Japanese Deba knife, 16.5 cm, Osaka Hamono, Japan.

Deba is essentially a kitchen cleaver, but due to its specialization, it is not very suitable for use in European kitchens. However, it is practically the flagship of the Japanese knife industry. Surprisingly, many people start their collection of Japanese knives not with the versatile Santoku or Petty knives, which can easily adapt to any European kitchen needs, but with the Deba, as the most striking representative of Japanese exoticism.

Deba is a massive cleaver knife with a thick blade. This type of knife has a huge number of modifications in size and thickness depending on the intended use. The typical blade length is 165-220mm, although smaller and much larger blades can also be found. The thickness of the blade varies from 5 to 13mm. It has a single-sided edge. Deba is mainly used for rough fish carcass cutting, head and tail removal. The wide blade is convenient for pressing down on the blade from above.

The classic Deba has a specific sharpening that determines the functional purpose of individual parts of the blade. The area near the heel is for separating fish heads, where not so much sharpness as resistance to dulling is necessary. The middle area of the blade is used for separating fish backs from fillets. The cutting edge sector near the tip, like the area near the heel, should not be as sharp as the middle to make it easier to separate the fillet from the backbone. In the realities of European cuisine, if Deba is not a decoration, then it is mainly used as a cleaver, so it is sharpened equally along the entire length of the blade.

The Deba kitchen knives from Osaka Hamono are made of steel called White Paper or Shirogami, which is the most commonly used steel for this type of knife. The blade is two-layered, traditional for single-sided sharpening. The concave side has a harder layer, and the convex side has a softer one. Deba knives have a single-sided edge, which is not entirely familiar to European users, but this does not detract from all the other positive qualities of the knife, and it is easy to get used to it.

Blade length: 165mm.

Blade height: 50mm.

Blade width at the spine: 7mm.

The knife has a traditional magnolia handle with a plastic bolster, typical for Japanese kitchen knives. The handle is untreated, and it is better to treat it with special oil before use. The single-sided sharpening is designed for right-handed use.

Knife weight: 275 grams.

The knife is sharpened and fully ready for use.