The guy who roasted my knife sharpening angle actually had a point

I always sharpened my kitchen knives at 20 degrees because that's what the YouTube videos said. A chef at a diner in Portland told me 17 degrees is better for thin German steel I use. Anyone else get stubborn about a technique until someone proved you wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.adam1mo ago

Yeah I was doing 18 degrees like a robot until my wife said my knife was just pushing food around.

cole9941mo agoMost Upvoted

Pushing food around means you need more angle, not less.

joseph_ellis851mo ago

Pushing food around means you need more angle, not less" - that's actually backwards for thin steel. The whole point of a lower angle like 17 is to slice through stuff cleaner. If your knife is pushing food at 18 degrees, you probably need to sharpen more often, not change the angle. I've used 20 degrees on German steel for years and my knives cut tomatoes without squishing them just fine. Most home cooks mess up their edge geometry chasing lower angles and end up with chipped blades or unstable edges. The real issue is people don't sharpen enough, not that they're at the wrong angle.