Chef's knife

A European chef's knife generally has a blade 20 centimetres (8 inches) in length and a broad 4 cm (1½ in.)

The edge may be ground in different ways: In order to improve the chef's knife's multi-purpose abilities, some users employ differential sharpening along the length of the blade.

This differential sharpening suits European chef's knives with the heavy heel of the blade at the base at the bolster.

Japanese kitchen knives differ from the European style as the latter typically have a thickened heel at the base of the blade where it meets the handle at the bolster.

In Japanese kitchen knives, the blade and tang has little difference in thickness throughout it length, except at the tip when sharpened - there is no bolster - it is inserted into the handle with a separate collar to hold the assembled knife together.

The gyuto were originally, and sometimes still called yo-boucho 洋包丁 literally meaning "Western chef's knife".

Another technique for fine slicing is to hold the food being cut with one hand and to run the flat of the blade along the knuckles, utilising them as a guide.