Master Nishida has also developed his design skills and design sense so that he can produce creative, attractive and practical custom handles and overall knife designs.
Master Nishida truly is a very conscientious and dedicated custom knife maker who is able to design and make custom knives that harmoniously blend traditional Japanese "WA" taste/style and contemporary knife design concepts. When these skills are combined with the High Cutting Performance offered by a Pure Carbon Japanese Steel blade, and a great sense for custom handle making, you end up with knives that really are outstanding.
