Blade angles. Our experience matters.

What Angle Should a Kitchen Knife Be Sharpened At?

There is no single sharpening angle that is correct for every kitchen knife.

You will often hear figures such as 15°, 17° or 20° per side. These can be useful starting points, but the ideal geometry depends on the knife's steel, thickness, intended use, original design and the strength required at the edge.

What does 15 degrees mean?

When people talk about a 15° sharpening angle, they usually mean approximately 15° on one side of a double-bevel knife. The included angle between both sides would therefore be approximately 30°.

This distinction matters because a statement such as 'sharpened at 30 degrees' can mean something quite different depending on who is saying it.

Why Thinner Is Not Always Better.

It is tempting to assume that a more acute angle automatically means a sharper knife. It can produce a very fine edge but an extremely thin edge is not automatically the best edge.

The steel has to support the geometry.

A hard Japanese knife designed for precise cutting may be comfortable with geometry that would be inappropriate for a heavy-duty knife used to cut through tougher ingredients.

A cleaver and a delicate slicing knife have very different jobs. Their edges should reflect that.

What we do at Blade & Butler

Unlike many other companies we don't simply put every knife on a machine clamped at one fixed angle.

Our published sharpening procedure is based on assessing the individual knife, its taper, thickness, condition and intended application. The finished edge is created to suit the knife and 90% of the time it will follow established tapers and angles as most manufacturers of quality knives get it right.

Single-bevel knives are treated differently from double-bevel knives. Some knives may also benefit from a slightly more robust heel area where the construction and intended use call for it.

Why The Original Edge Matters

A knife's existing bevel gives us useful information. It tells us something about how the knife has previously been sharpened or miss sharpened.

This is where professional assessment becomes useful.

The correct question is not what is the sharpest angle.

A better question is 'What edge geometry is appropriate for this particular knife?'

That is a much more useful way of thinking about sharpening.

The aim is to balance cutting performance, durability, geometry and intended use rather than chasing the smallest possible angle.

The Bottom Line

There is no magic number. A good sharpening service should understand angles, but it should also understand why those angles exist and when they need to change.

That is why we assess the knife rather than applying a one-size-fits-all setting.

• Link to: Knife Geometry

• Link to: Single-Bevel vs Double-Bevel Knives

• Link to: Why Does My Knife Wedge Food?