Manaka Hamono
Manaka Hamono
The Master Blacksmith of Saitama Prefecture Shunsuke Manaka of Manaka Hamono.
He is the 5th generation blacksmith of his company who has a history of hand forging blades since 1872. Generations before him started forging katana in the earlier days but gradually moved to farming tools and then kitchen knives.
Every piece is painstakingly made by him from scratch with his schedule running 12 hours a day non stop. His knives have a superb fit and finish and thin spine. You can definitely expect high performance and aesthetics with his knives.
His specialty is forging two different kinds of stainless steels. As some of us may know welding two stainless steels within the same family are compatible and is manageable to do. But when two different kinds are forged together that's when you need someone who knows what they are doing. With his unceasing effort and ambition to be the best he can be not just by the standard of normal people but moreover by the top bladesmiths in Japan he is able to do it successfully.
He is a very fun guy to be with and have such humor, humility and also respect to his craft. It is my honor to be the first one to represent his knives here in the western world.
