Tani White #2 Deba 165mm

The deba knife was created in Sakai, Osaka, Japan. Originally the Portuguese had requested the slicing of large amounts of tobacco and the deba was created for this purpose. Due to its utility as a blade for many more things, its popularity in the Japanese kitchen grew quickly. With its middle length blade, sharp edge, and thick spine, it became a multipurpose knife which found particular favor in the chopping of proteins (mainly fish as that was the most commonly consumed protein).

Fast forward a few hundred years and the deba still occupies a spot on the podium in the Japanese kitchen, along with its trinity siblings, the yanagiba and usuba.

Tani makes this knife out of White #2 steel. A Hitachi product that is favored by many makers especially when building single bevel blades. It has a great ability to be sharpened to the most acute angles, which is very desirable when making knives with this geometry. The core is clad ni-mai style with a soft iron. It has a migaki (polished) finish on the upper blade road and a soft satin below it down to the exposed core.

The traditional and finely finished octagonal handle is made from magnolia wood and buffalo horn.

Blacksmith: Mr. Tani

Location: Sakai, Japan

Construction: Hammer Forged, Ni Mai

Edge Steel: White #2

Cladding: Soft Iron

Finish: Migaki (Means "Polished" in Japanese)

Edge Grind: Even

Weight: 11.1 oz (314 g)

Edge Length: 175 mm

Total Length: 320 mm

Spine Thickness at Heel: 6.4 mm

Blade Height at Heel: 50.6 mm

Handle: Magnolia Wood

Ferrule: Buffalo Horn