Do I need a Honesuki?

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

SharpestToolintheShed

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2024
Messages
135
Reaction score
168
Location
Canada
I recently had duck confit at a lovely little French Cafe for my birthday. I've decided that I really like duck confit and plan to do the ADHD thing of buying whole duck and butcher it myself. (Duck Legs & Breasts are horrifically expensive at the supermarket). Heck...I'm going to eat duck till the ADHD buzz wears off.

I know, I have had a cheapo Honesuki in the past and I got rid of it because it just took up space.
Now how about the Maru style?
1729867787316.png


Granted I already have a nice 150mm petty knife from Masakage Koishi. My TF Denka 180mm Gyuto could probably do the job too.
Do I need a Honesuki and would it make my experience boning a duck amazing?
 
Agreed it is not necessary. I use my Honesuki more for broccoli than I do poultry (it should be called a broccoli knife it is so perfect for it). A good petty will do just fine. Any butchery especially birds has a lot more to do with knowing where the joints and muscles are located. I'd watch a few videos and then take your time and have fun with it.

ETA: I believe the maru style is more intended for breaking down primal cuts and cleaning up larger pieces of meat, but don't quote me on that. There are plenty of smarter people than me that will chime in I'm sure.
 
You need the kaku style. Honesuki helps a little with chicken but it really, really helps breaking down ducks. Some of the cuts are practically begging for a 90/10 or single bevel.
 
You don’t need a dedicated honesuki for the job, but ducks have tougher joints than chickens, and unless I had better technique and more practice, I don’t know if I’d use a nice knife to break one down.
 
It depends on how often you are going to debone a poultry. I have one at my workplace because I cut up chicken into quarters every day and it really helps.

Do you need it probably not, but also for duck I think a Garasuki will fit better since it's bigger and Duck has a tougher muscle and joint to break down.
 
Sure, you don't need one. That's the reason I've three of them. The Maru style is a hankotsu. You don't need them either if you don't do slaughtering. But they are very practical for other tasks, if you want to spare your knives. Look at this hankotsu. https://japanesechefsknife.com/prod...ies-kc-12-boning-knife-hankotsu-145mm-5-7inch
This one comes with a normal 90/10 edge. The factory edge is a bit weak: remove it, starting with a coarse stone, but follow its geometry.
A nice small knife with a normally sized i.e. large comfortable handle.
 
No one needs a honesuki. You can dissect most birds with a sharp paring knife or folding knife if need be. It's more about the technique than about the knife. If you don't know where to cut no knife is going to fix that. If you do know where to cut the knife you're using makes only a marginal difference (as long as it's small and nimble enough).
That being said, if you do it often enough a honesuki is nice to have...but never a need to have.

Main advantages for me is that you get a really nimble tip in a profile that's still incredibly easy to sharpen (since there's no swept tips)... but it's also a bit of a unitasker, I never found it particularly useful for other jobs.
FWIW the birds I did were about 2 kg max and I never felt like my honesuki wasn't enough knife to warrant buying a garasuki... but admittedly I never used one. But the principles are similar enough that I'm willing to question whether it's really a hard 'need'. I had no issue boning out larger turkey thighs with a honesuki (or anything else for that matter).
 
Also, for confit it's often more economical to just buy legs than to buy whole birds. Because most of the value / demand is in the breasts the legs are relatively cheap. Cheap enough that getting whole birds is often not worthwile.
Bonus tip: you can confit just about any bird. Both legs and wings. Cheapest way to practise is to do it on soup chicken / spent hen. Only issue there is I still have to find a good way to process the breasts in an intersting fashion.
 
I've decided that I really like duck confit and plan to do the ADHD thing of buying whole duck and butcher it myself.
Hahah I literally did this exact thing a few weeks ago. It was good fun, just have a cloth close by as things can get quite greasy from all the fat.

I don’t own a honesuki or dedicated boning knife. For tasks like this I use a combo of a cheap soft stainless beater knife for rougher cuts to separate joints, and a 180mm gyuto (basically a big petty) for more precise and delicate cuts through protein.

I quite like having a western plastic or metal handle for this kind of thing myself, so I don’t have to think about covering a wooden wa handle in duck fat.
 
Hahah I literally did this exact thing a few weeks ago. It was good fun, just have a cloth close by as things can get quite greasy from all the fat.

I don’t own a honesuki or dedicated boning knife. For tasks like this I use a combo of a cheap soft stainless beater knife for rougher cuts to separate joints, and a 180mm gyuto (basically a big petty) for more precise and delicate cuts through protein.

I quite like having a western plastic or metal handle for this kind of thing myself, so I don’t have to think about covering a wooden wa handle in duck fat.
Why a beater? Is there a reason you’re not using one of the better knives? You’re cutting through cartilage and not bone. Duck fat will help preserve the wood no?

My TF Denka has the Pakka wood handle.
 
Why a beater? Is there a reason you’re not using one of the better knives? You’re cutting through cartilage and not bone. Duck fat will help preserve the wood no?
I don't personally feel like I really need a good (or especially sharp) knife for those cuts, and using a beater means I can be a little quicker and have the option of applying a little force without worrying about damaging my knife. That's just personal preference though, and i'm no butchery expert! Different strokes.

Duck fat will help preserve the wood no?
I would be worried about the duck fat going rancid, so I would be washing it off an unsealed wooden handle myself.
 
There is cartilage and bone. With skill it’s a non issue, but a beater will accomplish the same things as an expensive knife here. Also I would only consider a western handle personally. It will make washing so much easier and more thorough. You really don’t want that poultry juice lingering.
 
I'm also on team pakkawood for raw meat and boning knives. I just prefer something I can pretty much dunk in boiling water to sanitize over raw porous wood. I don't think I'm alone in this considering how many barely-used fancy looking honesukis show up on BST, compared to how few utilitarian ones.
Although admittedly this is likely a preference that's more 'in my head' than based on any real-world differences for health or sanitation.
 
It depends on what you're doing... if you're just taking the legs and wings off the carcas yes it's fairly easy to keep the knife clean. But if you're turning the whole thing inside out Pepin style I find that I do it a lot faster if I'm not bothering to try and keep the knife clean...
If someone does it 50 birds a week I'm also confident you get better at doing it both tidy and fast, but OP didn't seem to fall in that category.
 
I'm also on team pakkawood for raw meat and boning knives. I just prefer something I can pretty much dunk in boiling water to sanitize over raw porous wood. I don't think I'm alone in this considering how many barely-used fancy looking honesukis show up on BST, compared to how few utilitarian ones.
Although admittedly this is likely a preference that's more 'in my head' than based on any real-world differences for health or sanitation.
In addition only: those utilitarian knives are relatively cheap, even with a bolster and pakkawood.
 
Back
Top