# Knives to fillet fish



## thisisputt (Apr 7, 2016)

Hey guys, I was wondering that when filleting fish what knife do you use? Would a gyuto be fine with filleting fish (keep in mind I don't fillet fish that often)?
Thanks


----------



## preizzo (Apr 7, 2016)

Here generally people use deba knives. 
You need to get use of his weight and massive shape, but even like that you can do delicate work with it. 
165 m -180 mm should be enough for maybe 70 % of fishes,if you get bigger fish so you should pick a longer deba 210 mm -240 mm.
Gyuto it s not a good knife for filetting fish, to fragile.
With the deba you can cut true fish bones very easy.


----------



## Dardeau (Apr 7, 2016)

If you are just doing it every once in a while a gyuto will work just fine.


----------



## Noodle Soup (Apr 7, 2016)

As will a nice 6-inch flexible boning knife.


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 7, 2016)

I simply bought a cheap western fillet knife for the task. Those are...well... you know...designed to fillet fish. Cost me about 10 bucks and works well enough. 
If you want to 'splurge' you can get a Victorinox that a lot of professionals use and still be done at less than 25 dollars. Why bother getting an expensive J-knife for fish when you rarely do it?


----------



## mark76 (Apr 7, 2016)

I usually don't quite understand topics like this. What to people mean by filleting? I understand you want a sturdy deba for breaking fish apart. But it has no flex.

For really filleting (removing meat close to the bone) I need a flexible knife. What sorts of filleting are you guys referring to?


----------



## thisisputt (Apr 7, 2016)

Also I won't be breaking down huge fish e.g salmon
I asked that question(of filleting with gyutos) because of when I watched Hiroyuki terada break down a salmon with his masahiro gyuto(at least that's what I think it is) with it. If you guys have watched him before.
[video=youtube_share;3q1JN_3s3gw]http://youtu.be/3q1JN_3s3gw[/video]


----------



## ThEoRy (Apr 7, 2016)

Deba

[video=youtube;W7__yMkGvzc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7__yMkGvzc[/video]


Mioroshi Deba

[video=youtube;nRHplpAaJj4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRHplpAaJj4[/video]


----------



## preizzo (Apr 7, 2016)

If you doing it with a really thin gyuto you will break the edge


----------



## joshsy81 (Apr 7, 2016)

I actually use my Honesuki for smaller fish, just lay the bevel up against the bone like a deba. No need to worry about a fragile edge either. Certainly not the same as a deba but it works in a pinch.


----------



## Dardeau (Apr 7, 2016)

preizzo said:


> If you doing it with a really thin gyuto you will break the edge



That's a good point, but if it is an occasional thing you can slow down and be careful. I use a deba at work, but at home for the 3 fish I fillet at home a year I use the same 210mm gyuto that I use for all my home knife work.


----------



## preizzo (Apr 7, 2016)

Off course dardeau, I am using a yanagiba 210 mm at home for example


----------



## YG420 (Apr 7, 2016)

thisisputt said:


> Also I won't be breaking down huge fish e.g salmon
> I asked that question(of filleting with gyutos) because of when I watched Hiroyuki terada break down a salmon with his masahiro gyuto(at least that's what I think it is) with it. If you guys have watched him before.
> [video=youtube_share;3q1JN_3s3gw]http://youtu.be/3q1JN_3s3gw[/video]


Hiro's the man!!


----------



## YG420 (Apr 7, 2016)

ThEoRy said:


> Deba
> 
> [video=youtube;W7__yMkGvzc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7__yMkGvzc[/video]
> 
> ...


I enjoy your videos especially the soundtracks lol


----------



## fujiyama (Apr 7, 2016)

Wusthof Pro!


----------



## mark76 (Apr 8, 2016)

mark76 said:


> I usually don't quite understand topics like this. What to people mean by filleting? I understand you want a sturdy deba for breaking fish apart. But it has no flex.
> 
> For really filleting (removing meat close to the bone) I need a flexible knife. What sorts of filleting are you guys referring to?



Any comments on this? Yo me breaking apart a fish and removing the delicate fillets are really two different tasks. Wonder how you guys deal with this.


----------



## joshsy81 (Apr 8, 2016)

I believe filleting would refer to removing whole fillets off the bone. Yes a deba is very different from western flexy fish boner and so is the technique but the goal is the same if that makes any sense.


----------



## Keith Sinclair (Apr 8, 2016)

For smaller fish use a Sabatier pre WW2 blanks nogent flexible slicer.


----------



## rami_m (Apr 8, 2016)

keithsaltydog said:


> For smaller fish use a Sabatier pre WW2 blanks nogent flexible slicer.



Um, where would you look for one?


----------



## chinacats (Apr 8, 2016)

rami_m said:


> Um, where would you look for one?



http://www.thebestthings.com/knives/sabatier_nogent.htm


----------



## thisisputt (Apr 8, 2016)

will a flexible fish knife work?(including breaking through bones)


----------



## preizzo (Apr 8, 2016)

Nope


----------



## fujiyama (Apr 8, 2016)

Can also score authentic Sab here. 



mark76 said:


> Any comments on this? To me breaking apart a fish and removing the delicate fillets are really two different tasks. Wonder how you guys deal with this.



I'm on the same boat as you Mark. It's the western way, whereas many Japanese are using deba knives from start to finish. 

I prefer to use a flexible knife to remove the fillet. For breaking down the fish I would use anything from boning/honesuki to a beater chef knife. Never really considered owning a deba knife but it'd be fun!


----------



## Noodle Soup (Apr 8, 2016)

thisisputt said:


> will a flexible fish knife work?(including breaking through bones)



Depends on the size of the fish. The bones in smaller ones aren't that hard to cut. I think some of this argument comes from the videos of pros fileting large fish where as most of us never catch anything near that big. Even when I was doing a lot of bottom fishing in Puget Sound, the average catch was only 3 or 4 pounds.


----------



## Jovidah (Apr 8, 2016)

There really aren't all that much bones you have to get rid off. It's basically just the head. You can just as easily use a beater knife for that, and then switch to your fillet knife to the rest.
That's actually also what the Hiro guy does; he uses the Masahiro as a beater for the rough stuff (taking off the head) and then switches back to his sujihiki.

Really, unless you want to spend big or do it a lot, there's really no reason why you really should break the bank or use Japanese knives to break down fish. There are guys in 3-star restaurants who do it just as well and very effectively with rather cheap western knives.


----------



## mark76 (Apr 8, 2016)

What do you guys use this knife for? Only the delicate removing of fillets?


----------



## ThEoRy (Apr 8, 2016)

You can use that for trimming tenderloins too.


----------



## mark76 (Apr 8, 2016)

Me too. But how for fish?


----------



## Keith Sinclair (Apr 8, 2016)

Like a little more blade, guess it could be used for small fish. With out fish cleaning skills do not care what blade you use can bugger up a filet. Also different types of fish require different techniques cleaning.


----------



## thisisputt (Apr 9, 2016)

If I was to buy a flexible fish knife which would be better a wusthof or a global


----------



## fujiyama (Apr 9, 2016)

I don't like the Wusthof knives with bolsters like the one you pictured. However, these ones are great: 

9"








It's available in 7", and 8" with a different profile. The handle holds grip in wet conditions which is a bonus. 

Not a fan of Global.


----------



## ThEoRy (Apr 9, 2016)

Here I fillet snapper with a flexible Global suji. The filets come off really clean but I had trouble disconnecting the bones near the head. That's one reason to go deba.

[video=youtube;Tgkw5ttuJeU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgkw5ttuJeU[/video]


----------



## thisisputt (Apr 9, 2016)

ThEoRy said:


> Here I fillet snapper with a flexible Global suji. The filets come off really clean but I had trouble disconnecting the bones near the head. That's one reason to go deba.
> 
> [video=youtube;Tgkw5ttuJeU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgkw5ttuJeU[/video]



I was thinking that if I bought a deba, yes I know it's very stiff and it can break through bones but sometimes I need to separate skin from the fish; would I need a flexible knife for that? Or what other knife could work?
I cant get both because of my budget.


----------



## kartman35 (Apr 10, 2016)

miyabi said:


> I don't like the Wusthof knives with bolsters like the one you pictured. However, these ones are great:
> 
> 9"
> 
> ...



I emailed Wusthof Canada to ask them if there was a difference in the blades between the ones with the bolsters and the ones without. This is the reply I got.

Hi Richard,


Thanks for your interest In WUSTHOF knives.


The stamped (laser cut) knives are 56 Rockwell, the forged knives are 58 Rockwell,
Hope this helps.


----------



## ThEoRy (Apr 10, 2016)

thisisputt said:


> I was thinking that if I bought a deba, yes I know it's very stiff and it can break through bones but sometimes I need to separate skin from the fish; would I need a flexible knife for that? Or what other knife could work?
> I cant get both because of my budget.



You don't need a flexible knife to remove skin. Refer to my Salmon video above for an example. In that vid I use a mioroshi deba which is a hybrid knife. A cross between a deba and a yanagiba. Maybe you should consider one.


----------



## kartman35 (Apr 10, 2016)

mark76 said:


> What do you guys use this knife for? Only the delicate removing of fillets?



Here are some examples of how this styles of knife is used for filleting fish

Walleye: [video=youtube;PkGBk7w5X2I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkGBk7w5X2I&nohtml5=False[/video]
Northern pike : [video=youtube;-77Z58OVq0U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-77Z58OVq0U&nohtml5=False[/video]
Salmon: [video=youtube;IsL5acnXTNM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsL5acnXTNM&nohtml5=False[/video]


----------

