Bokashi Steel Knives Review
By Bobby B. | August 18, 2020 | Knife Brands
Bokashi Steel is a relatively young company, starting back in 2013 and still making a name for themselves in the industry. One look at the pictures below and you can see the passion that goes into making them. On the surface they don’t appear to be just “another cheap knife”, but that’s what we’re here to find out, right? Welcome to our Bokashi Steel knives review!
We’re going to break down a bit about the company behind the knives and share with you how the knives are made and the materials used. We’ll talk about their warranty so we know how Bokashi Steel feels about their own products, and we’ll also talk about their vision for the future.
Who is Bokashi Steel?
Bokashi Steel is led by their head chef, Oliver. They’re passionate about cooking and innovating the tools needed to be a successful home chef. One of Oliver’s credos if you will is, “A chef is only as good as the tools he uses.” We totally agree, and this of course starts with their knives!
Bokashi focuses almost exclusively on kitchen knives and knife accessories (cutting boards, magnetic knife blocks, and a sharpening stone, etc – more on those below). At BladeAdvisor, we always admire a company that can focus on being really good at one thing rather than “sort of good” at many things. When we compare kitchen knives, it’s almost always those brands that focus solely on them that have the best knives.
Many of you will be very happy to hear that it appears these Japanese-style knives are actually made in Japan.
Bokashi Steel Knives
Now for the fun stuff. Time to talk about Bokashi Steel’s knives. If you didn’t catch the mention of it above, or recognize the name or logo as Japanese, surprise – Bokashi Steel makes Japanese-inspired knives! Like many Japanese knives, Bokashi takes care to focus on both the aesthetics and performance, understanding that both are important. Here’s a quick review of a couple knives in their “KASHI Series” to help get you acquainted.
Bokashi Steel KASAI Series Chef’s Slicing Knife
Bokashi Chef’s Slicing Knife Review:
First, I must say, this picture doesn’t do the knife justice. We love the pattern on this highly polished blade. It’s very unique and doesn’t look like every other Damascus steel kitchen knife we’ve seen. This 8″ Kasai Series slicer knife uses good, quality materials from head to toe. The blade is made from razor-sharp AUS10A Japanese super steel, not unlike several higher-end Japanese knives. As you’d expect from a knife this nice, it’s forged and is full-tang. And perhaps one of our favorite features, the pakka wood handle has amazing detail. If you’re in the market for a Japanese slicing knife, you should definitely consider this one from Bokashi Steel. Note: There is also a matching utility knife that comes in the Kasai Series if you’re interested.
Bokashi Steel KASAI Series Steak Knives
Bokashi Steak Knives Review:
Bokashi Steel didn’t leave us steak-eaters out! They also offer a nice set of (4) steak knives, 5″ long. They are also forged, have a full-tang blade, pakka wood handles, and it appears, a Japanese AUS10A steel blade. These are NICE steak knives! As far as we’re aware, this is the only set of steak knives they offer, so if you need more than 4-pcs, you’ll just have to order a couple sets. No big deal.
Bokashi Steel Magnetic Knife Block
We couldn’t move on with out pointing out this knife block that’s also available from Bokashi Steel. It’s really cool looking and works great if you have just a handful of knives you need to keep handy on your countertop. In our opinion it looks so much better than the standard knife block. Even if you don’t have Bokashi knives, take a quick look and see what you think. It’s like a magnetic knife holder, but it’s made to sit on the counter versus hanging on the wall. Just a heads up, it is considerably more expensive than a standard block though. Click the button below the picture to check the current price on Amazon.
Bokashi Steel Jishaku Magnetic Wooden Knife Block
Bokashi Magnetic Knife Block Review
No much to review here. It’s a basic magnetic wooden knife block, but it’s pretty cool looking and fits just few knives. Note: the knives in the picture are NOT included. It’s nice when you have a mish-mash of knives and no knife block for storage and allows you to keep just the most important few near where you use them most. The block is made of maple wood and the magnet will hold knives on the front AND on the back of the block.
The Bokashi Process
Bokashi Steel makes their knives in Japan and uses traditional Japanese techniques in the knife-making process. For instance, the beautiful Damascus pattern on the blades comes from wrapping 45-layers of folded high-carbon stainless steel around the AUS-10 super steel. They are cryogenically tempered liquid nitrogen to add strength and hardness. Afterwards, they are hand-polished to a mirror-like finish and sharpened to just a 10-degree angle on each side of the blade.
The handles on the Kasai Series knives are made entirely of Pakkawood. This is a strong, durable material that is more resistant to heat and moisture than most standard woods. Its shape makes the knife easy to handle and the construction (triple-riveted and full-tang) makes sure it will hold up to everything your kitchen will throw at it.
The Bokashi Steel Promise
On their website, Bokashi Steel makes the claim that they have a “100% Satisfaction Guarantee – 60 Day Return Policy on orders in the United States”. They go on to say that if their knives are the best, go ahead and send them back. It also states a 1-yr warranty against manufacturing defects. They sell their knives on their website and via Amazon, but either way, they’re fulfilled by Amazon.
During our research we noticed that their listings on Amazon state the same guarantee, but instead of the 1-yr warranty, they offer a “LIFETIME WARRANTY”. Because of this and the added protection of Amazon’s customer service, we strongly consider you to buy Bokashi Steel’s products directly on Amazon. It also gives you the added benefit of seeing other buyer’s feedback and comments about the product, which for the most part seem to overwhelmingly positive by the way! Here’s a link…
Bokashi Knives Review Summary
We sincerely hope you’ve learned everything you wanted to know about Bokashi Steel as a company, and also about their awesome kitchen knives. After our thorough review, we can say that they are well-built knives made with high-quality materials. They are clearly passionate about the design and looks as well as the performance. Many of the extra steps that most don’t even notice were taken in order to ensure a higher quality build. With some of the major knife brands being in existence for hundreds of years, it might well be many years before these knives become more main stream, but who cares about main stream? These are knives you should be proud to show off in your kitchen!