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Unused, very old stock (definitely over 20years, probably more.) The steel's molecular structure changes as time passes, and become more robust (Age Hardening: remnant Austenite turns into Martensite)-> sharper edge (if sharpened properly of course) with longer life.
Kiku-hiro-maru is a very famous brand produced by Nagayoshi Shouji (who has retired) and his son Kazuyoshi (who is in charge of Kikuhiromaru now) renowned blacksmiths from Sanjyo city in Niigata. Kikuhiromaru is one of the leading chisel brand which produces ONLY high quality tools along with Tasai and Kunikei from the same city. They do not make any economy tools, so as long as it is from this maker, high quality is promised. While Tasai's speciality is Blue steel, Kikuhiromaru is particularly good at handling White steel. This one is made by Shouji long before he retired. A new one made by Kazuyoshi would cost about $300. The steel is Shirogami 2gou (White Steel #2) which is a signiture steel for Kikuhiromaru.
The Handle material is Japanese Red Oak. This handle is made by a renowned handle maker from Sanjyo city, Kane-ei. This maker makes high quality handles for almost every famous brand from Sanjyo, including Tasai, Kunikei, Sukemaru, etc. The Red Oak used for this chisel is especially a good one, being very deep in colour.
The back of the blade is in good condition. If you are familiar with Japanese tools, the back of the blade is the most important part of the tool. If the back isn't absolutely flat, the tip of the blade cannot be sharpened properly, even if you sharpen the front perfectly. If the hollow is gone, it is very difficult, almost impossible with this kind of length, to keep it completely flat. Also, if there's any deep rust in the hollow, that would cause trouble as well because that part will eventually be the tip of the blade. This chisel doesn't have any deep rust at all. For this kind of length, making the back flat is quite difficult, but I have already made the back flat spending almost half day, so all you need to do is maintain it. As you can see the back is polished like a mirror. The hollow shape is a bit irregular, but this is not because the back is not flat, but because the steel has warped a bit over the age.
