What you need to know about kitchen knives

Buying a kitchen knife

Before you buy a kitchen knife you need to know what your needs are and which knife matches best to your needs.
This document helps you in selecting the best knife and starts with a handy overview of all series of kitchen knives that we sell.

Overview of the series

In the table below you find the series of kitchen knives that you can find in our shop. Because the series can have more than 70 individual knives we only show the 20cm cook's knife.

Picture	Manufacturer	Series	€-indication	Thickness	Hardness (Rockwell)	Remarks
	Wüsthof	Grand Prix II	81	Normal	56-58	Perfect quality and finishing. Ergonomic handle. The alround chef's knife.
	Wüsthof	Classic	81	Normal	56-58	Same knife as the Grand Prix II series but with a classic handle.
	Wüsthof	Culinar	108	Normal	56-58	Same knife as the Grand prix II series but with a stainless steel handle.
	Wüsthof	Ikon	108	Normal	56-58	Beautiful wooden handle and bolster design for easy sharpening
	Wüsthof	Classic Ikon	93	Normal	56-58	Polymer handle and bolster design for easy sharpening
	Wüsthof	Classic Ikon Creme	93	Normal	56-58	Polymer handle and bolster design for easy sharpening
	Wüsthof	Cordon Blue	87	Normaal	56-58	Bolster design for easy sharpening
	Wüsthof	Gourmet	47	Thin to normal	56-58	Same steel as other Wusthof knives
	Wüsthof	Silverpoint	25	Thin to normal	55	Budget Wusthof knife. Very good value for money.
	Zwilling J.A. Henckels	Four Star	70	Normal	56-58	Alround chef's knife
	Zwilling J.A. Henckels	Professional 'S'	75	Normal	56-58	Traditional German type chef's knife
	Zwilling J.A. Henckels	Twin Select	95	Normal	56-58	Same knife as Four Star and Professional S but with stainless steel handle
	Zwilling J.A. Henckels	Twin Cermax	217	Thin	66	Extremely hard blade, handle with micarta inlay
	Solicut	First Class	85	Normal	56-58	German knife with double bolster for better balance
	Solicut	First Class Edition	89	Normal	56-58	German knife with double bolster for better balance and wooden handle
	Lion Sabatier	Forge	52	Thin to normal	55-56	Classic French kitchen knife
	Lion Sabatier	Forge	33	Thin to normal	55-56	Budget version of the classic French kitchen knife. Aluminum bolster in stead of forged bolster
	Lion Sabatier	Fuso	79	Thin to normal	55-56	French design kitchen knife
	Global	G-serie	85	Thin	58	Famoun Japanse kitchen knife with thin slainless steel blade
	Global	GF-serie	138	Thin to normal	58	Forged series of Global. Thicker blade and bigger handle.
	Kai	Shun	169	Thin	60	Stainless steel Japanese knife with thin rasor sharp blade.
	Chroma	Porsche Design	82	Normal	60	European design, made in Japan
	Amefa	Praxos	18	Normal	55	Budget all stainless steel knife

Thickness of a kitchen knife

The cutting performance of a kitchen knife is for a verry important part determined by the thickness of the blade. The thicker the blade, the more friction occurs during cutting.
This is caused by the thickness of the edge but the overall shape of the blade is also very important. This is because the edge of knives with a thick back will get thicker quickly when you sharpen the knife.
A thin knife is hard to produce and demands steel that is has a high resistance against deformation (hardness). The thinnest knives are therefore relatively expensive and are often made from non-stainless steel.

Should it be forged?

Many people still think good kitchen knives need to be forged. This is NOT TRUE.
Forging used to be the process to produce the right quality of steel for making kitchen knives, but nowadays you can buy steel for making knives directly from the steel manufacturers.
Still some companies use forging to make some parts of the knife such as the bolster and angle but it is no longer nescesary to forge the blade.

Hardness

The hardness of a knife is an indicator for the ability to keep it's sharpness.
In general you can say that the higher the hardness, the longer the knife stays sharp.
The hardness of kitchen knives is specified in Rockwell C (HRC).

Handle

When you choose a kitchen knife the construction of the handle is an important point.
If you know the knives will end up in the dishwasher (against our advice!) you will need to buy knives with a molded plastic handle or welded stainless steel construction.
Rivited handles will finally fall apart when the knives are washed in a dishwasher and wooden handles even sooner.
But, when you are sure you knives will not end up in a dishwasher, there is no reason not to buy the knives with the exotice wooden handles. It's up to you!

Sharpening

Every knife needs to be sharpened every now and then. Knives that won't get dull only exist in commercials!
At the first cut your knofe will start to get dull and to enjoy your knife to the max you should keep it sharp. Do not wait until you knife is dull before you sharpen it because that means that you have worked with a blunt knife.
To keep your knife sharp use a sharpening stone. For sharpening the knife 'on the job' you can best use a fine ceramic sharpening rod.
Sharpenings steels are not suiteable for all knives. We still sell them but we recommend everyone to use a ceramic sharpening rod in stead.