This entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Cutlery Information, Quality, Uses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
The tip ends of kitchen knives vary . Some are pointed, some cut off with a straight end, some are rounded or with a slant. The point of the knife is at the opposite end of the handle and typically used for cutting small items or food into thin strips. It can also be used for making slits in foods, i.e., preparing a pork chop to stuff. The cutting edge is the bottom of the blade and runs along the length of the blade. The cutting edge of knives can be serrated or straight. The serrated edges never need sharpening and the straight edged knives must be kept sharp by regularly using a sharpening steel or sharpener of some type. The spine of the blade is the side opposite the cutting edge. It’s usually thicker than the cutting edge so as to add strength to the blade. It has a smooth, blunt edge to allow gripping with the thumb and forefinger or apply pressure with fingers or palm of hand which adds control to the cutting task. The bolster, if the knife has one, is a thick piece of metal at the end of the blade and just before the handle. The bolster along with the tang gives the knife balance and with good balance, it provides better control. The bolster provides protection from the blade. If the knife has a bolster, it’s an indication that the knife was formed using the forged process rather than stamped. The handle of the kitchen knife if the part of the knife that holds the blade. The tang of the blade extends down in the handle to attach the blade to the handle material. On a strong kitchen knife, the tang is usually riveted to the handle. When purchasing a knife, it’s important that the handle fits your hand properly. It shouldn’t be too big or too small. Chicago Cutlery and Ginsu offers quality kitchen knives.