Finding your knife angle:
The recommended angle of your knife is often written on the knife’s packaging. If you don’t find it there you can often find it on the manufacturer’s website. Some common knife brands and their angles are listed below.
Korin:
Korin knives recommend a 10˚-20˚ cutting angle per side on their Western style knives. For their traditional Japanese knife see their information.
www.korin.com
Shun and Kai:
Shun recommends a 16˚ angle of the cutting edge on each side of Shun and Kai double-beveled knives.
www.shun.kaiusaltd.com
Wüsthof:
“Our sharpening angle for standard blades is 14˚ per side, and for Asian-style blades (Santokus, Nakiris, Chai Daos) is 10˚ per side.”
www.wusthof.com
Global:
“Stamped GLOBAL blades have edges that are razor sharp. To obtain such sharp edges, they are factory sharpened at an angle between 10˚ and 15˚ per side.”
www.globalcutleryusa.com
Chroma:
A Chroma knife should be sharpened to 10-20˚ on each sides depending on knife.
www.chroma-cutlery.com
MAC:
MAC knives have factory edges of 15˚; this manufacturer recommends sharpening their knives at about a 10˚-15˚ angle per side.
www.mactheknife.co.jp
Tamahagane:
Tamahagane edge angles are between 14˚-15˚ on each side. Exeptions may occur.
www.sointuusa.com
Zwilling J. A. Henckels and Miyabi:
“The angle between the blade and the steel should be approximately 15˚ for ZWILLING knives. Santoku knives and all MIYABI and Kramer made by ZWILLING knives need to be 9˚-12˚ always per side.”
www.zwilling.com
Messermeister:
Messermeister Elité and Park Plaza knives have 15˚/side edges.
www.messermeister.com
Starting in 2018, the Four Seasons knife collection now features a 15˚/side edge.
www.messermeister.com
Victorinox:
Victorinox indicates the total cutting angle. Sharpening a Victorinox should be between 30˚ to 40˚ in total. This means 15˚-20˚ on each side.
www.assets.victorinox.com
Fischer-Bargoin:
Fischer-Bargoin recommend an angle of 15˚-20˚ on each side of the knife, depending on the knife.
www.fischer-bargoin.com
F. DICK (Friedr. DICK):
“The knife edge need the right sharpening angle to each other”.
Dick recommends 15˚-20˚ angles / side for their DICK Hoof Knives.
www.dick.de
Cangshan:
Cangshan knife edge angles varys a lot by type and line, many of the Cangshan knives are sharpened to an Asian-style 16˚ edge/side.
www.cangshancutlery.com
Mercer Culinary:
Mercer knives vary by type and line. MX3 knives have a 14˚ factory edge on each side. Their Santoku and Nakiri knives have a double-edge blade with a 16˚ angle on both sides. View technical specifications for the specific product.
www.mercerculinary.com
Yaxell:
All Yaxell knives blade edges are ground at a steep 16˚ angle in total (8˚ on each side)
www.ginkgoint.com
Other Knives:
If you want to repeat an existing angle but don’t know the right angle of your knife, an easy way is to use a black permanent marker.
Mark the edge of your knife on both sides, set the angle that you think is right on the knife jig, and test to sharpen just once.
Look at the edge and adjust it to the right angle, and repeat this procedure until you get the right angle.
After you got the angle right you sharpen the knife on Tormek T-2 as usual and polish it afterwards.