DKsharpshooter
BANNED
- Joined
- Apr 9, 2008
- Messages
- 5
There are a number of excellent knife sharpeners out there these days that provide the ability to set the angle of the edge bevel on your knife to a particular degree. Some of them have pre-set angles and others have continuously variable angle adjustment capability. This ability to set whatever angle bevel you desire leads to the inevitable question: What's the most appropriate angle for a particular use?
Let's start with factory edges. Factory edges are generally put on knives by a machine. Typically, the edge bevel angle is set at 25 degrees. Rarely is any honing or stropping done to the edge before the knife goes into a box for sale. This angle is presumably used because it is believed that it will be sharp enough for most consumers and it will last longer than a knife sharpened at a more acute angle. I have an Alaska Knife made for skinning that I swear came with a 45 degree bevel! I personally think that's an angle more appropriate for an axe or a splitting wedge.
As a hunter, I have found through much trial and error, that a 22 degree bevel seems to give me the degree of sharpness that I need, while providing the edge durability required to make it through the complete field dressing of an elk or two without having to resharpen, or hone, or strop. Putting a 22 degree edge bevel on top of a back bevel set at 15 degrees to create a double bevel is even better and it makes touch-ups significantly faster. But that's for hunting knives. What about other kinds of knives?
Kitchen knives are probably the single most abundant knives on the planet, bar none. Everybody has at least one, if not half a dozen. That said, I wonder how many, what percentage if somebody could do a survey, are truly sharp and are set at the correct angle for kitchen use? I would bet very few. Every kitchen has a drawer with at least one or two sharpeners in it and plenty of people have electric sharpeners on their countertops. Almost none of these sharpeners provide the ability to set whatever angle the user chooses. Many, if not most, are downright damaging to knives. If you have ever used an electric knife sharpener, have you ever noticed that if you aren't very good at drawing your knife through the sharpener at exactly the same speed from heel to tip, your edge looks wavy and uneven? Anyway, I digress. Sorry about that! Another subject for another day... So what angle is the best for kitchen knives?
Most professional chefs that I know tell me that 20 degrees or less, depending on the particular type of kitchen knife, is what you need. A paring knife, for instance, should have an extremely acute bevel because this is a knife used for delicate and precise trimming. A large chef's knife should also be around 20 degrees or maybe just a few degrees under. In a kitchen, your sharpener is never far away, so you don't need the level of edge durability that a hunting knife requires, thus you can easily get away with a thinner edge. Again, a double bevel is useful on kitchen knives and makes touch ups much faster.
Woodworkers and carvers often like to have their chisels sharpened at 15 degrees or less. This allows them to easily shave very thin strips and gives them a very high degree of precision. Carving employs a specific cutting technique called press cutting, as opposed to slice cutting, which is what one does with kitchen and skinning knives. For slice cutting, less polishing is generally preferred. For press cutting, the more polished the edge, the better. This is because the troughs in the microserrations left by an unpolished edge increase resistance when pressing a chisel or other blade through the object at hand. They also tend to leave tiny scratches in the surface of your carved object. On the other hand, for slice cutting, those microserrations add a tearing and ripping action when cutting by concentrating the force applied on the peaks of the microserrations. For more information about what level of polish is appropriate for a particular use, see my forum post titled: Edge Polishing for Different Uses.
Knife sharpeners that allow you to set the edge bevel angle on a knife include those made by: Gatco, Lansky, EdgePro, and Wicked Edge. Only the EdgePro and Wicked Edge provide continuously variable angle setting and the Wicked Edge allows you to work on both sides of a knife at the same time.
Let's start with factory edges. Factory edges are generally put on knives by a machine. Typically, the edge bevel angle is set at 25 degrees. Rarely is any honing or stropping done to the edge before the knife goes into a box for sale. This angle is presumably used because it is believed that it will be sharp enough for most consumers and it will last longer than a knife sharpened at a more acute angle. I have an Alaska Knife made for skinning that I swear came with a 45 degree bevel! I personally think that's an angle more appropriate for an axe or a splitting wedge.
As a hunter, I have found through much trial and error, that a 22 degree bevel seems to give me the degree of sharpness that I need, while providing the edge durability required to make it through the complete field dressing of an elk or two without having to resharpen, or hone, or strop. Putting a 22 degree edge bevel on top of a back bevel set at 15 degrees to create a double bevel is even better and it makes touch-ups significantly faster. But that's for hunting knives. What about other kinds of knives?
Kitchen knives are probably the single most abundant knives on the planet, bar none. Everybody has at least one, if not half a dozen. That said, I wonder how many, what percentage if somebody could do a survey, are truly sharp and are set at the correct angle for kitchen use? I would bet very few. Every kitchen has a drawer with at least one or two sharpeners in it and plenty of people have electric sharpeners on their countertops. Almost none of these sharpeners provide the ability to set whatever angle the user chooses. Many, if not most, are downright damaging to knives. If you have ever used an electric knife sharpener, have you ever noticed that if you aren't very good at drawing your knife through the sharpener at exactly the same speed from heel to tip, your edge looks wavy and uneven? Anyway, I digress. Sorry about that! Another subject for another day... So what angle is the best for kitchen knives?
Most professional chefs that I know tell me that 20 degrees or less, depending on the particular type of kitchen knife, is what you need. A paring knife, for instance, should have an extremely acute bevel because this is a knife used for delicate and precise trimming. A large chef's knife should also be around 20 degrees or maybe just a few degrees under. In a kitchen, your sharpener is never far away, so you don't need the level of edge durability that a hunting knife requires, thus you can easily get away with a thinner edge. Again, a double bevel is useful on kitchen knives and makes touch ups much faster.
Woodworkers and carvers often like to have their chisels sharpened at 15 degrees or less. This allows them to easily shave very thin strips and gives them a very high degree of precision. Carving employs a specific cutting technique called press cutting, as opposed to slice cutting, which is what one does with kitchen and skinning knives. For slice cutting, less polishing is generally preferred. For press cutting, the more polished the edge, the better. This is because the troughs in the microserrations left by an unpolished edge increase resistance when pressing a chisel or other blade through the object at hand. They also tend to leave tiny scratches in the surface of your carved object. On the other hand, for slice cutting, those microserrations add a tearing and ripping action when cutting by concentrating the force applied on the peaks of the microserrations. For more information about what level of polish is appropriate for a particular use, see my forum post titled: Edge Polishing for Different Uses.
Knife sharpeners that allow you to set the edge bevel angle on a knife include those made by: Gatco, Lansky, EdgePro, and Wicked Edge. Only the EdgePro and Wicked Edge provide continuously variable angle setting and the Wicked Edge allows you to work on both sides of a knife at the same time.