Knife Blade, Terms & Designs

Blade Steel & Knife Design Info.

Knife Steel Info . . . 

- I intent to share a knowledge base developed through research & testing culinary knives. 

- Information & ideas gathered from crafting & testing knives, along with other concepts, which I believe to be true. 

- I am accepting of those who have different: ideas, opinions & knowledge bases than mine. 

- These are the individuals from whom I  have the most to learn.

- Please share your thoughts & ideas.

Blade Steel Today . . .

- There is a ton of deceptive promotional content in the media today targeted at the typical knife consumer.

- Information is key... to cutting through the hype & deceptive marketing practices used to demonstrate knife performance.

- Advertisers depend on consumers without time to develop a knowledge base for an informed decision. 

- Therefore, I have selected & organized a condensed set of revenant reference material.

Knife Steels . . .

Forged Steel Knives

- All high-carbon knife blade steels are forged steels.

- Bolsters, forge welded to knife blades, provide no significant culinary safety or performance advantage.

Stamped Blade/Steel 

- Stamped Steel - Refers to methods used to craft the knife blade outline/profile from forged steel.  

- Knife steel performance is not reduced by these crafting/manufacturing methods, as is often implied. 

- Marketing Hype - Often incorrectly implies stamped steel blades do not use  high-quality high-carbon forged steel.

Knife Bolsters . . .

Metal structures at the intersection of the knife handle & knife blade. 

Half Bolster - A small portion of metal,  basically an extension of the knife handle.

Full Bolster - Metal, often forge welded to the blade, extending from the top of the blade to the cutting edge.

- Marketed as a safety feature, without providing a significant value in terms of knife safety. 

- Full bolsters consume a portion of the blade & impede the consumer's ability to maintain the cutting edge. 

- DBx-Handle designs prevent the hand from sliding forward into the knife blade without a bolster. 

Blade Steel & HRC-Values

Premium Knife Steels ...

Hi-Carbon Stainless Steel Knives

- Most popular, durable & easy to maintain, with outstanding culinary cutting performance.

High Carbon Steel Knives

- Excellent knife steel durability. . . with vigilant maintenance requirements in culinary settings.

Damascus Steel Knives

- Beautiful blades, made of blended high carbon steel and/or high carbon stainless steel,  provide no significant value in terms of culinary performance.

Modern Super-Steel Knives 

- Also called "Powdered Steel". . . Excellent edge retention, tough, high hardness, but difficult to sharpen.  

Kitchen Knife Steel - HRC

Hardness on Rockwell’s “C”  Scale

- Kitchen Knife Stainless Steels  . . .

   Historically ~ 42 to 48 HRC

      Need sharpening more often.

- Current Knife Steels HRC . . . 

50 to 55 Flexible, easy to sharpen.

 56 to 59 Durable, easy to sharpen.

60 to 62+Edge wear(10~20%)less.

 Risk... blade chipping, cracking,

& difficult to sharpen.

- Emerging Modern Super Steels ...

Mitigate chipping & cracking,

 60 to 62+ HRC difficult to sharpen.

Blade Length Concepts

Cutting Edge Length...

w/Traditional Handles...

3"~ 5" Blades ...

- Culinary: paring, carving, pealing & detail work knives.

5"~ 7" Blades ...

- Most popular food-prep knife length in use worldwide.

- Long enough to slice & cut through most fresh & raw foods.

- Shorter blades improve our cutting accuracy & control.

- Reduce power input requirements relative to longer blades.

7.5"~ 12" Blades ...

- Preferred by professionals regularly cutting large volumes of food and/or special-purpose knives.

Blade vs.Handle Centric

 Pinch-Grip Designs

- Ideal blade length is reduced with DBx-Handle Centric Pinch-Grip knife designs.

Culinary Prep-Knife ideal blade length.

- Blade-Centric Pinch-Grip handle

designs ... 

    5.75"- 6.75” ( 145~170mm )

 - DBx-Handle Centric Pinch-Grip

designs ...

    4.75”- 5.75” (120~145mm)

  - These knives are short enough for 

   detail work, yet long enough for slicing.

- Functionally... knives with Handle

Centric Pinch-Grip may use .75"- 1.0” ( 20-25mm ) shorter blades.

Kitchen Knife - Blade Profiles