Single bevel knives?

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jpaulg

Senior Cook
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
208
Location
Brisbane, Qld, Australia
I'm looking at getting a sashimi knife and figure that if I'm going Japanese I might as well go the whole hog and get a single bevel knife.

Any tips on sharpening, use and care of single bevel knives that would be different from double bevel knives?

On the sharpening front I'm a little worried that a burr might develop on the back edge.
 
Just got the knife delivered. Harima/Kumagaro (aka Ice Bear) knife not sure on the exact designation, but its carbon steel with a layer of mild stainless to prevent the hassle of caring for CS. Honyaki construction if that means anything to the J-knife fans.

Ay ay ay, this thing is sharp straight out of the box, I mean cutting divots out of the cutting board kind of sharp.

A couple of minor gripes. The blade is a little thicker than what I'd consider to be optimum and the tang obviously doesn't extend all that far down the handle. I did get it for a very nice price and overall I am very happy.

It did prompt the following exchange at work today though.

Me: Meet the new member of the family [fondles knife lovingly]
Ben: Woah dude, seriously you're like Dexter with all your knives.
Me: Dexter's an amateur.
 
Just got the knife delivered. Harima/Kumagaro (aka Ice Bear) knife not sure on the exact designation, but its carbon steel with a layer of mild stainless to prevent the hassle of caring for CS. Honyaki construction if that means anything to the J-knife fans.


Hmmm...the word Honyaki roughly translates to "true forged" and refers to a knife made out of a single type of steel. Clad and honyaki are opposites. Typically you see knives made of different types of steel called Warikomi, San-Mai, etc depending on the type of construction.

That said, I'm sure it's a fine knife. I'm anxious to hear how it works out for you.:cool:
 
Hmmm...the word Honyaki roughly translates to "true forged" and refers to a knife made out of a single type of steel. Clad and honyaki are opposites. Typically you see knives made of different types of steel called Warikomi, San-Mai, etc depending on the type of construction.

That said, I'm sure it's a fine knife. I'm anxious to hear how it works out for you.:cool:

We don't do a whole lot of fish, so it may take a few days.

If we were a serious fish restaurant I'd probably get it re-handled, but since I'm not going to be using it that much I won't go to that trouble yet.

Seriously sharp and I've played with it on some tomatoes and onions and the single bevel is taking some getting used to, but I can see how it works and how it is a very serious fish knife. Makes getting very flat slices easy.
 
One further question on the SS over CS cladding.

I've noticed that there's some discoloration on the cutting edge so I've swiped some mineral oil on the edge of the blade - I'm assuming that this is something I'll have to keep on doing on a regular basis.
 
It's hard to know how reactive the carbon will be without knowing what type it is, but generally a little bit of patina never hurts anything.:)
 
Got it working on some Barramundi today.

1) The old flexible filleting knife is in serious danger of getting bounced out of the knife roll. The flat bevel sashimi not only skins nearly as well as the flexible knife but is much more useful in portioning the fish.

2) This is a case where bigger is better. If I were working in a fish restaurant I'd go for a 30cm+ blade. A longer blade would make it easier to keep the knife parallel to the cutting board when skinning, and if working with whole fillets there are going to be times when the additional length of blade will make the job a lot easier.
 
Only caveat I have is to make sure you get a 30cm+ blade if you intend to be using the knife significantly. I used to think the sushi chefs with huge long knives were just having a lend, but yeah the long blade helps a lot.

Also a thicker cutting board will help for skinning as that will also make it easier to keep the blade parallel to the board.
 
I've upgraded my Nakiri (double bevel vegetable knife) to a Kama-Usaba (single bevel vegetable knife) because of my experiences with the single bevel Yanagiba. The brand for those who want to know is Sakai Ichimonji-Kichikuni.

It's superior for getting thinner and more regular slices, but not quite as fast to use.

Got a white steel forged blade, which is significantly thicker than a stainless VG-10 blade. IMO the superior edge and sharpening properties of carbon steel make it more than worthwhile.

The slightly concave back edge acts like one big granton air pocket meaning that food just doesn't stick to the back edge.

Summary: Better results, requires some adjustment to technique. I go at about 80 or 90% of the speed I'd be going with the Nakiri.

I'm thinking of rounding the tip off, but I'll leave the knife as is OOTB for at least a month.
 

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