Santoku thickness

DesRosiers said:
Great thread Keith, I liked the hollow ground facet on your wa handle over in Handmade/Custom. Bill knows more than most of us, I'm taking notes :) What are your thoughts on Gyuto thickness?
-Haley
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Gyutos/gyotos is a pattern where there seems to be a lot of room. adapted from the French chef it has gained in popularity since WWII. unlike the santoku, the gyuto is produced in thicknesses from 1.5 (.060) to 4mm (.160) or more with most averaging 2.5 to 3 mm. knives with very thick spines that I have personally seen have a drastic taper the first third of the width and then becomes more gradual to the edge. likewise distal taper is very drastic from the handle towards the tip for the first 1.5 inches then becomes more gradual towards the tip. I have only seen this in wa handled knives.

One thing that should be noted is that there is always a taper in width on Japanese kitchen knives some more than others. tacohiki and yanagi ba have only slight taper <10% while gyuto and santoku have more about 20% of the width at the heel I believe.

hopes this helps someone.

disclaimer: the information above is knowledge I have gleaned from ten years of researching and making Japanese pattern kitchen knives. others information and opinions my vary.:)
 
Bill Burke said:
the reason that there are so many styles of Japanese chefs knives is because they ALL have a special purpose WITH the exception of the SANTOKU.
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Wouldn't you say that petty and gyuto knives are also intended to be general purpose as well?
 
evilgreg said:
Wouldn't you say that petty and gyuto knives are also intended to be general purpose as well?
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Although it has become an all purpose knife the gyuto or gyoto loosely translates to cow blade or beef knife. additionally the petty has become a very loose term for any smallish knife when it more correctly defines what westerners would call a paring knife.

I will be going to japan this Oct and will try and more solidly define common use knives according to the Japanese makers that I will visit.
 
Petty knives typically come in 2 standard sizes, 120mm and 150mm. They seem to be a Japanese invention, as there is no equivalent western knife, 6" utility comes closest but petty is like a miniature gyuto. Why japanese decided they needed petit gyuto is interesting, maybe for housewives wanting a smaller knife or to do the same functions a 6" utility serves.
 
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