Deba knife, Aogami 2 carbon steel, polished finish - Kitaoka

Kitaoka only makes single bevel knives, so you can rest assured that he knows what he is doing!

SHAPE: Deba. This is one of three quintessential single bevelled Japanese knives and is used for fish breakdown and preparation. Unlike a western filleting knife, this thing has no flex at all and is substantial in weight. This is to aid bone cutting and allows the edge to be sharpened to hair popping levels while still giving it strength. Traditional Japanese knives, such as this, should exclusively be sharpened by hand on whetstones.

STEEL: Aogami (blue paper) 2 steel. This is very similar to white paper steel but with tungsten and chromium added to it which helps with edge retention and slows down rusting. This steels differs from Blue 1 in its carbon content, Blue 2 being slightly less. Due to the non stainless nature of this steel care must be taken to dry the knives properly after use.  

FINISH: Polished, or Migaki

HANDLE: Octagonal ebony handle with pakkawood ferule

LENGTH: 165mm in length.

MAKER: Kitaoka - Takefu, Japan

BEST FOR: Filleting fish and definitely not for vegetables.

SAUNDERS SAYS: "This is a wee bit of a head turner."