What is a cooks knife?

A cook's knife, also called a Chef's knife or French knife, is a large all-purpose knife that everyone should have in their basic kitchen arsenal. It's really just a modified butcher's knife, originally used to slice and disjoint large cuts of beef.

Direct counterpart of western chef's knife from Japan is a Gyuto, not santoku. Gyuto is based on French chef's knife, vs. German style chef's knife, i.e. more slander, with less belly.

Main difference between Gyuto and western chef's knives is its lighter weight thanks to its thinner blade. Steel used in Japanese knives is typically much higher quality compared to western knives and is a lot harder as well, 54-56 HRC is typical hardness of a western chef's knife, while average Japanese Gyuto will be well over 60 HRC, andhigh end knives go 65-67HRC.

Santoku, loosely translated from Japanese means"convenient knife", and more literal translation is a knife of three virtues, although it's not very clear what are those 3 virtues.

Santoku is less versatile version of a chaf's knife, but it is more multipurpose compared ot dedicated vegetable knife like Nakiri. Santokus are never used in a pro kitchen in Japan at least, mainly household cook's knife. main drawback of the santoku is the lack of length, specimens over 7" are very hard to find, and lack of belly curve.