Boning Knife

Boning Knife

The Anatomy of a Chef Knife

The Anatomy of a Chef Knife

Contrary to what most cooks think, a Chef Knife is not just a big knife with a big blade.

A good Chef Knife is a precision tool which allows you to do almost any job in the kitchen.

In this article I will break down the anatomy of the Sakura 8" Chef Knife.

It is the knife I use. Probably one of the best I ever had.

It is a Japanese 8" Chef knife. Hand forged in VG-10 Carbon Steel metal. Folded 67 times.

A: The Chef Knife Tip: Right at the end of the blade. It is used to cut through onions, shallots, and other vegetables to make cuts for cubes or strips. May also be used to cut strips through meat or boning.

Most chefs will tell you never to use the knife tip for anything else, but it will easily open plastic or paper bags.

B: The Chef Knife Cutting Edge: Used for long slice cuts through meat fruit or vegetables. It is the third most used part of the knife.

C: The Chef Knife Heel: These are the last two inches closest to the Bolster. It is the most used part of the chef knife. Used for dicing or slicing in a forward wave motion, and hard cutting of bones or tendons.

Also it is the right place for holding between your forefinger and thumb for best grip of the chef knife.

D: The Chef Knife Back: Mainly the part of the blade that will give you the power to use the knife. It is between 2.5 and 3 inches wide in a quality chef knife.

Can be used for breaking ice, or forced blows.

E: The Chef Knife Bolster: It is the metal part between the blade and the handle.

It usually extends all the way down to the bottom of the blade.

This allows for two uses: It will protect your fingers from sliding under the blade. But more importantly, it is a heavy chunk of metal the gives balance to the whole chef knife making it effortlessly usable for long periods of time.

F: The Chef Knife Tang: The Tang is the back end of the blade. Is a good chef knife it extends all the way to the back of the handle giving the chef knife strength and stability.

G: The Rivet: A metal pin forged into the Handle and through the Tang to hold them together.

H: The Chef Knife Butt: The back end of the chef knife. Helps grip the knife comfortably, but can also, in good quality chef knives, be used as a hammer.

This was a quick break down of the anatomy of a chef knife.

About the Author

Chef Ori has been cooking for over 20 years.
Using most of the professional chef knives available.
He has decided to share his knowledge with tips and tricks for Chef Knives.
Get more information at: http://www.kitchen-chef-knife.com

What is a good knife to fillet a wild salmon? I.e. cutting the head as well?

I used something like a Masamoto Deba knife to fillet a wild salmon but was wondering if there was something better. Should I be using a flexible boning knive? Thanks
Thanks bells..

SunKissed: Yes it is fresh...I know somebody that gets fresh whole salmon every 2 or 3 days.

Not really. Especially if you want to use the same knife to cut the head.
Debas are more versatile than flexible fillet knives, which in turn work better than flexible boning knives, because filleting is still different from boning.

I do own custom filleting knife from Phil Wilson - http://zknives.com/knives/custom/pwpc240.shtml
And that's as close to a perfect filleting knife as it can get. Not really suitable for cutting heads off, due to its flexibility and thin edge.

Single bevel debas also work better/faster for skinning the fish.

The only thing that can be better, at least that I am familiar with, would be specialized Salmon deba a.k.a. Sakekiri, which means Salmon knife in Japanese. This one is from Watanabe custom shop - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/watanabe/watanabeskkr150.shtml
It's thinner than the hon-deba or true deba, smaller too, so works better for Salmon size fish.

Japanese do have very wide variety of fish knives, pretty much for every size and type.. There's Deba, Ai deba, Hon deba, Funayuki, Sakekiri, Ajikiri and many more...

Here's a short list of Japanese knife types and designations, still over 40 types in it - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/jpnktknvtypes.shtml

P.S. As far as knife performance and quality goes Masamotos are level above the Shuns. In fact, Masamoto is one of the most prestigious and valued or prized kitchen knife brand in Japan. Shuns are marketed in western world much wider, and they're more westernized versions of Japanese knives, but not really there in terms of performance/price.

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