History of custom-made handle production_Nenohi Record Vol_5
Nenohi's custom-made handles are now available in numerous designs, and we receive inquiries and orders daily from many customers in Japan and abroad. In recent years, as more and more people use kitchen knives in front of their customers, not only performance but also beauty has become one of the factors required of kitchen knives, and the demand for custom-made handles continues to grow.
Nenohi started in-house production of “custom-made handle” 25 years ago.
We have collected feedback from many users and continued trial and error until we arrived at the current custom-made handles.
Even now, 25 years later, we continue to pursue further improvements in the usability, materials, and design relentlessly. In this record, we look back on the history of Nenohi's custom-made handle. We hope you will enjoy the differences between the past and the present of Nenohi.
Research Period
Nenohi's initial business model was to sharpen and polish blades in-house, then attach "purchased handles" and deliver them to users.
As we continued our business, we were required to make “handles that perfectly match the blade” in-house in order to meet users' aspiration for knives that are easy to grip and maneuver as well as to add further value to the products.
Since both knives and handles have individual differences, making “knives” and “handles” separately and then combining them at the end inevitably results in a sense of mismatch in terms of balance and gaps in details.
This was unacceptable to our philosophy of Nenohi because we always demand quality. So, we began researching how to make our own handles by following the traditional design (appearance, materials) and structure of the patterns, which we had initially commissioned from outside artists.
Development Period
Until now, custom-made handles with ebony base material had been the mainstream, but we introduced desert ironwood, snakewood, and genuine ebony as base materials, increasing our selection of “natural materials”. At this time, the company began to add its own color to the selection of materials and construction methods, rather than simply following existing custom-made handles.
By increasing the number of natural materials, more delicate work and material control were required. For example, more delicate work and material management were required in terms of the hardness and variation of each material, different processing and storage methods for each material, and production that takes into account the way the pattern of the material appears.
Growth and Challenge Period
At this phase, Nenohi took the helm in the direction of "performance specializationism".
Nenohi changed the design to emphasize the total balance with the handle attached as a whole of a knife, and the ease of use.(Specifically, we added a taper from the end to the cap of the handle, adjusted the width of the octagonal shape, etc.)
Along with the change in the design of the handle, we also changed the width of the silver, the shape of the ring around the detachable pin, the length of the bolster, and the other details of the design.
In addition, as a new base material, we have begun to use “DuPont Corian,” which has a proven track record in the production of Western-style kitchen knives, as an artificial material.
We decided to use “DuPont Corian” because the natural material we originally used has become more difficult to obtain due to regulations, and because our customers requested a base material with a variety of colors. The material met Nenohi's requirements in terms of “appearance and performance that will not be compromised even after 10 years,” as it has no sanitary issues and does not deteriorate over time. The introduction of DuPont Corian material also allowed Nenohi to take on the challenge of producing a “white base handle. Generally, white materials are difficult to process, and gaps in the adhesive surface and debris from the processing can be noticeable. Even the slightest lack of precision can be easily visible. However, Nenohi has been pursuing the technology to manufacture delicate custom-made handles for a long time, and was able to overcome the above problems without any difficulty.
Generally, the disadvantage of custom-made handles is that the gap (step) between the base material (ebony or other wood) and the decorative metal part becomes large, making it difficult to use and unsightly. However, we are now able to control the shrinkage of materials to some extent. By combining and processing materials, we have achieved an almost complete absence of gaps(steps) with artificial materials, and even with natural wood, we have minimized the issue.
Present
Today, the customizability of custom-made handles is more diverse than in the past, including the use of high-tech materials such as “carbon fiber” for the base material. As for the overall design, the thickness of the handle, silver ring, width of the bolster, etc. are changed respectively to match the length, width, and shape of the finished blade. The thickness of the handle can also be adjusted to meet the customer's requirements.
As a result of trial and error, we are now able to produce a “one-off (one-of-a-kind) custom-made handle” that best matches the finished blade and is in line with the customer's request. Even after many years, Nenohi quality can only be achieved only by handmade work by craftsmen. Although we receive many requests from all over the world, we are only able to produce 10 to 12 pieces of the custom handle per month. We would like to introduce our current commitment to custom-made handles in the next record.