1lb. of knife

[louisianacook]

Holy ka-ka! This is the heaviest knife I have ever held outside of cleaverdom. It weighs in at 15oz even.

It is a new Tojiro DP 240mm Western Deba, I almost dropped it when the mailman handed it to me. This will take some getting used to, it is blade heavy, about 1" in front of the heel. I think I could slay a small sapling or two with this beast. Seriously, this knife feels like an excellent chicken boning tool, haven't tested this yet, but the extra weight should really help go through some tough bones. Fit and finish is pretty crude, worse I have seen on the 4-5 Tojiro's that have passed through my hands. This knife appears to be geared towards the toughest jobs in the kitchen, a rode hard and put away wet knife.


Lee http://216.91.137.210/ubbthreads/attachments/1550-Img455.jpg

[Richard]

Hey Lee, I've been seriously considering one of these, please post more impressions as you get a chance to use it.

Can you also please elaborate on the crudeness of the fit and finish that you mentioned?

[Andy777]

Weren't you done buying knives??? I bet there are 3 or 4 on their way to you as we speak. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I've never really wanted a deba but now you've got me thinking. It sounds like an absolute monster at 240mm. It looks like a pretty sweet knife for a good price. Someone should open up a mail order service to finish finishing tojiro's knives, they'd make a fortune.

Make sure to let us know how you like it after using it for a while.

[louisianacook]

High spots on the handle, errant grind marks and scratches on the finish of scales. Pretty much Tojiro DP's MO from what I have been hearing from others. All of mine, except this one, have been much better than those described by others. Now I see what the fuss has been about. I can pretty easily fix all of this in five minutes with a Dremmel, but it is nice to not have to. For the price, still hard to beat.
Lee

[louisianacook]

This may sound bad, but when the mailman showed up with an EMS, I wasn't sure who it was from or what it was. I thought it was my Murray Carter gyuto /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Knife purchase amnesia.
Lee

[bkrownd]

Hey, and I was just thinking of how I need something to open up those coconuts sitting all over our yard.

[Richard]

any excuse to get another knife is a good excuse, huh? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Fred]

Kid's stuff. The Tichbourne 9" chef knife weighs in at nearly a pound and a half.

[Andy777]

You make a good point Fred, who needs a western deba when you have the Watanabe cleaver /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Fred]

Yup, there's another lb. knife.

[RETREVR]

I wish you wouldn't have done that.
Now I want one.
You know...It seems like Japanese knife 101 always describes japanese knives as harder and thinner blades than western knives. Well this is generaly true of the gyutous. However the core of the traditional Japanese knife kit is the Deba, Yanagi, and Usuba. These are all thick bladed.
I just got a little double bevel deba and love the dammed thing. You don't see as many yo deba on the market as gyutou, but I think they have a real spot in the line up. For all you guys that have nine gyutou....you might try something in a deba next time. ( I still need and want more gyutou also)

[Scott]

Lee,

What is the width of the spine on that deba of yours? It might help to put that weight in perspective for me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Fred,

1.5lb?!? Sheesh! I thought that the 240mm santoku I saw over on KF was a monster (or your Watanabe cleaver), but that one takes the cake. You could slay elephants with that beast! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Do you happen to have a picture of it?

Thanks!

Scott

[Oded]

Or the Funayuki Deba if you want something in between weight-wise and prefer a single bevel.

Hmmm, that single bevel preference will probably leave me quite on my own here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif :

[Fred]

I reviewed it, actually, before I upgraded FF and lost all the posts. Apparently, I've also lost the image. I'll re photograph it again this evening and post it.

[Bill]

Fred any chance of seeing your review of the Tichbourne, I've been looking for information on that knife compared to Japanese knives.

[Fred]

I'll write a new one. Comparing it to a Japanese knife is something like comparing a truck to a sports car but I'll be happy to make the comparison.

[louisianacook]

[ QUOTE ]
What is the width of the spine on that deba of yours? It might help to put that weight in perspective for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

0.2" or 5mm

Lee

[blwchef]

Is right handed or symetrical?
I'm going to buy a yodeba next and being left handed imits my choices.
Thanks,
Brandon

[Scott]

Lee,

5mm? That's about normal for a typical deba, correct? If so, that is truly one massive knife. I guess I still don't have its size in perspective. Woof! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Scott

[Fred]

Scott, debas are thick, heavy knives. That's why so many Westerners use them as cleavers rather than as fish cleaning knives.

[Octaveman]

What exactly is a Funayuki deba? I thought a Funayuki was it's own design.

Yes, I have a Watanabe deba I received for Xmas 2004 based on Fred's review and that's exactly what I use it for. It is very thick and heavy and makes easy work of a chicken. when I first used it, I chipped it. Sent it back to Sinichi and he partially reground the bevel making it more obtuse. I say partially because the part he reground was the bottom 2/3 of the blade leaving the 1/3 closest to the tip as is. I've used it many times since getting it back and it's much stronger and I now wield it without fear. He also engraved my name in Kanji on the blade...looks very cool.

thanks,
Bob

[Andy777]

That sounds really cool, I'm envious. Shinichi does such great work.

[louisianacook]

It is symetrical, but you wouldn't notice it was due to the work it was designed to do. In fact, I don't believe you would notice an asymetrical bevel that much on a gyuto for that matter. Just my opinion, but, I wouldn't let left handedness rule out any japanese knife sans the yanagi's, trad. deba's etc.
Lee

[Scott]

Fred,

That's what I thought. I was just amazed since that deba is much longer than the traditional debas I have seen, I had expected it to be thicker than the traditional knives also. Since it is not, I just cannot get a mental image of its size. My 10" Henkels knife is almost 9oz, so this thing dwarfs it... and the Henkels is about 4-4.5mm across the spine. Woof! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Scott

[blwchef]

Thanks for the info. I usualy just regrind my knives. I was more concerned with it being extremely biased like their Honesuki, which I bought with out knowing. Sounds like I might have found me a yodeba.
Brandon

[Oded]

[ QUOTE ]
What exactly is a Funayuki deba? I thought a Funayuki was it's own design

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably not the same thing for everyone.

My Funayuki Deba (from Suisin of course) is a Deba / Mioroshi deba shaped single bevel knife with 3 - 4mm spine near the heel. I think that formally it is 4mm and I have requested 3mm.

Murray carter does some Funayuki knives (he does not call it Deba) that look rather similar in geometry but are supposedly double bevel (correct me if i am wrong on this one)

[blwchef]

I just checked the specs on the Hattori 240mm yodeba and weighs in at 16.6 ounces. Another hefty sucker.

[miles]

Lee-
I've been eyeing these for a little while. Aside from the usual Tojiro F/F issues and it's heavier weight, how does it perform? Have you had occasion to put some mileage on it yet?

I've been on a buying binge, of late, which I should really bring to a halt. However, I do keep coming back to the Tojiro Western Debas and keep thinking about whether they'd do any better for some of the heavier stuff.

I'm a bit hesitant to set aside my old Henckels now that I've tuned it up and allowed it to find it's niche in my kit as the rough use knife. It's performed admirably, thus far, having broken down a half dozen chickens over the weekend with nary a complaint. Interestingly, the edge has held up well, despite the heavy use (abuse?). Granted, I set the edge to 25 degrees, so I expect it should stand up a bit better than before and should cut through the backs of a few chickens without too much wear on the edge, but I'm still a bit surprised at it's performance.

I wonder if anyone else has relegated their old German knives to this type of duty? I can't imagine trying to take apart chickens with any of my gyutou. I just don't expect that they'd hold up very well, and let's be honest, does anyone really want to find out just how much you can do to a $150-$200 knife before chipping out the blade???
Mike

[Fred]

My wife and I make marinara sauce in pretty large batches and then we freeze it. The containers we use hold twice what we need for a meal. I generally cut the frozen sauce in half by putting a gyuto to it and banging the knife on the spine with the palm of my hand. It works better than trying to saw it with a bread knife. I wouldn't spend a lot of time worrying about your gyuto being delicate. They are well made knives of well made steel.

[Oded]

I thought giving away my German knives but indeed realised that jobs where resiliency is prioritised over sheer cutting performance are the German knives home court. So yes, I still keep my Wusthof for those tougher then usual jobs. My Funayuki, being a single bevel and using higher carbon Blue steel then most feels very delicate and I prefer increasing its workload gradually.
I even use a £5 cleaver when I need to break down bones and chicken carcases for stocks.