The 5" Yi utility knife fills the gap between your paring knife and your chef's knife. The blade that handles everything in between — sandwich tomatoes, citrus, small onions, sausages, cheese, and trimming jobs too big for a paring knife and too fiddly for a chef's. A 67-layer Damascus blade over a 10Cr15CoMoV core, ground to a 15° edge, set in a triple-riveted rosewood handle.
15° Per Side
Fine Slicing Edge
60±2 HRC
67-Layer Damascus
Full Tang
Rosewood Handle
Reach for this when a job is too fiddly for the chef knife but too big for the paring knife. Peeling kiwifruit, halving cherry tomatoes, trimming silverskin off a pork tenderloin, deveining prawns on the board: the 5-inch blade has enough length to do real work without the chef knife's bulk getting in the way. It's the knife that fills the gap you didn't know you had.
A utility knife doesn't rock-chop and it doesn't peel in-hand. It works on the board for the medium-scale prep that doesn't need an 8-inch blade looming over it. Slicing an apple into wedges without bruising the flesh is a good example. So is running the tip along a prawn's back or shaving a capsicum into thin strips: you'll do all of those cleaner with a narrower, shorter blade. The 5-inch length lets you control exactly where the tip goes.
The core is 10Cr15CoMoV high-carbon stainless steel, wrapped in 67 layers of Damascus and vacuum heat-treated to 60-62 HRC. The edge holds on light repetitive work, the kind of thing that dulls a softer blade quickly. The rosewood handle is triple-riveted with full-tang construction, so the balance point sits where your fingers are rather than tipping into the blade on a lighter knife.
Pair it with the Yi Series 8.5" Chef Knife for board work on larger produce and proteins, and the 3.5" Paring Knife for the truly small in-hand jobs where even this 5-incher is more knife than you need.
All our knives arrive in a beautiful, premium gift box that's ready to impress. (Whether it's for a very lucky cook, or just for you.)
Yi Series — B27
Most knife blocks have a hole right here. A paring knife is too small for a tomato; a chef's knife is too much for a sausage or a bread roll. The 5" utility solves it. Light at 115g, nimble, and sharp enough to glide through skin without crushing. The Yi series is the everyday workhorse Damascus — proper 67-layer construction over a hardened 10Cr15CoMoV core, at a price that makes it the knife you actually use, not the one you save for special occasions.
In stock. Ships from Australia. Hand-wash only.
Why A Utility Knife
Short enough to control, long enough to slice. The 130mm blade clears a sandwich tomato in a single pass, breaks down small produce, and trims meat without the bulk of a full chef's knife. The thin 2.0mm spine and 15° edge mean it parts skin and rind cleanly instead of tearing. This is the knife that earns its keep between the paring knife and the chef's.
Steel & Edge
The cutting core is 10Cr15CoMoV, hardened to 60±2 HRC through vacuum heat treatment and a deep-freeze cycle that stabilises the steel and helps the edge hold. Around it, 66 layers of stainless Damascus cladding give the blade its flowing pattern and corrosion resistance. Ground to 12-15° per side as a double bevel, it takes a fine edge and parts soft skins cleanly.
Specification
Hand-wash only — not dishwasher safe.
In The Hand
The full-tang blade runs the length of a contoured rosewood handle, locked with three rivets — one a specially selected mosaic rivet. Full tang puts weight back toward your grip for control on fine work. At 115g the knife stays nimble for the small, repeated cuts a utility knife is built for. Hand wash only.
The difference
Xinzuo Yi 5" Utility
Generic utility knife
In the box
Arrives ready to gift.
Yi Series
Yi Series — B27
Add to cart — $85.95FAQs
Right between the paring knife and the chef's knife. It handles anything too big for a paring knife and too fiddly for a chef's — tomatoes, citrus, small onions, sausages, sandwiches and meat trimming.
Yes. It is genuine 67-layer Damascus — 66 layers of stainless cladding folded around a 10Cr15CoMoV cutting core, so the pattern runs all the way through, not etched on.
The core is hardened to 60±2 HRC using vacuum heat treatment and a deep-freeze cycle, which stabilises the steel and helps the edge hold.
Ground to roughly 12-15° per side as a double bevel — a fine slicing edge that parts soft skins and rinds cleanly.
No. Hand wash and dry it after use. Dishwasher detergents and heat damage both the edge and the rosewood handle.
A contoured rosewood handle on a full-tang blade, secured with three rivets including one specially selected mosaic rivet.
Yes, a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects via xinzuo.com.au.
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