Higonokami - Mini Black 18

I love the simplicity of this knife. It's sharp when it arrives but a few minutes work has it sharp enough to shave with. Hand made, each one is individual (I have several so can confirm this), the thought that I can buy a hand forged Japanese blade for just over a tenner is amazing.

Really useful shape and size, I'm sure if left in a damp place this knife would suffer, however looked after it's so simple i can see it lasting a lifetime, small enough for a pocket, non threatening and a great addition to your collection where that fancy high spec knife is so precious it's only used once e a year to sharpen a pencil.

It is a great knife very easy to sharpen, blade looks like it will rust easily. Slip joint needed some adjusment with a hammer as after a few uses it was quite loose. It is the recomended maintanance provided on the manufacturers website :) and now is just perfect. Love it, and probably will order one of the better steel ones.

I've totally fallen for this knife. I had to reshape the handle a little with padded moles, and the finish is atrocious... but all in all this is the most beautifully functional knife i own. The blade steel is exquisite, the geometry is fantastic and it is the most useful cutting device i carry. The imperfections definitely add to the charm and the unfinished bits highlight the stark functionality of the design.

The theory was sound. Would not a small friction folder, with the virtues of a carbon steel blade from a culture famous for its historical development of edged implements and boasting an easily maintained geometry, be an inexpensive yet effective tool for woodcarving or whittling? Initial impressions were less than jubilant. The joint truly was loose, with an appalling amount of lateral play. The grind, although with evident potential, was going to need some vigorous attention. The blade pivoted with almost subservient smoothness but also blithely smacked edge first into the folded steel handle without manually applying the brakes. And how on earth could one manage to hold and use it effectively but safely, with the right blend of deft finesse to actually carve, and tremor-inducing grip of grim determination in order to avoid inadvertent sharp force trauma? And sutures? The blade did sharpen up a treat. By treating it as a Scandi grind a la Mora, the converging slopes soon were beautifully keen. A matchstick sized strip of cork, slightly oversized to allow a really snug press fit now safeguards the edge. Still, an ideal grip technique seemed elusive. The trick is to slide your grip up onto the blade itself. Using the middle finger or even the ring finger, wrap around the stubby tail of the blade until it is firmly held. This works for push or pull cuts. Allow your forefinger to loosely rest against the side of the blade, to impart guidance and at times stabilise against the wood you are carving. Wrapping a middle or ring finger was, for me, the key to achieving a good working technique. Adopting a hybrid blade / handle hold somehow kept the joint play to a minimum. It was soon ignored. Anyone used to working with longer blades for bushcraft, whittling or woodcarving, will probably have discovered how versatile the sharp tip of even a fairly big blade can be. In this case it was the deep inner wall of a grinding mortar carved from a short piece of a limb pruned from a pear tree. Well seasoned for a few years. The wood is fairly hard, with a lovely tight dense grain that takes on a satiny smoothness with each pass of a good sharp blade, leaving that rewarding waxy appearance which only a keen edge can impart, perhaps especially noted across the otherwise difficult end grain. Great stuff! In next to no time at all there was a handful of pale fresh shavings as the inner bore of the mortar quickly grew. Pear wood is wonderful to work with. This was my first time using it, and I recommend it highly, if you can obtain a bit. By arriving at a better hold for the little Higonokami, it took off like a rocket, and eagerly showed me what it is capable of. The lightweight construction helps to make for comfortable carving sessions. The above gripping method was just a starting point, as it turns out. As I became better acquainted with this humble but effective carver, my grip found subtle variations. Soon I was focusing almost entirely on the interaction of blade and wood, and let instinct guide the hold. Unintentional exsanguination has not yet occurred. The tip is capable of truly tight corner manoeuvres, and by pinch gripping, it easily coped. So the little friction folder now has its place in my select group of favourite tools for this pleasant hobby. It does not replace anything of what I normally use. But it is a very welcome addition at a fraction of what could be paid for its surprisingly good performance! HH, domo arigato!

I've been looking at friction folders for a while now and have decided to add some to my collection.so I must admit I did hesitate in buying this type but I'm so glad I did I have also bought the steel handled version with the better blade steel but find this one a far better knife than it's slightly bigger brother,it's got to be the cheapest knife I own but I like it and after reading the other reviews I've adjusted it to my preferences and it is my current EDC it's a cheap knife that I can use and abuse and if I did loose it or break its so cheap just buy another

Needed tweaking in my vice, and a little sharpening, but now it's earnt it's place in my pocket. The handle gap was initially far too wide and the centering was poor. After a decently firm, even squash in a vice it's feeling and looking much better. The blade steel is fantastic and arrives moderately sharp. It sharpens very keenly indeed on ceramic with some cardboard stropping. I've got two of these now, impressed with the first, I ordered another after 3 weeks. My second was very loose and needed much more work than the first. Quality control on them isn't great but they are affordable. The second is now tight and I'm doing a bit of light patina forcing on it for fun. I use it an EDC and at work to cut nylon string. I've found other knives to be too fragile and rolled a few edges. The blade is thicker and feels more solid than a douk douk or opinel #5/6 (that I own and I've tried for this purpose). It looks somewhat different to most knives on the UK market and have had only positive/curious reactions when using it at work. My other go-to, the Imperial sodbuster jr was met with no reaction when noticed by anyone. Absolutely recommend the higonokami, it has a charming design history and it's still fit for purpose today. It's non threatening to most people as a UK EDC. The price means you can use it as a bit of a beater, as it's intended to be! Service from HH as usual deserves praise. One of the best online retailers I've ever ordered from.

Would rate lower if it wasn't so cheap. I'm really not sure what to think of this knife. On the one hand, it's really cheap, low-quality build. The steel on the back almost looks like it's about to flake apart into its layers. The opening is a bit stiff (but that's fine). The blade rests in contact with the sheathe when closed, which can cause dull spot? But! Then you cut something with it. And, wow. That's where it impresses. For a £9 knife it's very good quality, especially after taking some time to sharpen it even more. So, if you're interested in something that's going to be distinctly different to any of the classical western knives, and don't mind having to keep it oiled and maintained, it's worth it for the price just for the curiousity value.

I bought this knife because it is different. As an £11 collectors display Knife it would have gotten 3 stars. But... After half an hour in the shed it is definitely a 4 star user knife. In fact, for the two weeks i have had this knife it has been the only one i have carried outside the house. Every time i go to the box i find myself reaching for this knife, it is small, inoffensive and different. It fits in the small Case Suede Slip Pouche (https://www.heinnie.com/case-suede-slip-pouches) with the tang sticking out past the flap. My Job list: Closed the handle in a vice until parallel. re-tightened the pivot (with a hammer) Glued a strip of leather (2 inches of leather boot lace) into the slot to protect the edge.