Seki Forge Your Tamahagane Kitchen Knife with a Swordsmith

Forge your very own kitchen knife from tamahagane — the same steel used for samurai swords — in Seki, Japan's legendary blade town in Gifu. Guided one-on-one by an award-winning young master swordsmith, you'll work a raw block of tamahagane through the real forging process and leave with a knife that's entirely your own.

After heating and hammering the steel into shape, you'll apply the clay yourself and set your own hamon (temper line), then grind, sharpen and fit the handle to finish the blade. Every step is hands-on — this is genuine swordsmithing technique, scaled to a kitchen knife you'll use for years.

Your host is a rising young master swordsmith, a winner of the Kanzan Prize at the NBTHK Contemporary Swordsmith Exhibition, and narrates the whole experience in English. The workshop runs about four hours, and you take home the finished knife.