Working off the back of Knives 101, we learned about materials and basic styles of knives, but lets talk about edges. Today we’ll discuss the difference between a standard European knife and all the various other variations out there. Ever wondered what the difference between single and double bevel knives is? Why some of your knives are serrated? Perhaps what a Granton Edge is or what it’s for? We’ll talk about all that today.
V, Standard or Full Flat Edge: This is the most common knife edge. It’s a straight edge where both sides of the knife are ground down to a point. Grinding both sides of this knife down is what is called a “Double Bevel”, which rarely gets called out as that’s most knives. If you look down the edge of the blade it would create a nice V. This is the most common edge style and what you will probably produce on a whetstone. While not as sharp as some sharpening styles, it is relatively durable and easy to maintain.
Appleseed or Convex Edge: A less common edge, usually found on hand made blades. This edge is created when you sharpen on a slack belt grinder and instead of creating a sharp V you instead get some rounding causing the edge to look like a sharpened bullet or…an appleseed, hence the name. Sharpening this edge on a stone will eventually transform it into a V. This edge tends to be just as sharp as a V edge, but a little more durable. That said, unless you have a belt sander hanging about the house it’s impossible to maintain. Repeated stone sharpening will return this edge to a V.
Compound Bevel/Edge: This one is far less common and harder to tell just by looking at it, because it will look mostly like a standard V or Convex edge just to look at it, but it is when the edge is ground a bit more thickly for most of the cutting edge, but then the last very little bit, usually millimeter or so, is actually sharpened at a steeper angle than the rest of the bevel. Compound, as you have surmised, references the two-angles-in-one edge. This type of edge increases the durability of the knife, but is nearly impossible to reproduce unless you’re particularly skilled on a whetstone or have a machine sharpener that produces such an edge.
Chisel, Asymmetric or Single Bevel Edge: Whereas the edges we’ve talked about so far are ground on both sides of the knife to come to a point that rests in the center of the blade, this style is only ground on ONE edge. This results in an edge where the cutting edge is on the outside edge of the knife. If you looked down the knife from the point it would look like a chisel, which is why it’s so imaginatively nicknamed a “chisel” knife. The upside to this style of sharpening is that you can get a much more sharp blade out this style edge, but comes with some drawback. First, that wicked sharp edge is delicate relative to a double bevel edge. Second, this is the only style knife that comes with a “handedness”. If you’re a right handed knife user, you want a knife that has the bevel on the left side of the knife and vice versa. Why might you want this edge? Well, as mentioned it’s extremely sharp so they’re great for preparation of delicate ingredients that need minimal handling. For this reason, these kinds of edges are most commonly found on Santoku or Nakiri knives that are intended for fish or sushi.
Hollow Ground Edge: Relatively uncommon in kitchen knives, but not unheard of, this edge is the opposite of the convex edge in that the knife is thinned considerably down and the edge material might even flare wider just to come back down to a point. This style edge is very sharp and great for long, smooth cuts but is fragile. Usually this is found on outdoor skinning knives over kitchen knives.
Serrated Edge: You know those knives where the edges look almost like saws? That’s serrated. Serrated knives knives are very much like saws as that they’re meant for drawing across your food with minimal downward force. For this reason they’re great for cutting through tough food with a soft inside without squashing the inside. This is why nearly all bread knives are serrated, because Baguette, French and other such breads are tough or crispy on the outside but nice and delicate on the inside. A straight edged knife that relies on downward force more than a sawing action might deform your delicate inside before it has a chance to break through the outer crust. Serrated knives are also great for softer vegetables with tough skins like tomatoes. While a sharp knife will work wonders on one, if you’re not in the habit of keeping your knives razor sharp, serrated has your back.
Granton Edge: “Edge” is a bit of a misnomer as this is more about how the sides of the knife are shaped. Granton means that the edges of the knife are dimpled in some way, but has a straight edge. Commonly these are found on “Santoku” style knives which is a style of Japanese knife where the point tapers down leaving a mostly flat cutting edge. You’ll commonly find these marketed as “vegetable slicers”. The idea is that the dimpling creates pockets of air between the food and the knife preventing food from sticking to the knife. Ever slice cucumbers or potatoes only to find slices stuck to the side of your blade? This is what this design seeks to eliminate. It doesn’t do anything for your cutting edge, but can help make your preparation run more smoothly.
Angles:
So you want to get into sharpening your own knives and you want to know what able to hold your knife at. Maybe you got one of those swing arm sharpeners and need to pick one. Why does it matter?
Well, those edges are sharpened at angles so they come to points. You need to keep that angle consistant so that the edge comes at the very center of the knife (for most knives) or the very edge (for a single bevel) and is nice and straight. A blade edge that isn’t straight will fight itself trying to steer it’s way this way and that with the directions of the uneven blade as you slice instead of gliding through smoothly.
The other reason angle matters is that a knife sharpened at a lower angle will be sharper, but the metal will be thin and fragile. A knife sharpened at a higher angle will be more durable, but less sharp. Ideal angles strike a balance between the two! It is worth noting, before I give the angles I use, that there are MANY schools of thought on what angles should be used and everyone has their own style and experience. These are just my experiences:
Most knives come out of the box at between 15 and 17 degrees, with a few exceptions most knives function great at those angles. I personally tend to go closer to the 17 as it tends to hold up a bit longer between sharpenings. Single Bevel knifes, as previous stated tend to hold sharper edges at 12-15 degrees and I’ve maintained my factory edge on mine as it’s been great. Vegetable cleavers are the opposite, sharpened between 17 and 23 degrees. Mine is kept with a sharper 17 degrees to match my Chef Knife as I like to sharpen them together. Bone cleavers, which need to be much stronger and rely more on force than sharpness, are usually sharpened between 35 and 50 degrees, with the lower end being more for joints and the higher end being more for chopping through bones. I’ve repurposed an old, heavy vegetable cleaver to be a joint cleaver and keep a 35 degree edge on mine.