What we do

We forge nothing

Yaiba is the name of the shop, not the name of the knives. We own no workshop, we employ no smith, and no blade on this site was designed by us. We buy knives that are already made, we sell them, and we explain what they are.

The blades are Japanese in style and forged in China, in a workshop that has worked this grade of steel for more than fifteen years. That is not buried in small print: it is on the home page, in the legal notice and in the guides.

What we choose

One range, not a random collection. Three shapes that genuinely cover a kitchen, a paring knife, a sharpening stone and a set that brings the blades together. Every knife comes from the same series: the same hammered forged damascus steel, the same dark red wooden handle. From one shape to the next only the blade changes.

We publish only what the maker documents and what we have checked. The exact core grade and its hardness are not confirmed yet: they will be verified on a sample before appearing on a product page.

What we check

A knife only goes on sale once a sample has passed through our hands: stated hardness against real hardness, evenness of the edge along its whole length, any play between handle and tang. A reference whose sample does not confirm its page stays closed to purchase, even when the page is already written.

What we write

The workshop guides are not there to sell. They say what ruins a blade, at what angle to sharpen it, and when a maker's argument is a sales argument. You will find sentences that talk you out of buying a third knife: they are deliberate.

Who publishes this site

Yaiba is a trading name of CZSyn, a French simplified joint-stock company with capital of 1,000 euros, registered in Marseille. Full identity, host and contact details are on the legal notice page.