Another message arrived from Outlaw Chef.
This time, it wasn't about cooking.
The Rivet Loosened
After months of daily use, the blade had started to wobble slightly.
"These days, during frequent use, the Higonokami wobbled a little at the junction between the handle and the knife."
A single rivet connects the blade to the handle. That rivet had cut green onions for 630 portions, trimmed herbs from the garden, sliced paprika, stripped pine bark, opened the packaging on an induction cooktop, and picked flowers to lay beside a plate of farfalle. It rode in his pocket every day and rested on his bedside table every night. No wonder it had loosened.
What Outlaw Chef did next is what makes this story worth telling.
He didn't say "it's broken." He didn't ask for a replacement.
He decided to fix it himself.
A Piece of Railway Rail for an Anvil
First, he went to the local train station.
He visited the maintenance workshop and asked if they could sell him a piece of rail from a disused track — to use as a small anvil.
Then he went to a hardware store and bought a compact hammer.
Back home, he placed the Higonokami on the rail and tapped the rivet. Carefully. A few light blows at a time. About an hour of work.
"Higonokami is stable again and functional as new!"
The photo he sent showed the Higonokami resting on the railway rail next to the new hammer. The red cord and samurai charm hanging quietly over the cobblestone.
Fix It, Don't Discard It
Reading his message, I felt a straightforward kind of happiness.
Why?
Because he didn't see the Higonokami as disposable. Something wobbles, you throw it out. Something breaks, you buy a new one. That wasn't how he thought about it.
He gathered his own tools, fixed it with his own hands, and went on using it.
And he didn't just grab something off a shelf at a home center. He walked to the station workshop, talked to the maintenance crew, and came up with the idea of using a rail offcut as an anvil on his own. Working with what's around him, finding solutions on foot. That's who he is.
Looking back, he's always been this way.
When the Higonokami first arrived, he immediately adjusted the blade angle and the opening tension. He applied several coats of olive oil mixed with coconut oil to the leather case for waterproofing. In Japan, camellia oil is the traditional choice — but in Croatia, olive trees grow in abundance. He found his own method with what was at hand.
And now, he's hammered the rivet back into place on a piece of railway rail.
Olive oil for the leather case. A railway rail for an anvil. He's caring for a Japanese tool using whatever Istrian life provides. The Higonokami has become part of the fabric of his daily life in that place — not as something foreign, but as something that belongs.
When You Fix a Tool, It Truly Becomes Yours
There's a moment that means more to us at Ichizo Honpo than any other — the moment a customer makes a tool truly their own.
When they buy it, it's still a "product." When they start using it, it becomes a "tool." When they begin caring for it, it becomes a "companion." And when they fix something with their own hands — that's when the tool truly becomes theirs.
Outlaw Chef's Higonokami was first featured in this series in March as his "daily companion." In April, it cut green onions for 630 portions and opened the packaging on a new induction cooktop. That same month, it lay quietly beside a plate of farfalle garnished with flowers.
And now, he's hammered the rivet back tight with his own hands.
That Higonokami is no longer a "product" shipped by Ichizo Honpo. It's Outlaw Chef's tool. Part of his life. A blade shaped by his hands.
I keep coming back to something he wrote to us before:
"Every moment of using this knife reminds us that every moment of our lives is valuable, original, and never repeated."
The time spent fixing a tool is one of those moments, too.
A Higonokami forged by a blacksmith in Banshu was hammered back to life on a railway rail by the Adriatic Sea, and returned to its everyday work.
Hammer, tighten, use again.
This is why we do what we do.
You can follow Outlaw Chef's world on Instagram:
@monsieuroutlawchef
All photos and words by Outlaw Chef, published with his permission.