Geometry and physics in the kitchen - 5 signs of a perfect knife

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

What do you think the perfect knife should be? Sharp? But you didn’t guess! The sharpness of the knife is not the only and far from the most important quality, oddly enough …

After all, even a dull knife can be sharpened. The secret of perfect knives lies elsewhere. Samura reveals 5 main principles of the perfect kitchen knife.

1. Blade geometry

The ideal SAMURA blade has smooth slopes from the butt itself down to the cutting edge. It is these Japanese slopes that allow you to achieve ease of cutting. Historically, straight wedge slopes are the most popular type of blade shape. They were owned by the Japanese katanas, the Viking Saxons, the Roman gladius, the Spanish Navajo, the Scottish dirk, the Mameluk sword, the Indian tavlyar, and the Arab shamshir. Technologically, it is not so easy to make such descents and not at all cheap. Knives with straight slopes cannot be cheap, if only due to the fact that about 60% of the material is removed (wasted) during the manufacture of the blade. But only such a blade can cut perfectly.

2. Blade thickness

If you compare the SAMURA blade to other (conventional) knives, you will notice that the Samura blade is much thinner. A thin blade cuts better, a knife, like a razor, effortlessly passes through any product. At the handle, the blade has a thickness of about 3 mm and smoothly tapers towards the tip to a thickness of 0.1 mm - this gives the blade flexibility and elasticity.

3. Knife weight

Samura knives are noticeably lighter than their competitors. The knife should not be heavy - this is part of the Samur philosophy. Light knife - the chef's hand does not get tired, the knife is easier to control.

4. The hardness of the steel is a key factor

Only hard Japanese steel is capable of giving a long-lasting kirenagu (the ability of a knife to keep sharpening, that is, how long the knife can stay sharp). Samura knives have an average hardness of 58-61 HRC, which is optimal for knife steel. Less hard steel dulls quickly, harder steel is too brittle.

5. Sharpness

Samura knives are very sharp. Hand sharpening on wet stone and polishing the cutting edge is much more difficult and more expensive than conventional automatic sharpening on a machine, but only this kind of sharpening will give you an extraordinary feeling of Japanese cutting. The angle of sharpening of the cutting edge corresponds to the Japanese standard - 18-21 degrees.

As you can see, the perfect knife is not as simple as it seems. But to understand and feel the difference - you need to try it at least once.

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