Kitchen Knife Hardness

D

diletante

Joined
Mar 20, 2002
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I found this info on the rockwell hardness of various kitchen knives while surfing and thought it might interest others here:

Chicago 52-55
OXO 55
Forschner 55-56 (another site says 55-58)
Wusthof 56
Global 56-58
Spyderco 58-60 (but thin)
Chef's Choice 60 and forged
 
. . . but I verified some of them on manufacturer or vendor sites (Forschner, Global and Chef's Choice). Sorry, I don't have a link :( However I found the article by searching www.google.com for the terms "Chef's knife" "rockwell" and "hardness".

P.S. The hardest kitchen knives I came accross were the KAI Cutlery knives sold by AG Russell. The Russell site says "These blades are made up of a center core of V-Gold 10, a Molybodenum, Vanadium, Cobalt, high quality stainless knife steel, at 65 Rc. That core is then laminated with 32 layers of 410+nickel stainless damascus. The bolsters and butt cap are engravable 416 stainless." (my emphasis)
 
you forgot the 95 + HRC values of ceramic kitchenknives :D

and the VG-10's by fallknives.

Personally I think kitchenknives should be more stainless then edgeholding, but hard enough to hold a good edge yet tough enough to whitstand some bending. I think fallkniven and spyderco are the only two companies who actually try to get all the factors in account and make the perfect knife.
So the perfect kitchenknife for me would be in S30V if it turns out as stainless as it's supposed to be, close second by VG-10 or MBS-36 by fallkniven or spyderco.

greetz and take care, bart.
 
I have a custom 8" chef's knife thats Made with S30V and HT by paul Bos to 61-62RC. Great stainless and great RC.
 
I have several kitchen knives hand forged by Murray Carter to RC 63+ for the center lamination. The edge is still very flexible.
 
LINK Where the information I posted above differs from the article, I've posted information from the manufacturer's website or that of a vendor I trust more than a journalist ;)
 
I found most kitchen knifes are too soft. That confirmed my suspicions
 
The Japanese MAC knives ultra-thin "original" series are 58-59 RC. Their thin "superior" series (and I think some others) are 60-61 RC. They make varieties of thicknesses and styles. The prices are highly competitive. www.macknife.com
 
I currently own the Spyderco Chef Knife, I've used it for everything in the kitchen. Excellant edge holding steel. I've only had to run it across a steel maybe twice in a year. And when your trimming and partaking of a good cold 12oz at the same time, your fingers will surely reveal the Spyderco edge sharpness.
 
Basically, softness is a good thing in a kitchen knife. It makes it easy to maintain, is tougher, and is more corrosion resistant. Most kitchen knives are made from an alloy not dissimilar to 440A and that's a good steel for kitchen cutlery. You'd spend too long trying to steel a chef's knife at RC58 or 60. Most people, including me, wouldn't do it. Basically you want to swipe the edge a couple of times with the steel and go to work. You don't want to spend several minutes getting a blade ready to use. I have some kitchen knives made by a custom maker of hard steel. I never use them. Way too much hassle. Take care.
 
Originally posted by Knife Outlet
Basically, softness is a good thing in a kitchen knife. It makes it easy to maintain, is tougher, and is more corrosion resistant. Most kitchen knives are made from an alloy not dissimilar to 440A and that's a good steel for kitchen cutlery. You'd spend too long trying to steel a chef's knife at RC58 or 60. Most people, including me, wouldn't do it. Basically you want to swipe the edge a couple of times with the steel and go to work. You don't want to spend several minutes getting a blade ready to use. I have some kitchen knives made by a custom maker of hard steel. I never use them. Way too much hassle. Take care.
Click to expand...
With higher Rc in better steels a kitchen knife edge will last much longer than lower grade steel at lower RC, food preparation is almost all low stress activity (except bones) so it is optimal to have higher RC. We use Spyderco's kitchen cutlery and it stays very sharp very long, it steels very easily when necessary, definitely no "several minutes." I do not see logically why this would not be true for other "higher end" kitchen knives.
Martin
 
I have the (OK nearly) full set of Spyderco Kicten knives and have used them daily for almost two years and have not had one problem. They might be thin, but don't chop 2x4's in the kitchen and you will be OK. I've done every thing with them but bone out a full animal.
 
The knife a described im my above post is not hard to keep sharp at all. I got it 6 months ago and every week it gets 20-40 swipes over the steel. takes less than 30-60 seconds, and it is still as sharp as the day i got it. I dont see why sharpening a better grade steel should be a problem, it takes a much better edge than 440A will EVER take and will hold it forever if you do a little work on it like i do, 30-60 seconds a week seems pretty acceptable to me.
 
Here are a few more Rockwell hardness numbers for kitchen knives...

1. Lamson - 55 Rc
2. Messermeister - 56-57 Rc
3. Henckels - one site says 55 Rc, another 57 Rc
4. JA Henckels International Fine Edge Pro series - 56.5 Rc
5. Fallkniven K1 & K2 (VG-10 steel) - 59 Rc
6. Kasumi (VG-10 core) - 59-60 Rc
7. Tojiro Pro DP series - 60 Rc
8. Hattori Unryu series (VG-10 core) - 61 Rc
9. Murray Carter Muteki series - 63-64 Rc
10. Fallkniven PP series (SRS-15 steel) - 64 Rc
11. Hokiyama Artisan (SRS-15 steel) - 64 Rc

But the king of the hill in terms of hardness are those Japanese knives made of Cowry X steel (e.g. the Hattori KD30 series or the Minamoto IZM series) - 68 Rc!!!
 
Originally posted by Knife Outlet
Basically, softness is a good thing in a kitchen knife. It makes it easy to maintain, is tougher, and is more corrosion resistant. e.
Click to expand...

I bought the Tosagata Hocho,- Funyako JW05.100.17 from you and what ever the RC is it is VERY high (62+ is my guess) and although it is BITCH to sharpen, will chip easily and has to be proteced from rust the first time I used it on a dried salami it went through so easily I thought that I missed.

And the price is cheap enough so that if you want to try a HARD kitchen knife you can.

Ben
 
The thing about Japanese hochos is that they tend to have a very thin edge, which contributes to their super slicing ability. I think the high hardness is required to give that very thin edge the structural rigidity.

Of course, such an edge will be a b***h to sharpen and be easier to chip. That's why I use my hocho only on boneless meat and vegetables; actually even chicken cartilege or a hard carrot might cause slight edge rolling. My Kanefusa hocho was chipped badly when some idiot used it on bone - I thought that was the end of it but Murray Carter reground and fixed it, plus put a wicked edge on it. I love Japanese knives!
 
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