How do I identify a Wusthof knife?

M

mbubb

Joined
Dec 15, 2013
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2
Hello -

I am a first poster and I think this is the best place to post this - if not apologies in advance (and a better recommendation is appreciated).



I've had this knife for 25 or so years:

The handle is ~10.5cm/ 4.5"
The blade is ~ 20cm/ 7"

On one side it is stamped ED WUSTOF Solingen - Germany with a trident. On the other side a number is stamped "159 7". There are 3 rivets in the handle which have a slight verdigis (so are brass or copper).

It is a carbon steel and sharpens nicely on my 3-stone manual sharpener. I hone it with a henkel honing steel.

I used it this morning to slice slab bacon for my boys' breakfast. I love using it.

It is by no means a valuable knife. It has some sentimental value though.

It was either my grandfather's knife or possibly my great-grandfather's (a German butcher who settled in the NYC area).

I love the knife - I wish I knew how to properly clean it and I am trying to improve my sharpening skills. What's the best way to clean carbon steel?

How would I go about identifying this knife. I would be curious to know when it was made etc. The fact that it is stamped "Germany" - does this indicate it was made for export to US?

I had this knife in storage but pulled it out and started using it a year or so ago. It has a nice feel in the hand and of course being a family knife makes it specia;. I like the idea of handing it off some day.

In any event - would like ot know more about it if possible.

thanks

Michael

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LJS3uUR8RuVEpRVE5ERWlGRU51X1BmYUJOdTVmZmFVSEJB/edit?usp=sharing
 
The trident is the Wusthof copyright symbol. I would guess that you have a vintage German Wusthof utility butchers knife. Shame you don't have the entire set.

Larry
Tinkerer
 
Thanks for the quick answer.

Yes shame I don't have the set - I love this knife. I have some more of his knives - small cleaver, etc. But they are not Wusthof.
 
For cleaning, they have thwse rubber erasers on chefknives or similar chef knife websites. Usually 5 or 10 dollars.

soak and scrub steel (usually in one direction according to steel grain).
 
If it's definitely marked "Germany" it's either pre-WWII manufacture, or post 1990. "West Germany" would put it 1949-1990. So, if it's at lest 25 years old it's probably pre-war.
Nice memento.

Any good metal polish (Flitz) should clean it up nicely. You will want to keep the patina from age rather than restoring to new condition. So just a little cleaning and buffing should do it. Just put a light coating of mineral oil on it every now and then.
 
As mentioned above, since the blade is marked Wusthof and bears the Trident trademark, Yes, it is a Wusthof knife, made in Germany. But that marking does not indicate it was made for export to the U.S. or any other country. Solingen, Germany is famous for the cutlery made there, and marking the blade with the place of manufacture shows the pride the manufacturer has in the quality of its products.

If I were in your situation, I'd go to the Wusthof website and get a contact e-mail address for someone in Customer Relations or Customer Service. Copy what you wrote down here in your original post and paste it in an e-mail to them. If you can get a decent picture of your knife, include that, along with details of the knife's markings and measurements. They should be able to tell you what type of knife it is, and an approximate date for when it was made. If you don't get a response from them, try writing to their North American distributor.

I have several Wusthof kitchen knives that I've owned for about 15 years or so. These are all part of their "Classic" line of kitchen cutlery made with their "high carbon stainless steel" blades. The 8" chef's knife and a small paring knife are the two I use most often. The thing about the craftsmanship that goes into these things that gets to me is, during all the years I've owned them, I've never actually sharpened them. They are professional quality tools, and I use them solely in a home kitchen where they get used much less than they would in a commercial kitchen.

But it's only relatively recently that I've been feeling the chef's knife would benefit from a good sharpening. These are my prized tools. They don't get mistreated or used for ordinary household chores; I always use them with a good cutting board, and they are stored properly when not in use, i.e., they're placed in a knife block or other suitable storage device intended for that purpose. The only thing I've done with the edge is to use a good steel once in a while to keep the cutting edge straight.

It might sound like heresy, but I believe it's possible to put an edge on a blade that's too sharp for the intended purpose, resulting in a blade that gets dull too quickly and requires attention too frequently, thus shortening the life expectancy of that blade. I've had friends who owned high quality carbon steel kitchen knives that were improperly sharpened through the years. That sharpening removed way too much steel and ruined the profile of the blade's cutting edge, making the knife very difficult to use.

My suggestion would be to have your knife professionally honed and polished, and try using just a "sharpening" steel to straighten the edge between uses and see how that works.
 
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