10
DESCRIPTION OF EURO/AMERICAN AND ASIAN BLADES
In general you will find that Euro/American blades shown in Figure 10a are sturdier
than the more delicate and thinner contemporary Asian blades. The variation among com-
mercially available knives of any type is great and in
fact some Euro/American blades are very thin and
certain Asian knives have a thicker cross-section
designed for heavier work.
1. EUROPEAN/AMERICAN BLADES
While most of the Euro/American knives (shown on the right),
Figure 10a have a thick cross-section designed for heavier
work, the range of blade thickness in these familiar blades is
great and certain of these knives, such as the conventional
paring, fillet and utility blades, have a relatively thin cross-sec-
tion well suited to their intended application. Euro-
pean/American straight edge blades are universally double
beveled (sharpened on both sides of the blade.)
2. CONTEMPORARY ASIAN KNIVES
The more popular Asian blades; the thin, light weight Santoku
and Nakiri for example are generally double faceted (sharpened
on both faces of the blade) as shown in Figure 10b. Occasionally
Santoku knives are sold with single facets (Figure 10c below)
but these are not readily available in the United States.
There are other but somewhat heavier double-faceted Asian
knives, the Deba and Gyutou, popular in Asia, which are used
for chopping hard vegetables, for tailing and filleting fish and for
meats. These are basically Asian chefs knives designed for
heavier duty work. The Chinese cleaver is included in this class.
3. TRADITIONAL JAPANESE KNIVES
The traditional Japanese knife is single beveled and has a wide
factory bevel A along one face of the blade above a small edge
facet. These are sold as either right handed or left handed
versions as shown in Figure 10c. The large wide factory bevel A
is ground, commonly at about 10 degrees. The most popular
example of this type blade is the sashimi knife also known as
Yanagi and Takohiki, designed as shown to the right. This
lengthy, slicing blade is ideal for preparing very thin slices of
raw tuna or salmon. The back side of this blade is commonly
slightly hollow ground. A small single cutting edge facet of
Thickness
(approx. 0.5mm)
double faceted
Each facet
about 20°
Figure 10a. European/American blade.
Thickness
(approx. 0.25mm)
double faceted
Thickness
(approx. 0.1-0.2mm)
Back
Side
Left handed
Right handed
Factory
Bevel A
Commonly
small
10 to 11°
Factory
Bevel A
Commonly
small
10 to 11°
Front face
Front face
Each facet
about 15°
Sharpened
edge facet
about 15°
Figure 10b. Double faceted contemporary
Asian blades.
Figure 10c. Single beveled traditional
Asian blades.
