As a professional, I LOVE Japanese knives. And I'm not talking about western-style Japanese knives, I'm talking about real, one-sided Japanese, high carbon knives. But one knife that I don't have and feel like I don't need is the Deba. When I break down fish, I use my sharp, stainless steel western-style gyutou, and I think it works just fine. So while a Deba's weight and thickness makes it easier to cut through fish spines and rib bones, my sharp gyutou can do it as well. Same result. One major turnoff is that Debas get chipped really easily. My coworker uses his Deba to cut fish and it's chipped all over, which is normal for regular Deba usage. Another turnoff it the size of a Deba. It's just not a very long blade, so it seems limiting. It's definitely not for cutting salmon. Anyone out there that can tell me why they love their Deba's so much?