Santoku

A classic santoku, rather, incorporates the European-style, bilateral cutting edge, but maintain a more extreme 12 to 15 degree shoulder, akin to Japanese cutlery.

The term refers to the similarity of the pattern formed by the blade's damascened and multi-layer steel alloys to the traditional Japanese art of suminagashi marbled paper.

Forged laminated stainless steel cladding is employed on higher quality Japanese santoku knives to improve strength and rust resistance while maintaining a hard edge.

There are many copies of santoku-pattern knives made outside Japan that have substantially different edge designs, different balance, and different steels from the original Japanese santoku.

One trend in santoku copies made of a single alloy is to include fluting or recesses, hollowed out of the side of the blade, similar to those found in meat-carving knives.

This fluting creates small air pockets between the blade and the material being sliced in an attempt to improve separation and reduce cutting friction.