Newbie Question About Chef's Knives

[Hesparus]

A ryodeba is a version of the Japanese deba that has a double FFG. They are sort of a light-duty cleaver that is used for light butchering, cutting through small fish bones, and cutting tough vegetables.
The regular deba is used for butchering and filleting fish (see here: http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/type/Deba.shtml), and has a very thick spine and a fairly complex grind. It is a pretty specialized knife. The ryodeba (e.g. http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/takeda/tkdebadb180.shtml) overlaps in form and function with the regular deba, but is not as specialized. I would say that a deba is to a ryodeba what a yanagiba is to a sujihiki.
My primary interest in making ryodebas right now is because they are weird and I want to use them and find out what makes them tick. I may find a use for them or I may not.

- Chris

 

[Sprayman]

A ryodeba is a version of the Japanese deba that has a double FFG. They are sort of a light-duty cleaver that is used for light butchering, cutting through small fish bones, and cutting tough vegetables.
The regular deba is used for butchering and filleting fish (see here: http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/type/Deba.shtml), and has a very thick spine and a fairly complex grind. It is a pretty specialized knife. The ryodeba (e.g. http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/takeda/tkdebadb180.shtml) overlaps in form and function with the regular deba, but is not as specialized. I would say that a deba is to a ryodeba what a yanagiba is to a sujihiki.
My primary interest in making ryodebas right now is because they are weird and I want to use them and find out what makes them tick. I may find a use for them or I may not.

- Chris

Hi Chris;
So it seems to me that the main difference between the deba and ryodeba is that the ryodeba has a grind on both sides of the blade. I searched and found a few pictures, and those knives look like real beasts. We don't cut through too much meat in my home, but I can imagine using a ryodeba to cut through a big butternut squash (ever tried that? It feels like you're trying to push a spoon through a tree stump!). Still, it might be fun to make a ryodeba once I get a few more skills at knife making.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Don Nguyen]

That's very interesting to me. My first question is, why?

I'm not being a smart-alec, I'm honestly interested to learn about them.

I think a lot of it has to do with the feel, but I would like to learn more about it as well.

Many people I've worked with want the knife as blade-heavy as possible, and you can get a nice fat, rounded spine and choil for the grip. Flexibility is another thing John mentioned; a lot of people have been turned off by knives that feel too delicate.

0.1875 isn't that bad, but over 0.2500 sounds pretty insane.