Kiyohisa

Watanabe Kiyoei is a very gentle person who looks more like a University professor. His tools are as gentle looking and very handsome as the creator himself. Very fluid in the line around the neck, and the back hollow meticulously crafted. Kiyohisa specializes in White Steel #, the toughest Japanese steel to forge. WS#1's range of temperature when hardening is only about 5 degrees. You go above or below and the hardness will dramatically decrease.

The White Steel #1 he uses is not just White Steel #1, but it is a certain lot from the 80s. Although the steel makers wouldn't admit, there seems to be a slight difference in quality between each ingot. Skilled blacksmiths can discern this slight difference, and prefers to use the better (purer = less impurities such as sulphur, manganese, silicon, phosphorus) lots. Since these better ingots are so rare, blacksmiths are desperate to keep such material as a stock, but naturally they cannot afford to buy lifetime supply, so sometimes they go as far to make a loan from the bank to buy as much as they can.

You could say Kiyohisa is the next generation Hidari Ichihiro. They are similar in many aspects. The steel, the fineness of the finish, and overall aura you feel from his tools. Since his tools are very reasonably priced, there are many users who orders his tools repeatedly, thus there is a bit of a long waiting list, over 3 months. He is a quite talented calligrapher as well, so you can have your box signed and stamped by Watanabe-san himself. His tools will be more expensive as his name spreads. Definitely one of my most recommended White Steel #1 chisel brand.

These knives can cut soft steel and have no problem going straight to cutting the softest woods and still makes the cut shiny. Special handle and sheath made from single Hou material (woodgrain matches) and waxed to prevent getting soiled.