Glestain knives are easily recognizable due to their distinctive design and styling, which is unlike other ‘ordinary’ knives: The unique rectangular-shaped dimples that are ground in to one side of the blade, the pleasant balance and weight of the knife and the secure grip provided by the comfortable handles.Many experienced and skillful professional Chefs have become addicted to their Glestain knives. Many of them make a comment similar to this one, “Once I started to use Glestain knives, I have never thought to own and use another knife”, we often see professional Chefs who have an entire set of Glestain knives.Why choose Glestain knives ? Because Glestain knives have gained such a high reputation among professionals. Based on information provided by the Glestain company and professional chefs, we learned that Glestain has a long-term research and development programme for their knives that involves a large number of craftsmen, engineers and also professional chefs.
The President of Glestain, Akira Honma, established the Honma Science Co., Ltd., before launching the Glestain knives brand in 1971. He is a talented engineer and one of his goals is to use the latest advances in the fields of science and technology to enable the production of knives with maximum functionality.
When it first launched, the Glestain brand name was neither famous, nor popular in the market. Furthermore, due to the unconventional design and high cost of Glestain knives, most knife retailers and distributors were not interested in carrying or selling them.
As a result, Glestain decided to market and sell their knives themselves, by visiting individual restaurants in order to offer their knives directly to the kitchen staff. The dedication and passion that Glestain displayed made a deep impression on many of the culinary professionals, who provided a great deal of information and advice about how Glestain could improve their knives. Glestain’s craftsmen did their best to incorporate this feedback to improve their knives, Glestain knives gradually gained a very good reputation amongst culinary professionals and increased in popularity.
From heat-treating to the final sharpening of the knife, Glestain has developed a number of special manufacturing processes to ensure the reliable production of high-quality knives. To give just one example, their heat-treatment process uses a total of seven different and time-consuming steps – far more than typical – and they take similar care and attention during each and every making process.
One secret behind the superb cutting performance of Glestain knives is their specially designed convex edge, which was invented by Mr. Honma himself. In order to maintain high quality standards, Mr. Homna personally teaches this special sharpening process to a selection of their most skillful craftsmen. We deeply admire Glestain’s commitment to maintaining high quality standards throughout the making process.
As time has passed, Glestain knives have become one of the most popular knives amongst culinary professionals and serious home cooks. We are proud to introduce these knives to you and we hope that you will tell all of your friends and colleagues about their incredible cutting performance!
