What combination of angles produces the sharpest edge for a knife?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “barbarian knife sharpener“
About Kylie
Written by: Kylie
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What combination of angles produces the sharpest edge for a knife?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “barbarian knife sharpener“
About Kylie
The sharpest knife always has the steepest angles. The dullest, at 90 degrees (A flat edge) and the sharpest would be as close to 0 degrees as physically possible (A single layer of steel molecules)
Now, which one of these is more sharper?
This knife edge: |_|
Or this one: |
The second one, of course. But which one is more durable? Clearly the first one. Using either of these blade designs is horribly impractical. So we compromise.
Regular knife edge: \/
Most knives have blades have an angle of around 22.5 degrees. (This angle is measured from edge to grind. The angle from the center line to one of the angled lines is 22.5 degrees \|/) This angle maximizes both durability, and sharpness.
Specialized blades will often have different angles. Axes have much wider grinds, and box cutters will have steeper angles.
But there is more to sharpness than angle alone. Blades will also have different styles of grind, depending on how sharp they need to be.
Image from KnifeInfo . They have a bunch of other info about knives, if you’re curious.
Most knives, are flat grinds. These are sharp, but still durable.
Some knives are convex, or saber grinds, these are more commonly used with knives that are designed for chopping or heavy cutting, as they are less sharp, but more durable than a flat grind.
Hollow ground knives are the sharpest. The concave blade shape allows for a much narrower edge. However, they aren’t very durable.
Chisel grinds, are of course used in chisels. They are also more common in multitools (From my own, personal experience) than in other knives. They can be as sharp as a flat grind, but their asymmetry can pose some issues while cutting.
Thanks for reading!
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The finer the angle, the sharper the knife can be made. In practical terms, this is limited to 10 degrees or so. Thinner than that it gets hard to keep the edge straight while whetting it.
The rest of the various grinds are more about the ability of the edge to remain sharp rather than the ultimate sharpness. Most really sharp edges are hollow ground as this type makes it easy to get the faces nearly parallel. But it results in an edge that will dull very quickly. Straight razors are hollow ground; and you have to touch them up halfway through a shave because the edge is so delicate even human hair will damage it. One exception is cheaper knives are often hollow ground because that’s the grind you get on a grinding wheel and this is cheap equipment. They’re not usually ground to such fine angles though, so the edge is more robust.
Angle grind, flat grind and high flat grind are all much the same. The edge is ground in a flat sided V shape. With an angle grind, this V extends all the way to the spine of the blade. With a flat grind, it’s rather short. A high flat is usually about 2/3rds of the width of the blade.
A chisel grind— unless it’s actually on a chisel— is usually put on kitchen knives designed for slicing because it helps get even slices. All the grind is on one side of the blade, with the other being flat. It makes a difference which side you grind versus which hand you hold the knife. The angle is ground on the same side as the master hand; the back of the blade, toward the weak hand, is flat.
Another type is the convex grind. It’s the opposite of hollow ground. It features a convex curve from the body of the blade down to the edge. This is a very robust grind, if not super-duper sharp, and will stand up to a lot of abuse. It’s normally put on axes and swords and the like.
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