The names on our product pages, explained
Gyuto. Santoku. Nakiri. Kiritsuke. Deba. Yanagiba. If you are shopping for a kitchen blade blank and these words mean nothing to you, you are not alone — and picking the wrong one means a knife that fights you every time you cook.
This guide covers each shape we make, what it is genuinely for, and which one to build first.
Gyuto — the Japanese chef's knife
What it is: the Japanese take on the Western chef's knife. A long, gently curved blade with a pointed tip, typically 180 to 240 mm.
What it does: everything. Slicing, dicing, chopping, breaking down vegetables, portioning meat. The curve lets you rock through herbs; the flat section handles push cuts; the tip does fine work.
Compared to a Western chef's knife: thinner, harder, lighter, with a more acute edge angle. It cuts better and demands more care — a gyuto is not the knife for hacking through bone.
Build one if: you want a single knife that does most kitchen work. This is the default answer for most people.
Santoku — the three virtues
What it is: shorter than a gyuto, usually 165 to 180 mm, with a flatter edge and a sheepsfoot tip that curves down to meet it.
What it does: the name means "three virtues" — meat, fish and vegetables. The flat edge suits push cutting and chopping rather than rocking. The blunter tip is safer and less useful for detail work.
Compared to a gyuto: more manoeuvrable, less versatile. Easier for someone with a smaller cutting board or less confidence with a long blade.
Build one if: you chop more than you rock, or you want something less intimidating than a 240 mm gyuto.
Nakiri — the vegetable knife
What it is: a rectangular blade with a completely flat edge and a squared-off tip, typically 165 to 180 mm.
What it does: vegetables, and nothing else. The flat edge contacts the board along its entire length, so a single push cut goes cleanly through without the sawing motion a curved blade needs. The height gives knuckle clearance and doubles as a scoop.
Compared to a santoku: more specialised and better at its one job. If you prep a lot of vegetables, the difference is immediately obvious.
Build one if: you already have a general knife and want the vegetable work to be a pleasure.
Kiritsuke — the statement knife
What it is: a long blade with a distinctive angled tip, like a gyuto whose point has been cut off on the diagonal. Traditionally the knife of a head chef in a Japanese kitchen.
What it does: slicing and precision work. The angled tip gives excellent visibility and control for fine cuts.
Compared to a gyuto: less forgiving. The flatter profile does not rock, and the tip geometry takes getting used to. It is also the most striking shape on the board.
Build one if: you are comfortable with push cutting and want a knife people will comment on.
Deba — the fish knife
What it is: a thick, heavy, single-bevel blade. Ours are made in smaller sizes suited to home use.
What it does: breaking down whole fish. The weight does the work through the spine and collar; the thickness stops the blade flexing or chipping where a thin knife would fail.
Compared to everything else here: heavier and thicker by design. A deba is not a general purpose knife and will disappoint if used as one.
Build one if: you buy whole fish.
Yanagiba — the slicer
What it is: a long, narrow, single-bevel blade with a pointed tip.
What it does: single-stroke slicing, above all for sashimi. Length matters: the cut is made by drawing the blade through in one pull, never sawing, and a short blade cannot do that cleanly.
Note on handedness: single-bevel blades are ground for one hand. A right-handed yanagiba used left-handed steers away from the cut. Check which you are buying.
Build one if: you serve raw fish, or you want to understand what a truly sharp edge feels like.
Western profiles we also make
Full tang chef's blade — the classic European shape. More curve than a gyuto, usually thicker, more forgiving of rough treatment.
Paring blade — 80 to 100 mm, for work done in the hand rather than on a board.
Boning and skinning blades — narrow, with the flexibility or rigidity the job asks for.
Cleaver — weight and a thick spine for chopping through joints.
Which to build first
If this is your first kitchen build, make a gyuto or a Western chef's blade in the 180 to 210 mm range. Either will be the knife you actually reach for, and the size is comfortable on a normal board.
Save the single-bevel shapes — deba, yanagiba — for later. They are excellent knives and they reward experience.
Matching steel to shape
- Gyuto, santoku, nakiri, kiritsuke — AEB-L at 60 HRC takes a very fine edge; N690 at 58 to 59 is more forgiving; Sleipner at 60 to 61 holds an edge longer.
- Deba and cleaver — toughness matters more than ultimate hardness. N690 or 1.4116.
- Yanagiba — hardness and fine grain. AEB-L or a powder steel.
- Paring — anything. This is the knife to try a new steel on.
All our chef and kitchen blade blanks arrive ground, vacuum heat treated and sharpened at 400 grit, with the hardness printed on every product page. If you want to understand what those hardness numbers mean, our guide to blade hardness goes through each steel; for the build itself, start with turning a blank into a finished knife.