Deba Sizing

[strumke]

How would you pair up sizing a deba with the fish that it's going to break down? I like to buy whole salmon every now and then, but I'd normally be taking apart 2-4 person sized fish.

What about a traditional deba vs a mioroshi?

 

[supersayan3]

I can't answer your question about cm, but...Honestly, I don't think you need a Deba which is an expensive knife to fillet fish. Especially salmon, you can do it with a gyuto or a sukihiki, even for a 7 kg salmon.

 

[Dardeau]

I use a 210mm for fish from 2# to 120#. If the size is intimidating I learned in a 195mm which had almost as much range, but got a little messy on the 80#+ fish. Traditionally a yanagiba is used to fillet salmon.

A mioroshi is a dual purpose knife that takes some background in deba use to get the most out of. It's going to be much more fragile.

 

[fujiyama]

I can't answer your question about cm, but...Honestly, I don't think you need a Deba which is an expensive knife to fillet fish. Especially salmon, you can do it with a gyuto or a sukihiki, even for a 7 kg salmon.

I don't think it's a question of need, but want. It's also a good skill to learn using a deba. Most of us don't need a yanagiba either, but they're badass!

I'm looking at the 180-195mm range for a deba. Having no extensive experience with them and their different lengths, I'm not of much help. I do feel like the longer ones take more skill to fillet with because they don't flex and they're big knives.

 

[fimbulvetr]

Eh. I bought a deba to learn how to use a deba because I'm a geek. Also, wanted to teach myself uraoishi sharpening. Easy as pie, but I fret because there's no one to check my work.

At any rate, my 135mm deba breaks down black bass and beeliner snapper and the like just fine a time or two a week. Seems small for all but the smallest fish. I bet a 180mm would have been the best choice at home for anything that wasn't BIG.

 

[fimbulvetr]

Worth noting that, even if I were still working in a restaurant, I'd likely only go 195mm unless I were working in a seafood place that bought 'em RILLY BIG.

A little deba seems to go a long way. But they're just a blast to use.

 

[Dardeau]

Worth noting that, even if I were still working in a restaurant, I'd likely only go 195mm unless I were working in a seafood place that bought 'em RILLY BIG.

A little deba seems to go a long way. But they're just a blast to use.

As someone who works in a seafood restaurant where they bring em in big, I agree 100%.

 

[strumke]

I don't think it's a question of need, but want. It's also a good skill to learn using a deba. Most of us don't need a yanagiba either, but they're badass!

I'm looking at the 180-195mm range for a deba. Having no extensive experience with them and their different lengths, I'm not of much help. I do feel like the longer ones take more skill to fillet with because they don't flex and they're big knives.

Exactly... most things on this site tend towards 'want' vs 'need'

I want to be able to break down fish cleanly and relatively quickly. I also like the idea of using a traditional tool to do so, and as far as single bevels go, the deba is the only one I can really see getting use at home. The local fish places have things like bass, branzino, trout, to snapper, salmon, etc. Most of the time I'd be dealing with the smaller guys, but every now and then I like to smoke salmon or just experiment with new fish which may be in the 10-15 lb range.

I did just pick up a 165 shig from B/S/T and took apart a branzino yesterday, just wondering how that'll stack up against some of the bigger fish.

 

[daveb]

If I was to only have one it would likely be a 180. As it is I have a 150 for fish I catch (Thanks Andre) and a 210 Miroshi for fish I buy. For salmon I would def go the Miroshi, break it down and portion it.

 

[Dardeau]

165 will get you through most fish from a market. If it is 165 on the edge it'll probably get you through 15# fish pretty well, but you'll have some of the same problems I did with a 195mm on bigger fish: getting the ferrule dirty because the blade isn't quite long enough and not feeling like you are in control of the tip, which is key to having clean fillets with a deba. Other than that the Shig will totally do you.

 

[Kylej]

I have a 180mm deba and it works great for whole salmon but I also wanted a 210 or 240 Miroshi but instead I went for a used 270mm deba just because I wanted it.

 

[strumke]

I believe it's actually a 180 shig deba, but it measures 165 on the edge (from what I've read, this is normal for shig sizing). I do have a 180 (edge) Gesshin Uraku as well, which I've used for salmon, but I needed to make multiple passes when separating the fillets because the knife wasn't long enough to do it in a single pull. I actually bought the shig with the intention of selling the gesshin and possibly getting a longer deba for the bigger fish. Plus, it's my first shig so I jumped on the auction as soon as I saw it post.

Sounds like the consensus is that 180 (or even 165) is a good compromise size for most fish, but if I want to empty out my pockets, maybe I look into a 210 or larger miroshi as a companion. I actually like the idea of being able to justify having more knives vs having duplicates that I'm keeping just because I have a hard time letting them go.

 

[Dardeau]

Len had some nice mioroshi for sale, at some good prices.