Kitchen knife replacement thoughts


 
So apparently, over the years, knives have evolved to include 15 degree bevels on soft-steel western knives! And it seems to be a good thing!

Correct. 20 degrees used to be standard for western/european knives; 15 was for asian knives. Several european manufacturers have now switched over to 15. Explained below.

Q. Historically, European style knives were typically manufactured with a 20 degree factory edge; why are they changing to a 15 degree edge now?▲
A. In part, it is a recognition that consumers prefer the smaller 15 degree angle edges which they perceive as being sharper. Although both, a 20 degree edge and 15 degree edge can be made with equal sharpness, it is true that the 15 degree edge exhibits less friction while cutting, particularly when accompanied by a thinner blade geometry. Thus, the user perceives it to be “sharper.”

You can get a sharpener that does both 15 and 20. But many people now just grind their knives down to 15 and go with that. FYI, Americas Test Kitchen (along with the NY Times) loves the Trizor XV.

My thinking now is that you can roll with cheap knives with soft steel and a 15 degree angle...IF you have a really good convenient sharpener.

 
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I was noticing the Wusthof knives are ground to a 14 degree angel where the Zwilling are at 15 degrees.....their japanese style knives are set to 10 degrees......seeing this makes me want to purchase my last few in the Zwilling brand as I see they have a couple good looking sharpeners.
I have a lot of likes for this one here so far bust still doing lots of research.

It doesn't say what angle it is at on this one but their other dimascus option is at a 9 to 12.5 degree.....
Thinking here the 15 degree would be so much easier to maintain. Not sure if the 14 degree would sharpen up like the 15 degree would in the same tool........?

There are matching knives to this if that is something one would prefer.

www.zwilling.com

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ZWILLING Kanren 8-inch, Chef's knife ►Free shipping on orders above $99 ✓ Order now directly from the manufacturer✓
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DanHoo said:
I sharpen mine to 15 degrees, because that's what my sharpener will do.

Specs on their website for Classic Chef knife indicate 29 degrees ( 14.5 per side )

Tripped across this video that is interesting.

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That is what the other sharpeners will do that I am looking into from Zwilling.....
I like the one that comes with coarse and fine stones......so 2 sets and you change them to what is needed....but both sharpen to 15 degrees.
Its a manual unit and is worth around $80........

I would imagine it probably doesn't make a difference then.....

I see nothing that is set to sharpen a Japanese style knife at 10 degreees.....
 
Darryl - swazies said:
That is what the other sharpeners will do that I am looking into from Zwilling.....
I like the one that comes with coarse and fine stones......so 2 sets and you change them to what is needed....but both sharpen to 15 degrees.
Its a manual unit and is worth around $80........

I would imagine it probably doesn't make a difference then.....

I see nothing that is set to sharpen a Japanese style knife at 10 degreees.....
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DanHoo said:
I have a 7 inch Wusthof Santoku. If it had a 10 degree angle when it was new, it gained about 5 degrees about 28 years ago.
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I thought this might be an option as a few attractive purchases were set to 9 - 12.5 degrees....being so close I didn't know if using a 15 degress stone would make them perform less or not.
Zwilling tneds to point out that their Japanese and santuko are set to 9 - 12.5 while their western knives are set to 15 degrees.
All I seem to find so far is Wusthof is apparently set to 14 degrees.
Based on what you said I would have faith in sharpening a Wusthof with a 15 degree stone........
 
timothy said:
10 deg is like for straight razors, no?
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I think this stuff is like BBQ. Everything is a three hour discussion followed by a fistfight.

I ground one of my WMF knives to 11°. Its sole job is to cut meat, and it does it very well. Even now where I don't have time or energy for anything, as long as you cut meat and use a soft cutting board like wood, the edge will hold well. If I have to cut through bone I use a western kitchen knive, which I typically grind to 22°

BFletcher said:
I never was coordinated to play sports and I don't think I could maintain a specified angle once I left the wedge lol.
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In the old days, the smithing master would have put me on bellow duty :D. Its actually not that hard. But there is a learning curve, and I get that you cannot do everything by yourself.
 
BFletcher said:
.........I don't think I could maintain a specified angle once I left the wedge lol.
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Same here. Nothing worse than seeing scratches on a knife blade, especially if it's a decent knife.
In the past I have used those wedges that clip onto the blade to maintain the correct sharpening angle, (and in my case, protect the blade), It worked quite well. You can get them for different angled blades.
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I have a funny feeling that more than a couple of us are a little fussy about who actually uses our knives. Yeah, they're tools, but tools that do need to be cared for and respected, as well as being just a bit personal.
 
JKalchik said:
I have a funny feeling that more than a couple of us are a little fussy about who actually uses our knives. Yeah, they're tools, but tools that do need to be cared for and respected, as well as being just a bit personal.
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I would agree......there is no way to keep my social co-ordinator's hands off a $400 knife when I do eventually decide what to get.
 
Darryl - swazies said:
I would agree......there is no way to keep my social co-ordinator's hands off a $400 knife when I do eventually decide what to get.
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Yeah, years ago I told a guy “DON’T FUDGE WITH MY KNIVES!” So, folks know I’m serious. There are three people that are really “allowed” but, they also wait for me to hand them one.
Tony, you can use anything in my block or case but, you have to bring one of those shoulders of Lamb!! Or some Finnan Haddie!
 
That's why my knives are cheap. On my kid's birthday party there were two cakes. I was doing something on the grill, turned around and watched somebody using my sharpened kitchen knive to cut the second cake... On a glass tray...

And then the cut was not even, so he drew the edge across a second time, with more force.

Oh well...
 
Jonas-Switzerland said:
I think this stuff is like BBQ. Everything is a three hour discussion followed by a fistfight.
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That goes back to my pre apprenticeship late 70's.
Grandfather taught me how to sharpen circular and hand saw blades. Carpenter apprenticeship we spent 12 weeks getting ready to serve a apprenticeship. 40 hr weeks and we spent at least 2 a day sharpening chisels and planes. Went over all the different bevels and blade shapes. I still have all my grandfathers stones, files, blade clamps and angle sets.
 
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