Is Thin "IN"?

[Jason Wilder]

On most production knives I have noticed that the "Chef" style knife in 6-8" are around 3/16 to 1/4" thick at the spine. But on custom knives I've noticed they are 3/32 or less at the spine, even on the larger blades.

Is that just so the maker doesn't have to remove as much steel, or are thinner knives actually better than the heaver chef knives?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[Dan Pierson]

Thinner slices better. With hard steel it works really well. Not so well for dishwashers and other forms of misuse.

 

[GHEzell]

I don't think I've ever seen a chefs knife over 1/8" thick, and that is a bit thick in my opinion. I like them around 1/16" thick, it's not like we are chopping wood here...

Thinner cuts with less resistance.

 

[rhinoknives]

I concur, I use 1/8" Steel max on my Culinary Knives.

With Modern Stainless Steels in particular, You never need more than a 1/8" on my custom Chef or Vegetable knives.

You are measuring German knives most likely! 3/8th sounds a bit big even there? The Japanese production run thinner and lighter to make a excellent Chef/Veggie knife. With proper heat treat that's all you need to hold a great edge!

Laurence
www.rhinoknives.com

 

[HHH Knives]

Thin is IN!!

Like posted above most kitchen knives are thin. Really thin behind the cutting edge. Heres a picture of a Nakiri I just finnished, Its .009" above the edge bevels. As you can imagine, it cuts like a laser!