Usage
- Well, using this yanagiba was quite challenging and interesting too. For starters, this was my very first kitchen knife with 300mm(12") long blade. Unless you are already familiar with the knives of that size, then you'd feel a little uneasy when starting using it. So was I :) That uneasiness went away quickly, week or two and the knife felt like I've had it forever. More difficult part was getting the single bevel edge using technique right. If you use that as you'd use more conventional double bevel knife, then the blade has the tendency to skew to the left when cutting, all because of the single edge and urasuki, concaved back in other words. That part can be quite a challenge, until you figure it out :) Some might do that intuitively, I couldn't. Later on there was a thread on knifeforums where this topic was discussed and there I've learned basic techniques on how to use single beveled knives. Before that it was trail and error. Another challenge, or interesting part was that Takeshi mentioned howvery experienced such chefs use Yanagibas for pretty much every cutting job. Paring, peeling, fine cutting, vegetable chopping. That itself is a curious fact, considering that those are the Japanese who have dedicated and very specialized knives for pretty much everything, and the highest skill comes around to using single blade for pretty much everything too ;) Just like average western knife user... Well, ok, the skill level and knife quality are a lot, really a lot higher...Thus, using the few pointers Takeshi gave me, which are similar to the tips you'd hear for using Chukabocho or Chinese cleaver like my Takeda Cleaver for one, do it all knife. I mean the techniques are very different of course, but the basic ideas are the same. Using different parts of the knife for different work. Knife heel for peeling, little bit more than that for vegetable chopping, slicing, after all, for slicing you have all 300mm of the supersharp steel ;) Blade tip for delicate work. Except all that sounds a lot easier than it is. Once you try that yourself, you will understand why Takeshi, after being a sushi chef for years still considers himself not good enough for that trickery. Still, for learning and practicing it's a good exercise. Just prepare to fail often and it's challenging to say at least. Add there my inexperience or lack of knowledge with single bevel knives and you'll get the idea ;) I've jumped on a lot of new things too soon. That's lesson #6 from this knife.
Main use in the beginning was slicing. Even if I do not eat a lot of fish, I still love meat and so do my friends. So, honkasumi yanagiba did see quite a bit of meat cutting, slicing, cleaning the fat and other pieces from meat, which is a job more for a sujihiki type of a knife, like 300mm Watanabe Sujihiki. On the other hand, at that time I didn't have a sujihiki, and I was experimenting with Yanagiba, so even if I did, I'd still use it for the same and more. It's pretty hard to describe the ease and excellence of this knife for those types of work. Hot knife through the butter isn't good enough of a comparison. Translucent slices of whatever you want are very easy. Long blade like that, perfect for clean cuts of larger pieces too, that is, if you can keep the cut straight ;) Like I said, single bevel can be a biatch sometimes. That I found out, every time I was trying to cut a pineapple in half vertically. Whether I wanted it or not, single edged yanagiba would skew to the left very often. Anyway, as far as slicing went, it was superb and edge holding ability is extremely high. For soft materials 65HRC+ blade is going to hold the edge long time. Especially from renowned maker like Aritsugu.
Another, and far less entertaining part of yanagiba use was my attempt to have it as multipurpose knife. Just like Takeshi and few other guys mentioned. I did realize my skills were nowhere near, but I figured trying isn't a crime after all, and may be I'd learn something faster. In the beginning I was very enthusiastic, but soon enough I realized that besides challenge and very steep learning curve, I was missing a lot of fun cutting with other knives. So, later on I've scaled down my "let's use yanagiba for everything" experiment. I still want to become that good with it, however I've decided that it's more fun and safer if I practice for years. After all there is no rush for me on that one, plus I said it many times, I enjoy using all sorts of knives. Anyway, to give you some details, I was (and still try) whatever I've learned and saw in few videos with Yanagiba. Slicing as I said is very easy, it's designed for that. For veggie chopping it's so-so. Knuckle clearance isn't really high, which isn't an issue with slicing, but once you start chopping vegetables, or do any cutting when you have to go low with the blade you'll feel it. On the other hand people use boning knife as their only kitchen knife and feel happy with it ;)Peeling is manageable, albeit difficult compared to paring knife. Obviously due to the length and weight. However, works pretty well for katsura muki style peeling. The most difficult part for me was and still is fine work with just the tip of the knife. I have never seen that done live, or on video, and nobody did explain how exactly to manage precise movements with just the tip of the 300mm long blade. If I hold it by the handle the tip is way too far from my wrist, so very slight movements of the wrist translate to pretty wild movement of the tip ;) Simple physics. Holding it closer to the tip as a peeling knife, i.e. by blade spine doesn't feel neither safe nor convenient. There is another 25-30cm of the blade plus handle hanging somewhere behind my palm and if you are not careful you can manage to cut your elbow or forearm with it, so I doubt that's a good idea. Whenever I figure this out, I'll update this section for sure. By the way, same troubles with Takeda cleaver as one, do it all knife. Still can't figure out how to use the tip for delicate work ;) That thing is super efficient chopper and slicer for veggies, I can manage some peeling with it too, but still, it's more like a license plate with a handle. On the other hand, many chefs use it as their main knife. There is hope I'll learn that too.
Conclusions
- Wrapping this review up, I have to say as a knife, Aritsugu honkasumi yanagiba is a very good knife. Well made, can get extremely sharp and stays sharp very long time. Long, slender blade is very well suited for slicing, not only the fish, but whatever else you might need to slice, at least in terms of soft foods. So, if you stick with it just for its designed purpose, you're gonna have a lot of fun and really enjoy its qualities. If you try like me to use it as multipurpose knife, you will find out that dedicated knives do the job better ;) Which is always the case, but again, it's a learning process and has its benefits. Main drawback for Aritsugu knives I'd consider the complete absence of the sharp edge on the new knives. It is the case unless you manage to place an order with them directly and ask them to sharpen the edge for you. However, as I have mentioned in my Aritsugu A-Type Gyuto review, unless you speak/write Japanese it's close to impossible to get in touch with them and Takeshi is your best bet. He can sharpen the knife for you or place special order. You'll figure that out with him.Specifications:
- Blade - 300.00mm(11.81")
- Thickness - 4.50mm
- Width - 35.00mm
- OAL - 446.00mm(17.56")
- Steel - Aogami 1 65HRC+
- Handle - Ebony/Rosewood
- Weight - 230.00g(7.78oz)
- Acquired - 07/2008 Price - 405.00$
Related reading:
- Watanabe 330mm Kintaro Ame Kensaki Yanagiba Knife Review
- Aritsugu 300mm Wood Pattern Yanagiba Knife Review
- Mac cutlery 240mm Yanagi Knife Review
- Aritsugu 270mm Fugubiki Knife Review
- Watanabe 300mm Kintaro-Ame Sujihiki Knife Review
- Watanabe 300mm Sujihiki Knife Review
- Henckels 34378-240 Miyabi 5000MCD 240mm(10") Birchwood Slicer Knife Review
Last updated - 05/19/19