Usage
- Since this is a deba knife, designed to cut bones and other harder ingredients like joints and such I don't really plan to thin down the edge. As it is, at its current angle I am fine with its performance. So far Takeda deba has been used several times for butchering the chicken, filleting the fish, and more often separating the ribs of the lamb rack. Since I am not big on the fish and chicken, the later was the most frequent job for deba. Ryodeba has been unused for first few weeks. I simply had nothing suitable to cut with it and I didn't feel like chopping veggies with it either.Then, knowing that chicken was on the menu for the upcoming family party I've offered my Deba and my cutting services. To be honest, I had no idea how to cut chicken properly with it :)What can I say, I'm a geek and a knife nut, not a chef, but I am eager to learn. Anyway, I took deba with me and when the time was right attacked the chicken with it. Turns out, even if you are wielding ~300$ hand forged knife, by the famous master, with the edge sharper than the razor, made out of the latest supersteel, the chicken still can pose a considerable challenge, if you don't know how to proceed with it. The thing (chicken) was slippery, it was fried, to be precise. I felt that it had bones in all wrong places and really acting out. Luckily, friend of mine had much better experience, so he was able to guide me with the chicken #1. Despite of my inexperienced hands, Deba passed the test with flying colors. One thing I did, and perhaps shouldn've done was to chop through the breast bone with ryodeba. Thick and tough edge it has, but still, the heel section which I've used for that job was considerably duller compared to the rest of the blade. Shaving test in the opposite direction was failing, it's miss a hair or two here and there. So, before proceeding to the next one, I've decided to touch up the edge and gave it a few passes on the heel with superfine ceramic rod. Then, deba was given to my pal who did the same stuff as I did, minus chopping the chicken breast in half, instead, he went closer to the side, where the ribs connect to that thick bone, which was much better approach ;) Overall, he managed the same thing in two or three times shorter period of time. His comments that the knife was simply an amazing performer, outweigh my admirations for this knife by hefty margin, given the skill difference between the two of us.
For the record, later on I did cut the same chicken breast bone with another knife, Kobayashi Hontan Seikon Dojo Deba, which is even thicker bladed and thicker edged deba, clearly classifying as , the heaviest and thickest deba of them all, designed to chop through the bones. Kobayashi Hon-Deba suffered no consequences on that thick bone. However, by no means this is to say that Takeda ryodeba underperformed. It isn't Hon-Deba, Takeda himself classifies it as medium, so it wasn't a good idea to chop through that thick bone with it. Given the fact that there was no chipping on the edge, I'd say Takeda deba performed very well.
Another, much more frequent job for the deba was separating ribs. So it happened, we had the lamb rack and other types of ribs on several consequent parties. Having learned from my previous chicken breast chopping experience, I didn't attempt to chop with brute force through the joints. I was glad I didn't. Apparently there were joints, or may be obviously and not apparently, since bones don't grow in T shape. So, going through those joints with deba and prying them was a breeze. Thick, hefty blade aplit the ribs with sub-second speeds. By the way, this is one of the cases, when I'd rather use ryodeba vs. hon-deba. Not because of double ground edge, but because it's thinner and lighter, so the balance is pretty much perfect for the job. Takeda deba could get between the ribs and other tighter spaces easier than the thicker Kobayashi deba, so I had better maneuverability. Weight and thickness were still more than enough to handle the rib joints. Once again, the right tool for the right job means pretty much everything.
Last, and the least appreciated or enjoyable work with deba, is its primary designation, filleting the fish. Shizzzz. I hate doing that. I still do it, just to learn. Despite of watching numerous videos and reading other books about how to fillet the fish properly it is still really stinky and annoying task. Probably it will be that way, until I learn how to do it properly. Anyway, main practice fish for now is sea bass, and I butcher(it's still not filleting) it with different knives. One of them being Takeda Deba. Frankly, for purely filleting it works very well, but as usual I use the same knife to skin the fillets and that is more difficult with Takeda ryodeba, because it is double ground edge, not the chisel edge. On the other hand, Kobayashi deba is simply too heavy and thick for filleting small/medium fish. So far the best for that job was Shigefusa Kitaeji Miroshi Deba. Because of its slender profile and longer blade. Filleting the fish was also an excuse to order custom, Aogami steel Watanabe Sakekiri, which in fact is yet another type of deba, specifically designed to fillet the salmon. Talk about narrow specialization here. Anyway, as far as Takeda deba goes, filleting was ok, but somehow I got more accustomed to chisel edge knives for filleting and because of that Miroshi debas feel better for me.
Conclusions
- I love this knife. I don't use it that often, but whenever I do, it performs very well. I feel comfortable and confident using it. By now, I know what it can handle and what not, and there's not too many things that it can't handle. Quality is very good, the steel and heattreatment are excellent, handle is also extremely good, one of the very few handles I decided not to remove and customize. So, to me it's an excellent knife and I'd buy it again if I had to.Specs:
- Blade - 180.00mm(7.09")
- Thickness - 7.00mm
- Width - 52.00mm
- OAL - 310.00mm(12.2")
- Steel - Aogami Super Steel 62HRC
- Handle - Wood
- Weight - 320.00g(10.82oz)
- Acquired - 08/2008 Price - 249.00$
Related reading:
- Watanabe Miroshi Deba Knife Review
- Shigefusa 240mm Miroshi Deba Knife Review
- Kobayashi Hontan Seikon Dojo Deba Knife Review
- Watanabe Kuro-Uchi Sakekiri Deba Knife Review
- Phil Wilson CPM154 Punta Chivato Fillet Knife Review
Last updated - 05/19/19