THE SAYA
Some of the Japanese kitchen knives appeared as outfitted with the Saya or the wooden sheath for moving. Even though not important for the home cooks, the expert chefs can find having any of those useful SAYA since leaving to and also from work, yet if it is in keeping these incredibly razor sharp cutting devices from cutting a hole in his knife roll.
The Japanese kitchen knife outfitted with the traditional "Wa" handle, usually are outfitted with the wooden sheaths called named as "sayas." The two “pin” kind of sayas are illustrated on the right and on the left. If you are looking closely, you may see the tiny hole where there is the pin slide in to keep the blade. This Gyuto’s saya at the middle is the friction fit assortment.
These are normally available for the blades which have the “WA” style conventional handles, but you can find the Western style knife occasionally that had the saya available as the optional accessory or has it included with the procurement. Not everything is built equally. There are some that are custom assembled for that exact model. These are pinless, which uses friction to remain in its place, while some others are requiring friction-fit wooden pin to remain attached.
It is possible to buy those generic models; however, fitting them to an exact profile of the blade can be frustrating.
THE HANDLE SHAPES – WA VS YO
The WA handles are those traditional Japanese editions, and are usually made of the Japanese magnolia – the wood that does not require many kinds of maintenance and does not turn to be slippery when wet. The conventional wa handles are normally octagonal, but D-shaped and the round is also accessible.
The shape of these handles may vary, but they are basically the wooden dowel being attached to a blade, with the common shapes being the oval, D-shape or octagon. The diameter is normally around 0.75 - 1 inch and about 5 - 6 inches in its length, relying on the dimension of the blade. Normally, the wa handle will slightly taper from the butt end to the blade heel, with no bolster – the tang has not in its total length, and the burn set straight to the handle with or without the ferrule.
The Yo handles are the adaptation of the Western handles and that they have similar characteristics, shaped to outline the ergonomic grip and being attached to the tang without or with a bolster. The Yo handles normally feature the full tang, with a handle attached with the stainless steel rivets.
THE DESIGN
Together with the best diversity of design performances, some of those knives that had been illustrated also offered stunning aesthetic styling. The processes like the hand hammering, the pouring grain of the Damascus cladding, the graffiti-etching to assign the maker, and a wavelike pattern from the composite blade technology turned the common kitchen devices to a work of art. And this exclusive beauty of feature elevates them to the world-class league – usually with the world-class prices for matching it.
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