Aritsugu A-frame 240 gyutou
Konotsuke ginsanko 240 gyutou
Gesshin Kagekyo wa petty 210
Suisin inox 270 wa gyutou & 240 suji
Among others
2 Likes
Anyone own deba? I am thinking of getting one but unsure if it is really necessary. I have fairly good knife skills and confident I can use deba properly.
Also, any insight on sharpening? I hear you have to sharpen the heel differently than the first and second 1/3 of deba for cutting through cartilage as to not damage the blade.
Curious what your rationale is for considering it.
Do you fillet a lot of fish? If not, you’re better off getting by with just a chef’s knife, but I do understand that itch in owning more knives. What do you use to sharpen your knives?
We are casual home cooks, but my wife is a bonafide raw seafood lover. A couple of years back, she wanted to step up her game and splash out for a real sushi knife. She asked her uncle to select a good knife for her skill level (basic) and requirements. Her uncle has been a sushi chef for over 2 decades, and got us a good deal from his restaurant’s knife guy. This costs us about $100. Almost too pretty to use. Precisely crafted, beautifully signed, stamped and packaged, so Japanese.
This is one hefty piece of beautiful metal, a perfect cutting machine.
This my wife’s knife, perfect weight and balance. We need to use this knife more, our chef’s knife and Chinese cleaver does most of the heavy lifting in our kitchen now.
We purchased the recommended whetstones per her uncle, but have not had the need to sharpen this knife. Yet.
I sat at her uncle’s bar recently, and asked what kind of knife he was using. He was a bit surprised, and told me that it was the same knife as he had procured for my wife. With almost daily use and thousands of sharpenings, his knife seemed much smaller than ours. He will retire soon, and promised to gift this knife to my wife. 
I need to get a knife sharpening lesson from him.
5 Likes
This is one of the most lovely posts. What a gorgeous knife and such an amazing story behind it! You are both so fortunate.
1 Like
Yeah, I love butchering whole fish quite a bit and then make fish stock with the bones. I would only use deba for fish butchering. I actually get by pretty easily with a chef knife but curious if owners think yield great results.
I don’t own anything expensive, I have used a 10” henckels and it has become an extension of my hand. I am curious is deba is worth buying as I butcher fish weekly.
I have sharpening stones, not whetstones but I would buy one for deba.
1 Like
recommend talking to @JBroida from Japanese Knife Imports -he’s very good with tips on sharpening and if it’s not too busy you might be able to work on some of his stones in the back
That is a lovely knife and backstory.
Thanks for the insight!
Lovely story. The knife is beautiful, I would probably hesitate to use it also. 
1 Like
Hi A5K. Did you add the deba to your arsenal yet?
We were roaming (and eating) Tsukiji and Toyosu Fish Market this morning and thought of this thread. Window shopped a few stores that made even a novice like myself drool. Some knife porn:
Couple of the shops had guys sharpening blades out front and I spent a few minutes to watch and learn. I was surprised at the very acute angle these guys were pushing the blades on the stones. Also seemed they were applying equal downward pressure on both push and back stroke.
Watched one guy sharpening a knife that was way over a meter long. Didn’t want to disrupt him too obviously, so surreptitiously snapped a quick photo.
Now THAT’S a knife!!!
May have to do some serious knife shopping before we leave for Hong Kong next week.
3 Likes
I’m quite fond of my Tsukiji Masamoto western style knives. Not the greatest fit and finish however the steel (non-stainless) is very nice. Haven’t tried the Japanese style knives yet but I imagine they must be good too. I’m eyeing a classic Tokyo style ‘takobiki’ silcer to add to my collection, its a thinner blade vs. the more common yanagi.
For a nicer fit and finish check out Nenohi however its quite a bit more $$.
1 Like
Nice pictures!
I am still in the process of researching. One more caveat I forgot to mention, I am left handed so it appears the selection is much less in hand orientation.
If you are willing to wait there many of these company’s have left handed available for custom orders. May take you 3+ months but if you are patient it opens up a lot more options. Personally I recommend talking to Jon at JKI but I have had good experiences with Takeshi at Aframes Tokyo and Japanese Knife Imports all with very good customer service
Thanks for the info! I am definitely gonna take this advice. I am just struggling with the cost difference between a left handed deba vs right handed. Some are twice as much.
You have to understand where I come from in my kitchen knives. They are very modest, and I get by pretty well with them. I love butchering fish and usually can filet with a cheap boning knife. I feel like I am being discriminated on because I am left handed. hahaha
I’ll probably end up buying one though, just curious if I go beginner or all in.
1 Like
You can get a “normal” knife and ground it to your own liking to make it a “left handed” knife. Alternatively, looking for knives that are 50/50 grind double beveled.
1 Like
@moonboy403 is right! Unless the handle is a western-style D-shape (and why would it be), I see no reason not to have the edge re-shaped for your handedness. I mean, I guess you’ll decrease the life of the blade a bit by creating a new edge, but that’s pretty minuscule. Get the right-handed version and grind a new edge!
Good idea. Or do this with the knives he already owns.
Are you sure it is wise to grind deba? The bevel is quite pronounced on the one side.
1 Like
I think it only makes sense for western style knives. Think you’d lose a lot of metal on the single bevels to convert it.
2 Likes