News

Double Bevel Sharpening Class Imaages

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Interview with Jon Broida on KnifePlanet

KnifePlanet (www.KnifePlanet.net) had asked to interview me a few days back.  The interview is now up on their site here: http://www.knifeplanet.net/japanese-knife-imports-jon-broida-interview/ Hope you guys enjoy it.

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Some Thoughts on Sharpening Stones and Cutting Speed

I often get asked about sharpening stones, and one of the main things people are looking for are faster cutting stones that don't dish.  While there are things like this, they often aren't what people are expecting.  Recently, I was answering a customer e-mail and ended up writing an explanation that I thought might be worth sharing more publicly, to help people better understand sharpening stones and the options that are available.  Anyways, here is a slightly edited version of what I wrote: Let's talk about the determining factors of speed for a second.  First would be grit size... this...

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Japanese Butchery Knives- Shapes and Functions

Hi, my name is Josh Melara. I started working here at JKI back in February. You might have seen me in the back or I might have even helped you out in the shop if you’ve come in since then. I come from a butchering background, having butchered for supermarkets, restaurants, and butcher shops in LA.   I’ll be writing the blog entries from time to time. I hope you enjoy them. Japanese Butchery Knives: Shapes and Functions   In the world of Japanese knives, each blade shape fills a specific purpose. Interestingly, many of them revolve around the butchering...

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Introducing Josh... He's going to be taking over the blog for a bit

Josh started working for us a few months ago, and as he's going through a lot of training right now, we thought it might be fun to have him share a bit about the things he's learning about, struggles, areas of interest, etc., as a lot of this is new to him like it is to many of our customers.  Before working with us, Josh worked as a butcher for a couple of high end butchery shops nearby.  He also has experience with various aspects of fabricating, welding, woodworking, etc.  Currently, he helps out with shipping out online orders, helping...

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Expected Price Raises Across Japan for Knives

Just a heads up for everyone... a number of knife maker associations across japan have agreed upon price raises for products made by their members. It seems this is occurring in multiple regions, and even those outside of these associations will be raising prices. In many cases, we expect to see 20% increases (though we have been told that some will be more). We have been told that these changes will begin in the fall, but people are going about it differently. Some have already started, while others will take a bit longer. Some will be raising prices on knives...

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Welcome to our new website

After a lot of work, and a bit of a wait, we were finally able to launch the newest version of Japanese Knife Imports today. Though the website looks similar, there are a number of huge changes we have made with this new version.  We have been listening to what our customers have been asking for, and, in this newest version, we have tried to implement as many of those requests as possible.  Here's a brief rundown of some of the new things you can expect: Mobile and Tablet friendly sites- the site should work well whether it be on...

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