Here's my own santoku I actually made myself from 1095 steel and masur birch.
>blade blank was a waterjet cutout>soft state>honing into a formThen
https://usaknifemaker.com/heat-treat-information-data-faq.html>Both normalizing and annealing phases are extremely important with carbon steels like 1095! I never forged the blade but only honed the steel blank in shape.
Then I heat treated it under guidance of a person (Matias K) who really knew what he was doing.
I also made the cutting board in the pic.
That knife and the cutting board are my main tools in my kitchen.
I have one more important "knife", cont.