Description
A 200mm / 7.9″ hand-forged bunka by Austria’s Tobias Hangler is the workhorse chef knife for kitchens large and small.
Compact enough for tighter workstations yet capable across the most demanding ingredients, the gently curved edge profile combines a tall, tough heel for chopping power with a paper-thin tip positioned low for precise detail work. The blade is go-mai ( five-layer) with a high-performance ApexUltra tungsten-carbon steel core flanked by veins of pure nickel, which reduce carbon diffusion into the outer 80CrV2 carbon steel cladding during forging and heat treatment. It is a purposeful, technically refined construction, and Tobias is uniquely positioned to stand behind it: he holds a master’s degree in metallurgy and developed the ApexUltra steel from the ground up alongside his team. The knife and the steel beneath it are, in the truest sense, his own.
Etched to a dark, multi-tone finish, the convex bevels meet forge-finished flats bearing the marks of the blade’s hand-hammered origins. Running along the lower bevel, a bright, undulating line traces the blade’s full length, the pure nickel layer made visible through Tobias’ polish and etching process, sitting between the ApexUltra core and the 80CrV2 cladding, its path a direct record of how the steel was forged and shaped. It is one of those details that rewards knowing what you are looking at. Balancing just forward of the 57mm heel, with a rounded spine and choil that invite the pinch grip, the knife is steady and responsive throughout.
The handle is desert ironwood, sculpted in Tobias’ trademark form: understated, ergonomic, and suited to every grip. Dense, tightly packed grain runs the length of the scales, flanking the full tapered tang with the confidence that only premium wood carries.
A knife conceived, engineered, and executed by one person, from the steel up. There are not many of those.
