Carl Mertens - SURUDOKU C100 - Santoku 14,5 cm

The Carl Mertens chef's knives SURUDOKU are made in full tang construction, designed with a striking silhouette and very thin blades. "Surudoku" in Japanese stands for "sharpness", and sharp they are indeed. The SURUDOKU are offered in two sizes with two steel variants (100Cr6 and X50CrMoV15) and two handle variants made of very special woods. Carl Mertens interprets the classic Japanese form of the Santoku knives with its own design language.
The completely continuous tang gives the knives a high stability in all cutting situations. Thanks to their outstanding ergonomics, they fit perfectly in every hand. The curved blade can be easily hold "short", as the professionals do for better control. The blades get their one-sided hollow grinding in one of the last originally preserved Solingen grinding shops - in the "Wasserkraft Manufaktur" by knifemaker Ralf Jahn. The grinding stones there are up to this day still driven directly by water power. The traditional hollow grinding results in an especially thin blade with a blue finish (Pließten)**. Ralf Jahn and his small manufactory belong to the last grinders who still practice their craft in this way, so in SURUDOKO, modern design meets tradition from Solingen.

• Blade length: 14,5 cm
• Hand-made by CARL MERTENS in Solingen
• unique blade design
• grinded in a traditional grinding shop
• Winner of the Red Dot Design Award 2018
• material: pure carbon steel (100Cr6), stabilised bog oak

The use of C100 carbon steel (100Cr6) and the hardening to 61°HRC, in combination with the hollow grinding, allow an extremely fine removal of the cutting edge and thus an extraordinary blade sharpness. This makes even the finest cutting work possible, for example when preparing sushi, and offers the user a very special cutting experience. However, carbon steel requires intensive care and must be protected against corrosion after each use. If you do not want all this efforts but still enjoy the virtues of the SURUDOKU, choose the version with X50 chrome molybdenum stainless steel blades. You may recognize them by the handles of Karelian curly birch. Unlike the C100, the blade is easy to clean, but still does not belong in a dishwasher. Karelian curly birch is a classic wood for knife handles in the border region between Russia and Eastern Finland. It is comparatively rare and is controlled by strict felling quotas. Not all logs have the characteristic grain, it is always only a matter of individual logs among hundreds that have this feature: the perfect wood to complete the special design of our knives. Steel rivets fix the wooden shells securely to the tang.

The C100 has handles made of stabilized bog oak which are fixed with brass rivets and fit seamlessly to the curved shape of the alder. bog oak is a subfossil, up to 5.000-year-old oak whose trunks are located in northern German moors and waters. In order to process it, it first has to be dried in a complex drying process that takes several years. As this is a natural product, the colour can vary between brownish and bluish black tones. The stabilization process combines the properties of wood with the advantages of plastic. In this process, the resin components in the free pores are replaced by synthetic resin in a complex process. The wood gains in weight and becomes insensitive to water, more resistant to wear and better prepared against harmful influences.

In daily use, Santoku stands for "three virtues" in Japanese and describes the core use of these knives: the preparation of fish, meat and vegetables. With the two knife sizes, all areas can be covered, from large cuttings to filigree cutting work. To take care of the blades, especially those made out of carbon steel, we recommend to oil them with camellia oil to protect them from corrosion. A bottle of oil including a cloth is supplied with each Carl Mertens SURUDOKU. Camellia oil is not only suitable for oiling the blades, as it does not form an emulsion with water, but is also perfect for the care of the wooden handles. It is acid free, non-resinous, tasteless and food-safe.

**“Pließten" means "fine grinding". With an abrasive paste, the blade is freed from the so-called coarse "grinding marks". The surface receives a finer, smooth finish, which has a positive effect on the cutting quality and the durability. In addition, small unevennesses are corrected and the slim grinding angle is drawn a little narrower again. This process is carried out in two stages, of which "blaupließten" is the highest stage. This gives the blades a very fine blue or rainbowy shimmer.