Still little known and use in America, the flat blade of the Best Nakiri knife is intend for chopping vegetables. The weight of the blade also allows it to easily fall into food while you chop, so the knife does a lot of the work for you! Check out our guide to learn more about the Japanese Nakiri knife.
What is a Nakiri knife?
The Nakiri bōchō is a bevel double-edge knife with a thin blade profile and popular throughout Japan. It is mainly use by home cooks to quickly and efficiently chop, slice and mince vegetables and fruits , becoming a popular knife among vegetarians. The Nakiri allows fluid chopping thanks to its straight edges and allows you to thinly and evenly slice different vegetables, even the most delicate.
Be careful, the Nakiri is too thin and too light for heavy chopping jobs and certainly should not use for cutting bones or very hard foods. Usuba is the alternative to Nakiri, with a single beveled edge, and it was develop specifically for cutting vegetables. The Usuba has a thicker and heavier blade than the Nakiri.
The blade of the Nakiri is a wide, straight-edge, square-tipp blade, and unlike the non-rectangular blades of the Santoku and Gyuto, its length does not significantly decrease when the blade is sharpen repeatedly.
What are the main characteristics of Nakiri knives?
- Best Use: Chop and slice fruits and vegetables
- Blade length: approx. 165 mm
- Blade Design: Long, Thin, Straight and Square Edges
- Cutting action: Slicing, straight up and down
- Edge sharpening: Double bevel
- Sharpening angle: Between 14 and 16 degrees
- Price: A hundred euros for a quality model
- Weight: 140 to 210 grams
The term “Nakiri”, translate from Japanese, refers to a knife that is used to cut greens or vegetables. The Nakiri knife is characterized by a straight edge blade , with in addition square tips. The blade design allows you to cut vegetables to their full length when using horizontal pull and push motion. In addition, you can get thinner and very even slices thanks to the straight blade of the knife. Its length is approximately 16 to 17 cm.
Which Nakiri to buy?
The Kasumi KURO Nakiri 16.5 cm
The Kasumi KURO vegetable cutter has sharp, relatively thin blades on both sides for cutting and chopping various types of vegetables and fruits. It is not suitable for cutting bones. The beauty of the blade combine with the matte and shiny handle make this knife unique.
- Blade length: 16.5cm
- Total length: 30.7 cm
- Blade: 32-layer Damascus steel – AUS-10 steel with 0.8% carbon
- Hardness: 57-59 HRC
- Handle: reinforce wood, black laminate, octagonal
- Non-stick hammer finish; food sticks less
The Kai Shun DM-0728
The Shun Classic range features stunning Damascus plate blades and D-shape PakkaWood ebony handles. The blades are razor-sharp and offer excellent value for money. Shun’s proprietary high-performance VG-MAX steel provides incredible edge retention. The blades are handcrafted from a durable Damascus steel coating. The result is a range of knives that are sharp, durable, and corrosion-resistant while being beautiful and comfortable to hold. Handcraft in Seki, Japan with a limited lifetime warranty, comes in a beautiful case. The opinions on this Nakiri knife are unanimous, it is undoubtedly one of the best quality/price ratio.
- 16.5 cm blade.
- Exclusive VG-MAX cutting core with 34 layers (each side) and Damascus stainless steel coating.
- Rockwell hardness: 60-61
- Hand-sharpen Japanese double-bevel blade, 16 ° angle on each side
- D-shape PakkaWood ebony handle, strong, durable and moisture resistant.
Black wasabi kai
If you are looking for a quality chopper, the KAIYAMA black blade is for you. This Japanese knife is designed to chop all kinds of herbs and vegetables. These Japanese knives are specially design to chop all kinds of herbs and vegetables. All nakiri knives have a design that makes them look like vegetable knives, but be careful because despite their design, they are not design to cut bones.
This knife has a Daido 1K6 high carbon stainless steel blade. It has been cure to 58 degrees Rockwell, and according to the Rockwell hardness scale, all items with values above 55 degrees are consider to have exceptional hardness. This allows the knife to have better endurance and greater durability. However, in order to maintain the blade in the best conditions, it is strongly recommend not to wash this knife in the dishwasher.
- Blade length: 16.5cm
- Total length: 29.2 cm
- Blade: Daido 1K6 stainless steel
- Hardness: 58 HRC
- Handle: Polypropylene and bamboo powder
The Tojiro 502
The Tojiro DP Series offers a knife for every cooking need. These knives are beautifully designed and understate, scalpel sharp, easy to resharpen, rust free, sturdy and easy to maintain. They are popular with chefs, culinary students and anyone looking for exceptional knives on a budget.
- Blade length: 16.5cm
- Blade height: 4.5 cm
- Weight: 190g
- Steel type: VG10 stainless steel
- Rockwell hardness: 61-62
- Handle: ECO wood with weld bolster
Note that there are also boxes with several types of Japanese knives. Jaku sets, for example, are a great way to acquire various Japanese knives, including the Nakiri, at fair prices. There are sometimes certain accessories in these boxes, such as cutting boards, or a sharpening stone. Slightly more expensive than Jaku, Wusaki also offers a range of quality products.
