The Nakiri knife is designed with the fine slicing of vegetables in mind. The wide blade with a thin cross-section permits paper-thin cuts of radish, cucumber, and ginger and the straight edge allows you to make smooth slices when you draw the tip neatly across your cutting board. The rectangular blade shape is also optimal for transferring what you've just sliced to a frying pan or wok. Balancing beauty with performance, Yoshikane SKD knives are made with SKD, a semi-stainless steel that offers long lasting edge retention and superior cutting performance. The blades feature a N ashiji finish. ashij in Japanese means ‘pear skin pattern ’ . It has a textured feel that comes from a knife finishing technique where the surface of the blade is left looking unfinished or rustic. The teak handles are the traditional octagonal shape w ith a horn ferrule. Due to the nature of handcrafting and traditional blacksmithing, each knife is unique and may have some cosmetic distortion or irregularities. This is expected and normal. Because these knives are handcrafted, they qualify for a 3 month limited warranty for manufacturing defects only.