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The Deba

Discussion in 'The Kitchen Knife' started by MotoMike, Mar 7, 2014.

  1. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    I find myself drawn to this shape but I wonder as to the utility. I don't often break down whole fish and wonder what other uses it finds itself drafted into.
    Do many of you find you go to your Deba often?
     
  2. Wagner the Wehrwolf

    Wagner the Wehrwolf Founding Member

    I'm not a deba user but I think if you want to use a deba for something other than fish you want a WESTERN deba, which is thicker and more robust.
     
  3. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

    I have only one and use it to get my swine in line. The traditionalists get very cross with me over this.

    [​IMG]
     
  4. ThEoRy

    ThEoRy Founding Member


    Western Deba are not thicker than traditional Deba by any means. My 210mm deba is 10mm at the spine. Beast mode. My 240mm western deba is only like 5mm. Different knives for different purposes. And yes Jim, I'm getting angry. :mad: jk
     
  5. hbeernink

    hbeernink Founding Member


    heresy!
     
  6. bieniek

    bieniek Founding Member

    I can just get angry that youre not wiping it often enough.

    Other that that, do what suits you. I dont think its the perfect knife for pork cause then I'd want like 3 meters long blade and would have to hold it with both arms and one of the legs propably.

    Thin light long knife could do this job easier and faster imho, just like with chicken.

    Mike, I just used it on fish. And the bigger ones.
     
  7. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

  8. bieniek

    bieniek Founding Member

    Take it with ease, no reason to sweat. Its just a tool.

    We might talk plenty about whats wrong or right but lets be honest, do you wear kimono when you use it?
    ...Me neither.
    And would much more eagerly watch you cut meat with a sharp deba than some random fellow destroy flesh with a blunt Victorinox ;)
     
  9. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    I have used my mioroshi deba for portioning meat sometimes. Thinner and generally longer blade, for a 210, makes it a bit easier to use.

    But almost most of my debas' usage are on fish, and because I could, different size debas for different size of fish. But go the other way around using small deba on larger fish and vice versa, for fun too.
     
  10. cheflarge

    cheflarge Founding Member

    :pop:baconI believe the direct translation of "Deba" is butcher knife...... so guess what I do with it...... I butcher fish, chicken, pork and whatever else might need a good butchering knife.
     
  11. Paradox

    Paradox Founding Member

    Jim, this looks like the makings of a thread in "what's cooking". I'd like to see where you go with that for sure. ;)
     
  12. Jim

    Jim Old Curmudgeon Founding Member

    Just a little bacon makin' I will dig up the old photos and post them. Edit found them posted up.
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2014
  13. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    thank you Gentlemen
     
  14. TaJ

    TaJ Founding Member Contributor

    Bakin' bacon with Macon? :D
     
  15. Jeffery Hunter

    Jeffery Hunter Founding Member

    just ordered a ko-deba and it will be used for killing chickens as well as fish...
     
  16. ThEoRy

    ThEoRy Founding Member

    The thing I don't get about using a deba on chicken is, it's so friggin heavy! What's the point when a honesuki is so much faster and more nimble? Deba just feels clumsy and unwieldy in comparison.
     
  17. turtle

    turtle Founding Member

    I put a DEBA on an order at a restaurant supply company many years ago to reach their minimum purchase for free shipping on 2 pizza peels I needed thinking that I would never use the knife (hey it cost me $3 more than the peels with shipping).

    It has turned out to be my "goto knife" I must use it 4 to 1 over every other knife I own. It is weighted and balanced to work perfectly for me whether I am pealing ginger, smashing garlic cloves, to dicing or mincing. I would have a hard time trying to "get by" without this one now. This knife is the only reason I did not repair the runners on my knife storage drawer for years so that my Sabatier knives could be used again.

    For me it has been one of the best general purpose knives I have come across

    This is not to say you are going to like the one you get but the one I did NOT want is DA BOMB for me....

    [​IMG]
     
  18. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    Excellent info Gents.

    the instructions included with my new Torjiro DP Damascus Gyuto say that I should use a Deba for cutting bones or crab shells, not my gyuto. I think that the level of food prep exhibited by those wielding Debas are beyond yours truly. I don't buy animal carcases and break them down. the most I'd do is cleaning and fileting fish I have caught. I do like the look of the Deba though. trouble brewing....
     
  19. ThEoRy

    ThEoRy Founding Member


    Is that a deba, or a Yo-deba?
     
  20. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    I learn from you guys every day. My whole life a knife for taking fish apart was a long skinny and very flexible blade with a slight curve at the end. Now I find it is the Deba. Do you agree with Tojiro's advice that if I want to cut bones or crab shells, use a Deba? I see in the translation that things are a little confusing, and maybe they did not really mean to cut bones or perhaps expected common sense to be employed and that I would not be attempting to halve a cows leg bone.
     

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