PirgeTitan East Deba 15cm Knife - Ultra Sharp Stainless Steel Japanese Chef Knife - Professional Meat and Vegetable Chopping Knife for Home and Professional Use, Long Tang Design, Rosewood Handle

IN BRIEFThis is a very attractive looking Japanese style knife. It’s pretty sharp out of the box, but the steel is softer than usual for this type of knife. It also arrived with burrs that needed honing out before use. As long as you use it on a soft surface and keep it sharp it’s a decent knife for amateur use, and good value for money. Despite the wording of the listing, it’s actually made in Turkey. I award this knife four stars. With a harder blade and more openness about the origin I’d have rated it a 5.IN DETAILSingle bevel knives like this are unusual in Western kitchens, but it's a type of grind far more common in Japanese knives. I find it makes cutting far easier and more accurate, and coming off the back of the fingernails as you feed the item being chopped, the knife can cut straight downwards without having to compensate for a bevel. Facing you. It allows for tissue paper-thin cuts that are virtually impossible otherwise, and it makes sharpening and blade maintenance easier. The one thing you need to be aware of is that if you are left handed, this knife will not suit you, because the bevel will be on the wrong side.The form of this knife is visually very pleasing. It's a Deba, which is a Japanese fish knife, used for fish breakdown and preparation. Unlike a western filleting knife, this thing has no flex at all and is substantial in weight. This is to aid in bone cutting and allows the edge to be sharpened to incredible levels while still giving in strength. You can of course use this blade for other things apart from fish, and I enjoy using it as a general prep knife. Balance in the hand is good, with weight slightly forward when held in the customary pinch grip on the tang.Usually, Japanese knives are laminated steel, with a brittle and very hard carbon steel core between two softer steel skins. This knife is stainless steel which is easier to maintain, but inferior in cutting ability. I find that this blade can be made pretty sharp, but it’s a little too soft for my liking, and needs more maintenance than I expected. The faceted real walnut handle is similar to traditional Japanese knives, but shield shaped in cross-section, rather than the more usual symmetrical octagon. The walnut wood is very attractive looking and easy to hold. The ferrule is black plastic rather than the traditional black horn.I've not heard of Pirge before, so I looked them up. It turns out they are a Turkish manufacturer, and this explains why the knife is so cheap. My genuine professional Japanese chef knives cost me around £300 each, and were hand made in Japan out of carbon steel. This Pirge knife is factory produced in Turkey. The Pirge website variously claims the blade is forged with German or Spanish steel, and gives the hardness as 54 +/- 1 HRC No wonder I found the blade soft - Japanese knives tend to have a hardness rating around the 60 HRC mark.CONCLUSIONWhilst this knife does represent good value for money and a worthwhile purchase if you’re an amateur on a budget, the blade is, in my opinion, too soft for professional use. I’m a little disappointed by the current Amazon listing including phrases about Japanese precision and marvels of Japanese engineering skill. It’s a bit purple prosey, and risks giving the impression this knife was manufactured in Japan, rather than Turkey. However, if you mainly want the look of a Japanese knife without having to invest what's needed to obtain a genuine one, this knife could be just what you're searching for.

The knife is mad for a right handed person and I'm left handed so the thing is why don't they make left and right handed knife

Wow, I was not sure if I would like the ballance and feel of this particular style of knife, I usually have a more shaped handled traditionally european style of knife and I do my own professional grade sharpening on a slow rolling water cooled diamond wheel so all my knives are razor sharp.So when I say I know what I like in a knife I mean it.This decently sized kitchen knife balances very well in the hand and it's extremely sharp right out of the box, Passed the cigaret paper test first swipe!It is sharpened with a hollow grind that fits my 240mm wheel perfectly and is sharpened on just one side.The wooden handle is beautiful and sturdy and being walnut should take washing and knocks well, There is no reason this knife should not last a lifetime if used and maintained well.You will not however be able to sharpen this knife with the regular two wheel type of knife sharpener many folks like to use and using a ceramic or steel hone will have to be done on just the one side so bear that in mind long term.The steel this knife is made from and the long tang design make it hard wearing and it should hold that edge very well, If I find later that this is not the case I will edit here. But I suspect for now that this will not be necessary.It will take a bit of practice to get used to the cut style as most are used to a two sided blade and you will soon get used to the way the cut pulls slightly.It is however, extremely accurate when used slowly and with a gentle back and forth motion, so it's not just a chopping blade although it can chop as well as carve.All in all a beautiful addition to any cooks tool set.