I love making sushi and sashimi, as well as cutting thin slices of meat. Until now I cut these using a petty knife, but I am considering to get a yanagiba or sujihiki.
Nearly everywhere on the net the advice to Westerners is to get a sujihiki rather than a yanagiba, unless you solely want to cut fish. But I wonder why.
I’ve read that it’s because the sujihiki is closer in style to a western knife, so that a “westerner” would be more likely to buy and use it, and less likely to mess it up. :side:
As I understand it, a sujihiki is basically a long and thin carving knife. It should be straightforward to sharpen using a WEPS. A yanagiba is aharpened on only one side and has a hollow backing on the other side. I don’t know why, but it is supposed to be difficult to sharpen.
I don’t think they’re particularly difficult, just different. I’ll use myself as an example, I had no idea about the differences in Japanese style knives until I got into sharpening and started reading about them. If all I knew about was Western style sharpening, and didn’t know something as simple as to keep the back – hollow side – flat on the stone, I would have quickly ruined the knife. I’ve read other examples where sharpeners who didn’t know, would try and sharpen the hollow out and make the whole back flat. So I think most of the issues are a lack of understanding.
Has anyone ever sharpened a yanagiba on a WEPS? Or can you enlighten me more on the differences between yanagibas and sujihikis?
I don’t know enough to tell you the differences beyond what you already seem to know. Hopefully someone with a bit more expertise will chime in. My initial thought on sharpening a Yanagi style is that it would be easier to sharpen freehand, since the back needs to be kept flat, and the front has a wide enough bevel that angle control isn’t as much of an issue. But, I have a Yanagi style knife, when I get a chance I’ll try it in the WE, and see what I learn.
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