Eighty-five-year-old Etsuro Ikegami wipes the wet blade across my fingers like I’m taking part in an initiation ceremony. His gaze never leaves my face. He wants to know if I feel the burr on the edge ...

There’s a reason chefs take their knives so seriously. A good knife becomes the extension of a chef’s fingers and hands, deftly working through everything from delicate herbs to tough cuts of meat.