Quality Concerns

Hammered iron is a timeless material for making cooking utensils. When manufactured to high standards, hammered iron kitchenware will be extremely durable. Iron has excellent heat conduction and retention properties, making it especially good at evenly cooking food, especially in large pots like woks.

Household chefs have long enjoyed cooking with hammered iron, but professionals love it too.

Because hammered iron has been used since time immemorial, long-time manufacturers will often stick to manufacturing methods that have served them and their customers well for decades. Why fix something that isn't broken (and in the process, potentially break it)?

Hammered iron pots manufactured using relatively simple and effective methods may be excellent tools, but they can surprise some people used to pots and pans typically sold for household use.

Difference in Finishes

In particular, hammered iron utensils produced with professionals in mind will often feel unfinished or poorly finished by household standards. Our friends at Yamada Kogyosho, a family business passed down for three generations, for example, produce a line of hammered iron woks and ladles that demonstrate the differences in finishes well.

Hammered patterns

Yamada's hammered iron woks and ladles are made by hammering the iron into shape. This process will naturally leave indentations or wave patterns that Yamada Kogyosho doesn't remove. In contrast, yukihira and yattoko pots are also hammered, but they are hammered purposefully to make the hammer patterns pleasing to look at. The hammered patterns on Yamada's woks and ladles, on the other hand, appear purely incidental to the manufacturing process.

Scratches

The bodies themselves will often come out of the box riddled with small scratches. The lips of their hammered iron are sanded down, but still slightly bumpy or unevenly sanded in places.

Uneven color

Their woks and ladles also have an uneven color distribution. Hammered iron woks often come with an anti-rust coating that requires removal via “empty heating”. Treatment of the iron can also be uneven in places. The end result is the uneven coloring of the pot.

Welded handle

Nearly every pot or pan I've ever owned has had handles that were manufactured separately and bolted on. I don't know for certain why, but I suspect it is easier to produce and allows some extra quality of life improvements.

The handles for Yamada's woks and ladles, on the other hand, are made of the same hammered iron and are welded to the body. The welding process causes discoloration in the area and doesn't look as neat as a bolted on approach.

Industrial Aesthetics

All of these characteristics of Yamada's hammered iron woks and ladles produce a final result that looks rather rough and unimpressive. Some of our customers have told us that the pots must not be new or are of low quality.

I have some of the pots here with me as I write this article. I will say that, as an American with no experience cooking with woks, they seem rather rough indeed. Certainly, if I were looking for a nice wok at the local kitchenware store, I wouldn't expect to find the Yamada's there.

I think that generally reflects the fact that the family running Yamada Kogyosho has stuck with an industrial aesthetic that will never win a design award, but continues to be a favorite piece of kitchen gear that restaurants across Japan use to serve up fried rice, stir-fried meats and vegetables, and Chinese dishes like chow mein noodles, sweet and sour pork, etc. Their products would feel right at home in a kitchenware warehouse.

Results Beat a Pretty Face

Professionals that know their tools aren't bothered by rough finishes. That's true in any profession, not just cooking. Car repairmen and many individual car purchasers prefer the simplicity of old used cars without electronics. Institutions like banks and militaries prefer to use older software or programming techniques to run their industries because that software and those techniques have proven they can get the job done. Professionals that want to get the job done without worries reach for the “tried and true”, whatever the industry.

Yamada's hammered iron may be rough around the edges. They may not win any design awards. But professional chefs and their customers alike appreciate the consistency of the results they have gotten since man fried the first steak and cooked up the first batch of fresh vegetables from the fields. Their hammered iron woks evenly cook food without unpleasant surprises, ensuring happy return customers.

Hammered Iron Never Let Anybody Down

Yamada's hammered iron may not have the premium finishes nor the home-cooking aesthetic you'd expect, but if you are looking for kitchenware that'll last forever and won't let you down, then take a good look at Yamada's hammered iron.