Do You Want Your Knife Bevel Angle More Obtuse? More Acute?

All knives have a sharpened edge — that's what makes a knife sharp. When a knife is put on a stone and ground — that is called a bevel angle. The knife is usually ground equally on both sides, and this is called the bevel angle.

Looking at a cross section of the knife the bevel angle will look like the letter V, and how wide the V is is what I am trying to describe.

The bevel angle can be more 'acute' or more 'obtuse,' with a more acute angle cutting better, and a more obtuse angle lasting longer. Knives all have a bevel angle selected that gives the best compromise between good cutting and long life.

All of this has pretty much been standardized with a bevel angle decided depending on how the knife is expected to be used.

Kitchen Knives Sharpened with Acute Bevel Angles

A customer brought me these knives — a chef's knife and a santoku — and asked for special bevels ground on each knife.

He asked for a 17° angle on the chef's knife and a 14° on the santoku.

That's what we did! They are now quite sharp — with edges that need to be used and stored with care so as to preserve the sharpness.