30 DAYS OPEN PURCHASESantoku means three virtues, referring to meat, fish and vegetables. It is the Japanese all-purpose chef’s knife philosophy condensed into one form: a blade that does not specialise, but handles most tasks without compromise. Broader than a gyuto, shorter, with a profile that works for both chopping and gliding cuts.
Suncraft has been forging knives in Seki since 1948. Senzo SPG Strix is their answer to a new generation of powder steels: SPG Strix from Takefu Special Steel, a material that redefines what hardness can mean in a kitchen knife.
Takefu focused not only on the carbides but on strengthening the steel’s underlying matrix, what it calls Strong Matrix construction. The result is a steel at 64–66 HRC that holds its edge for a long time yet still responds well to the whetstone without requiring specialist equipment. Corrosion resistance is good. The blade is three-layer San Mai: an SPG Strix core with stainless cladding steel on each side.
At 170 millimetres, with the characteristic santoku profile, slight curve and rounded tip, it works quickly through onion, carrot and cabbage. The kurochi finish, a traditional black surface treatment, gives the collection its visual signature, while the hammered tsuchime texture reduces friction against the ingredient. The dark grain of the wenge handle forms a unified expression with the blade’s kurochi finish.
A santoku for anyone who wants one knife to be enough. And wants that knife to be exceptional.
