Is a kitchen knife with a bolster safer vs a japanese blade without one?

A

AfterDark

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Apr 9, 2007
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I'm deciding between wusthofs or shun knives for my kitchen; however, the shun knives don't have a bolster/fingerguard. Is the bolster/fingerguard used interchangeably? Is a kitchen knife with a bolster safer from your experience?
 
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i have been in professional kitchens for years now with the last 3 as a chef. i have never noticed a difference in safety. the knives we use in my kitchen are non bolstered "knife pro" almost disposable knives we have sharpened weekly because of the amount of abuse they see. my personal knife is a shun
 
A finger guard / bolster is meant to help prevent your hand from accidentally sliding forward onto the blade. I find them useful with fillet or boning knives b/c my hands are going to be slimy. At the same time, I don't want their addition sharpening headache, or need their slippage protection with other knives, so the rest of my knives are unbolstered.

IMO, the big, thick, full length bolster found on many modern German knives provide little pros and a lot of sharpening issues. The smaller bolster of vintage German knives, and 3/4 length bolster of better models do the same thing without the sharpening issues.
 
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Perhaps a mod could change the title to japanese blade instead of using the racial slur?

To be honest a bolster gets in the way substaintially more than you might think. The bolster prevents complete sharpening of the blade road and creates wedging near the heel and inability to use the while blade. I will never get a kitchen knife with a bolster again. The only drawback to the sharpened heel might be a few holes in your dish towels from drying it after use :)
 
I prefer to lurk but this is a question near to my finger. If you're fixin'a use it to plunge point-first into things or perhaps as a saw then a bolster might in fact save you a deep cut. That said, in the kitchen I don't spend any time plunging my knives point-first into things or using a sawing action. By the time it hits the kitchen pretty much every food source I use (mostly wild game and home-grown veggies) has been broken down into forms that don't need serious sawing or stabbing. By the time it's in your kitchen a much gentler pinch grip allows very precise slicing, better overall blade control and keeps your soft parts on top of the blade where they won't get bifurcated which renders the bolster to little more than decoration. I have many fine japanese kitchen blades and they all seem to be built with a very japanese mindset: Do not abuse your food with your knives but especially do not abuse your knives with your food. There's a reason my sushi chef has so many knives despite only ever cutting fish, veggies and seaweed.
 
looker said:
A finger guard / bolster is meant to help prevent your hand from accidentally sliding forward onto the blade. I find them useful with fillet or boning knives b/c my hands are going to be slimy. At the same time, I don't want their addition sharpening headache, or need their slippage protection with other knives, so the rest of my knives are unbolstered.

IMO, the big, thick, full length bolster found on many modern German knives provide little pros and a lot of sharpening issues. The smaller bolster of vintage German knives, and 3/4 length bolster of better models do the same thing without the sharpening issues.
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+1. This.

Also, I think that high quality Japanese knives these days are vastly superior in almost every way to their European counterparts. They are generally made with better steels done very hard and very thin with thoughtful, useful designs.
 
technically shuns have bolsters, just not full bolsters.

=D

it's an integral bolster, what shuns have.

just saying.
 
They do nothing but get in the way and eventually need to be ground down so the edge can make even contact with the cutting surface. Do some more research on Japanese blades and you will find higher quality at equal or lesser cost than the German counterpart.
 
Most japanese kitchen knives have a wide enough blade that it serves as an integral guard. The only safety issue I can think of with them is if you're wildly swinging one around, the tangs are something of a friction fit and I could see one in poor repair flying of the handle if you got too frisky with it.
 
As a chef, I wouldn't take a free knife if it had a bolster.

Its sort of a child thing I hear.
 
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