Japanese shops sell the deba for fish and the honesuki for meat on the bone. Same maker, same steel, 150mm: 230g against 180g. Prices and left-handed costs compared.
Sakai knife shops describe the honesuki as thick, stiff and often ground on one side. How it differs from a flexible boning knife, and which ones suit either hand.
Japanese knife shops suggest a stainless santoku as a gift. Four picks from 89 to 226 dollars, plus the shipping, engraving and return terms to check first.
A nakiri is ground on both sides, an usuba on one. Japanese knife shops say the usuba is for katsuramuki and fine work, and charge about twice as much for it.
Zwilling makes knives in Solingen and in Seki. Its own pages give 55 to 58 HRC and a 15 degree edge for the German ones, and 60 HRC and 9 to 12 degrees for MIYABI.
Two Sakai knife shops give 210mm as the home gyuto and 240mm as the restaurant size. Why, how length is measured, and the same knife priced in both lengths.
A Sakai knife shop says to choose a petty knife by whether you use it on the cutting board or in your hand. Lengths, steel, and one series in three sizes compared.
The yanagiba is the sashimi knife, the sujihiki a meat knife, yet a Sakai shop says the sujihiki works for sashimi at home. Same-series prices and the left-hand cost.
Of 179 knives sold as kiritsuke at one Japanese shop, three are the single-edged knife Japanese shops mean. Most others are a gyuto or sashimi knife with a new tip.
The santoku was made from the nakiri, then replaced it in Japanese homes. What Japanese makers say each knife does, why a nakiri is not an usuba, and which to buy.