Why Choose a Steel Knife

Handmade Damascus Steel Folding Pocket Knife
Why choose a steel knife? What should be their qualities?
Defining the quality of a steel blade is quite simple. There are two types of blades:
- Carbon steel, which is composed only of iron and carbon. The production of knives with carbon steel blades is cheap and quite simple: obviously, it is a very popular product in the market. Its main advantage is its low price. However, it hides a very important disadvantage: this knife must sharpen very often and oxidize very quickly.
- The stainless steel knife is composed of iron and carbon and a chromium alloy (anticorrosive). This time it is the opposite: its main advantage is that it does not rust (or very little) and that its need for sharpness is weak. But, inevitably, the price is a little less advantageous.
Why choose a ceramic knife? I heard that ceramic knives are more fragile, right? Does this mean that the steel knives are unbreakable?
Choose a ceramic knife if you want a very sharp knife that does not need (or very little) sharpening. It is true that ceramic knives are more fragile than steel knives because the hardness properties of ceramics do not apply to torsion. The wrong use of the ceramic blade could break the blade, regardless of the quality of the blade.
click here: Handmade Damascus steel hunting knife [1]
The steel blades are not provided unbreakable, but they are extremely resistant. Some will have the tip bent after a fall because their steel is too soft, but a good steel blade will have an alloy that combines flexibility and rigidity, so it will never break during a fall or clumsiness during use.
What is a Japanese knife?
Japanese knives are different from western knives because of their shape, the way they are sharpened, their use, their maintenance and, finally, their manufacture (handle, blade ...). The main Japanese knives that can be found in the market have the following forms:
Deba: very short, very thick knife, used to cut fish for the preparation of sushi.
Gyuto: equivalent to the western chef knife, narrow and long, multipurpose blade, most used to cut vegetables or meats.
Nakiri: this knife looks a bit like a chopper/chopper, that is, it has a very rectangular blade.

Pankiri: it's a bread knife.
Santoku: very common, this knife has a specific shape that allows a wide range of use. Its slightly rounded shape allows the blade to slide for a better cut. It can be used to cut fish fillets, vegetables, and meats.

Sashimi: very long and thin, this knife is ideal for cutting raw fish. It also has a specificity: its blade is sharp only one side, the other is completely flat.

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