The Elements of a good Knife

Elements of a Good Knife

What exactly is it that distinguishes a mediocre knife from a great one? It's not just one thing, it's a combination of different factors that define how good a knife is. Those can be broken down into five categories:

Steel & Heat Treatment:

Defines the basic properties of the blade.

Blade Geometry and Profile:

Defines the cutting feeling.

Cutting Edge:

Defines the sharpness of the blade.

Handle Shape and Material:

Defines the cutting comfort.

Fit and Finish:

Defines the level of perfection and overall user satisfaction.

For a knife to be truly great, everything needs to come together. But for a knife to be poor, it can be just one thing that is wrong. A gorgeous looking knife with perfect fit and finish, thin blade and expensive steel, but with a wrong heat treatment results in a knife where the edge chips and corrodes like crazy.

So knives are complex products, and understanding them requires knowledge. On this site, we are trying to share our knowledge in a non-scientific way.

If you would like to go a step further and understand knife blades on a more scientific level, here is a great site for that: www.knifesteelnerds.com