Olive Wood 27cm Tako Sashimi Knife, Japanese 67-Layer VG-10 Damascus Stainless Steel, Kitchen Knife, Natural Olive Wood Handle

The knife is a nice shape, hefty and very sharp. My handle was free of cracks which was a relief after reading the other reviews, although the presentation box had a corner that was crushed, spoiling it. My issue is the saya (‘scabbard’) is a really, really tight fit. After only managing to get the blade partially into it, I struggled to extract it again. Using bare hands and brute force to insert and extract the blade is extremely dangerous and not recommended and I had to resort to using a ‘kozuchi’ (see photograph) which is a traditional implement used to remove tightly stuck handles from Japanese swords! I’m sure not many people reading this have such a device! Even with my kozuchi, it was a struggle. As you can see, I couldn’t get the blades cutting edge all the way into the saya! I’m hoping it will eventually loosen with use, but this is suggestive of the actual quality of the product. Update: Two days of being wedged in the saya and a thin smear of camellia oil, have loosened things up nicely and it’s now safe to use. I’ve subsequently upped my star rating to 5.

Upon opening the box, I could see straight away that the knife had a big crack along the handle. It looks like it’s been sanded to cover this up slightly and then sent out anyway as well. This seems to have been the case for a previous review of this knife having a crack so I guess this must be the norm ?! Returned right away for a refund. Not what you’d expect for a knife of this price.