High-Carbon Stainless Kitchen Knife

Details

A knife meant to be sharpened rather than replaced. The blade is 1.4116, the German cutlery steel also written X50CrMoV15: carbon 0.45 to 0.55 percent, chromium 14 to 15, molybdenum 0.5 to 0.8, vanadium 0.1 to 0.2. It is hardened and tempered to 57 HRC plus or minus one, measured to ISO 6508-1 on three blades out of every lot rather than quoted from the steel supplier. High carbon stainless steel with no designation and no hardness figure is the standard line in this category and it means nothing: carbon in a stainless cutlery steel runs from about 0.2 percent to about 1.0, and the difference between those two ends is the difference between a blade that will not hold an edge for a morning and one that will. Two more things get hidden. The tang, because a half tang buried inside a moulded handle is cheaper to make and snaps at the bolster, and the honest check is that a full tang is a visible strip of steel along the top and bottom of the handle with the rivets passing through it. And the wood, because rosewood on a kitchen knife is usually stain on rubberwood, while genuine Dalbergia is CITES Appendix II and carries paperwork most sellers do not hold. These are plantation teak, named as teak. Now the trade, honestly. At 57 HRC this edge rolls rather than chips and a 1000 grit stone brings it back in about four minutes. A 61 HRC blade holds an edge two to three times as long, chips on a bone or a frozen edge, and needs diamond stones to re-profile. We chose 57 because a knife that can be fixed in a home kitchen is worth more than a knife that lasts longer between fixes and then cannot be.

• 1.4116 stainless, composition printed above, not the phrase high carbon on its own
• 57 HRC plus or minus 1, ISO 6508-1, three blades per lot
• Full tang, visible top and bottom, three brass rivets through it, no moulded plastic handle
• Edge ground to 15 degrees a side and measured on a goniometer, not eyeballed
• Plantation teak scales, oiled, no lacquer to peel, and no CITES timber
• Spine 2.2 mm and rounded, so the thumb is not resting on a sharp corner through a whole board of onions
• No serrations, which in this price band are usually there to disguise a blade that cannot be resharpened
• Weights published: paring 65 g, utility 110 g, chef 185 g. A full-tang knife cannot be light
• Set of three is Rs 3,490 against Rs 3,970 for the pieces bought singly, which is 12 percent
• It will discolour if you leave it wet on an onion, and it will rust in a dishwasher. Wash it and dry it
• It needs a stone twice a year and a honing rod every few weeks. If you want a knife that never needs either, this is not it and neither is anything else that cuts well