Fujikawa Kinari Nomi Japanese Paring Chisels

These beautifully hand forged and ground laminated Japanese paring chisels from Fujikawa San are a delight to use. Available as either Kinari Nomi (straight bladed Japanese paring chisels) or Kote Nomi (cranked Japanese paring chisels).

Japanese paring chisels are light elegant tools designed for creating precision surfaces by hand, they are only pushed, never struck, and certainly never used to lever or pry. The blades are formed from hard white paper steel No.1 wrapped around a softer iron jigane body that provides strength. This type of construction means that with careful heat treatment the cutting edge can be made much harder, giving an exquisitely crisp edge that holds for ages, especially in hard or abrasive timbers.

Mr Fujikawa insists on absolutely traditional methods. His Smiths work in a darkened blacksmithing shop so that they can see the colour of the steel they are working, and use coke to minimise carbon loss as the steel is heated. Quenching is done in water as this provides the fast quench needed for highly pure steels, the soft water in Miki city is particularly well suited to the job. The blades are cooled in straw ash to retain as much carbon as possible whilst the steel structure changes after the quench.

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