Description

In 2008, some of the knife authorities in Seki formed the "Seki Challengers Knife Club" to train and impart traditional Seki knife making techniques and knowledge to young Seki knife craftsmen. There are now 15 club members, who gather once a month. They all work at Seki knife factories, and are challenged to make their own knives after work and at weekends.
JKD is trying to support and encourage them by introducing their knives for sale. Here are some of the latest knives received:
 
Mr. Seiji Yanagiba recently become 60 years old, for many decades, he has worked hard as a knife craftsman in Seki City. During this time, he has worked for several of Seki City’s famous knife manufacturers and kitchen knife manufacturers and gained a lot of knife making knowledge, experience and skills.
He has a passion for custom knife making and he often attends Japanese Custom Knife Shows, always trying to learn as much as possible from the other veteran custom knife makers. Mr. Yanagida spends most of his spare time making custom knives. Through his continued efforts and attempts, he has steadily improved his skills and techniques and his custom knives now reflect his own unique character and sense of style.
 
YS-14 Custom Compact Outdoor Utility   (OU-31 Steel) 
Mirror Polished, 3.1’ (80mm) OU-31 Steel Drop Point Blade.  Mr. Yanagida wanted to make practical and elegant appearance of Outdoor Utility knife, carefully selected the  matching handle material. Custom handcrafted, Custom Sculpted  4’ (104mm) Red-Sandalwood Handle with Brass Hilt. Comes with a custom handmade Brown Leather Slipcase / Sheath.

OU-31 is the modern Powdered Metallurgy knife steel. It is claimed to have a "homogeneous", "fine" and "clean" microstructure, which provides up to three times the toughness of AISI D2 and a hardness equivalent to AISI M2 (HRc. 64).

C 0.90% | Cr 8.50% | Co 3.00%  | Mo 2.00% | V 3.00%
 
OU-31 Steel blade: 3mm thick (0.11 inch), 80mm (3.1 inch) blade, 185mm (7.2 inch) overall, Weight 57g (2 oz)

Specification
Knife Model: Seiji Yanagiba YS-14 Custom Compact Outdoor Utility
Blade Material: OU-31 Steel
Rockwell Hardness (HRc): 64
Handle Material: Custom Sculpted Red-Sandalwood Handle with Brass Hilt
Overall Length: 185mm
Blade Length: 80mm
Blade Thickness: 3mm

Weight: 57g