Wusthof Classic and Henckel 4 &5 star Knife Sharpening

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coxhaus

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Nov 8, 2006
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I think I am looking for the sharpening angle. I have a bunch maybe 20 or so old Henckel 4 star and 5-star knives that I have been sharpening using a Work sharp original sharpener for a lot of years. The Work Sarp only goes to 20 degrees for each side which seems to work for the Henkel knives OK. I started buying Wusthof classic knives a couple of years ago and I have about 8 or so. I have decided the Wusthof knives don't seem to work as well at 20 degrees as the original angle. It could be I have become complacent with the Henkels over a long period of time and I don't remember what a new Henkel is like. I have a Wusthof salmon knife that I have been using for sushi. I tried to sharpen it at 20 degrees and it does not work well now. So, my wife ordered me for my birthday a Work Sharp Ken Onion which goes to 15 degrees. I plan to try 15 degrees for the Wusthof knives. I hope this will work as the new knife sharpener has not arrived.

My next problem is I found a discontinued Wusthof Classic Sushi 4526/23cm 9" on eBay which I bought for my birthday to me. It is a one-sided sushi knife. What angle do you think I should sharpen this sushi knife at? I think since it is one sided the blade angle is thinner? Whereas a 2-sided knife sharpened 20-degree knife is really 40 degrees and a 15 degree is really 30 degrees. I read that Wusthof knives are sharpened at 14 degrees from the factory so I assume 28 degrees for 2 sided knives. I don't know what they do with 1 sided knives.

I hope this makes sense and I am making progress.
 
coxhaus said:
I think I am looking for the sharpening angle. I have a bunch maybe 20 or so old Henckel 4 star and 5-star knives that I have been sharpening using a Work sharp original sharpener for a lot of years. The Work Sarp only goes to 20 degrees for each side which seems to work for the Henkel knives OK. I started buying Wusthof classic knives a couple of years ago and I have about 8 or so. I have decided the Wusthof knives don't seem to work as well at 20 degrees as the original angle. It could be I have become complacent with the Henkels over a long period of time and I don't remember what a new Henkel is like. I have a Wusthof salmon knife that I have been using for sushi. I tried to sharpen it at 20 degrees and it does not work well now. So, my wife ordered me for my birthday a Work Sharp Ken Onion which goes to 15 degrees. I plan to try 15 degrees for the Wusthof knives. I hope this will work as the new knife sharpener has not arrived.
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I'm a complete noob at this but I wouldn't go below 15° bevel on soft-steeled German knives.
If you do try it anyway, that sharp edge will probably disappear only after a couple of cuts.
Extremely acute bevel angles on soft-steel knives aren't really practical and will only result in accelerated wear of the blade.

Japanese stainless steel cutlery designed for slicing through boneless protein is typically at 10°-15° bevel.
White-steel blades used by professional sushi/sashimi chefs go even lower (9°-12°).

You can read more about general bevel angle categories here:
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Detailed-Discussion-on-Knife-Sharpening-Angles-W28.aspx
 
I have new Wusthof Ikon Creme 8" Santoku (Wunderknife), and they come factory sharpened to 14° degrees per side.
 
The boundary between what's considered "soft" and "hard" isn't well defined. But in the cutlery community, I think it is generally agreed that soft-steel German-style knives are at below 56 HRC whereas 58+ HRC are considered "hard" (for German-style knives).

Here are some German-style cutlery brands and their bevel angles:

Henckels 4-Star series are rated at 57 HRC and they typically have 15° bevel.
Dalstrong Gladiator series are rated at 56+ HRC with 14°-16° bevel.
Wusthof Ikon are rated at 58 HRC and they typically have 14° bevel.

In general, you are not going to find soft-steel German-style kitchen knives at below 15° bevel. If they do exist, I have yet to see one. (Okay, I'll admit I didn't try very hard to find them.)
 
Thanks guys for all the info as it helps. I am now sharpening my Wusthof knives at 17.5 degree angle using my WSKO. I am still using 20 degrees for my Henckels 4-star knives. I really don't like my Henckels filet knives at this angle so I may try 17.5 on my 3 Henckels filet knives. If this works well then I may try 15 degrees and see if the edge holds on my filet knives. My old Work Sharp only had 20 degrees so I was using 20 degrees for everything. I am trying to make it easy to remember what angle the knives are sharpened at. I would prefer not to have to keep a log for each knife.
 
Wusthoffs are about 58rc,you can sharoen them at 15 deg per side with no problem at all....maybe even less
 
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