Sharpening to the ideal angle. Very sharp knives sharpen at about 10 dps (degrees per side) (which implies that the knife's edge has an included angle of 20-degrees). Generally speaking, razors, paring knives, and fillet knives should be the sharpest knives at an angle of 12° – 18°. Most kitchen knives, like utility/slicing knives, chef’s knives, boning knives, carving knives, should be sharpened to 15° – 25°. The exceptions are Japanese style knives that are usually sharpened to 14° – 16° depending on the knife maker. Japanese style knives utilize a much harder steel, and are therefore more brittle than their
Yanagi ba pliant characteristics of a willow branch. The other characteristics are shared by all knives in Japanese cuisine. The important principle in using a "yanagi ba" to prepare "sashimi" is not cutting down but "pulling" with its long blade in a single motion. Yanagi ba Yanagi-ba-bōchō (柳刃包丁, literally willow blade knife), Yanagi-ba, or to Yanagi, is a long and thin knife used in the Japanese cuisine. It is the typical example of the "sashimi bōchō" (Japanese: 刺身包丁, Sashimi [raw fish] bōchō [knife]) that are used to prepare "sashimi" and "nigiri sushi." When preparing "sashimi" and "nigiri sushi", the goal is usually