Japanese blade Migaki Deba Tosa

The blades of Tosa masters have long been famous for their very high quality and reliability and need no introduction. The region where these knives are produced is located on one of the southern islands of Japan (Shikoku Island) and is widely known for festivals of knifemakers and manufacturers of a wide variety of cutting tools. The interest of professionals in various industries using knives, collectors, as well as just lovers of this subject is caused by both the high skill of manufacturers and excellent product quality, and the fact that due to the high competition of blacksmiths in this region, it is possible to purchase exclusive samples of knives made from the best grades of steel ( such as, for example, Super Aogami) for a relatively low price. Moreover, Tosa sells both ready-to-use products and blades separately (knife manufacturers in Japan, as a rule, are extremely reluctant to do this), and the handle can be made at your discretion, it can be very convenient. The presented knives are made by the Tadayoshi forging company under the guidance of master craftsman Tadayoshi Saku.
The Deba Migaki Tosa blade is double-layered, has a one-sided sharpening, sharpened. The Deba Migaki Tosa blade has a gradual narrowing of the blade thickness from the heel to the tip along the thickness of the butt from 7mm to 3.5mm, characteristic of a Japanese knife. The length of the Deba blade from Tosa is 170mm. Blade height - 50mm. The option of one-sided sharpening is made for work with the right hand - i.e. under the right Blade weight - 240 grams.
The Deba knife, in fact a kitchen cleaver, due to its specialization is of little use for use in European cuisine, but is, in fact, the hallmark of the Japanese knife industry. Oddly enough, many of their collection of Japanese knives do not start with multifunctional Santoku or Petty, which are easily adapted to any needs of European cuisine, but with Deba, as the most prominent representative of Japanese exoticism.
Deba is a massive tisak knife with a thick butt. This type of knife has a huge number of modifications in size and thickness, depending on the intended application. The usual blade length is 165-220mm, although smaller and much larger blades are also found. The thickness of the butt varies from 5 to 13 mm. It has a one-sided sharpening. Basically, Deba is intended for rough butchering of fish carcasses, separation of heads and tails. The wide butt is convenient for putting pressure on the blade from above. The classic Deba has a specific sharpening that determines the functional purpose of individual sections of the blade. The area near the heel is the fish head compartment, where not so much sharpness is needed as resistance to blunting. The middle zone of the blade is mainly used to separate the fish backbone from the fillet. The sector of the cutting edge near the point, as well as the area near the heel, should not be as sharp as the middle, so that it is more convenient to separate the fillet from the ridge. In the realities of European cuisine, Deba, if not a decoration, is used mainly as a cleaver, so it is sharpened along the entire length of the RK in the same way.
Tosa's Deba kitchen knives are made from a steel called blue paper or AoKami, the most commonly used steel for this type of knife. The blade is two-layer, traditional for one-sided type of sharpening. On the concave side - a harder layer, on the convex - softer. Deba knives have one-sided sharpening, which is not quite common for a European user, but does not beg for all the other positive qualities of the knife, and besides, you can get used to it quite quickly.

Country of origin Japan
Manufacturer Tosa
Deba type
Blade length 170 mm
Blade height 50 mm
Blade thickness 7mm/3.5mm
Overall length with shank 275mm
Blade type double layer
Steel cutting layer Aogami (Ao Kami)
Cutting layer hardness 61HRC
Design features sharpened
Weight 240 grams.