Loosely translated, mu-ha is a Japanese term which means "without edge" and simply means that these blades are offered and presented for sale without a finished cutting edge. This is sometimes referred to as a "rebated" or "blunted" edge though these terms are not accurate as they imply that the blunting or rebating occurred after the blade's manufacture. In our case, the blades simply did not receive the final profiling and sharpening.

The reason for this is two-fold. First of all, many high-end knife owners prefer to do the profiling themselves, thus achieving that perfect edge for the way they work. Leaving the blades un-edged leaves the meat of the blade in tact so when the owner does so, he looses no more steel in the process than necessary. Why edge it once if it is going to be re-edged immediately thereafter?

Along with this is the fact that different applications and uses achieve the best results with different edge profiles. The smith wants the knife to be as versatile as possible before purchase and as effective as possible to its new owner, so leaves the edge off until the new owner lets us know how he will be using it.

Knives offered mu-ha will be shipped that way unless the purchaser informs us otherwise. If the purchaser wants a blade sharpened before shipping, he should let us know what he will most likely be doing with it (hunting, skinning, camping and survival, kitchen use, all-purpose use, etc) and we will be happy to install the proper edge profile for you at no charge.