Parts that Make Up a Knife

Most people don’t care about the knives they use in their kitchen. Meanwhile, there are a lot of things about knives that everyone who uses knives needs to know.

There are four things that make up the knife:

• The Construction
• The Steel
• The Edges

1. The Handle: Most commonly used knives either have a wooden handle or a plastic handle. Some knife manufacturers make knives with metal handles. But these knives are not commonly Used.

Wooden handles are better than plastic handles because they are attractive when they are new but they are very unsanitary. They absorb liquids and grease over time and accumulates bacteria in them. This poses danger to the health of users.

Plastic handles on the other hand are much more sanitary but they are not strong. They are slippery when they are wet and they tend to melt, chip, crack or

break over time. They are not durable.

2. The Construction: Another important thing to know about knives is the way they are constructed. The construction depends on two things:
   • The Tang: This is the part of the knife that goes into the handle.
   • The Rivets: These are the round piece of metal that hold the blade and the handle together in some knives.

The tang of a knife is either partial or full and a full tang is better than a partial tang. This is because knives with full tangs are stronger and safer to use. Knives with partial tang are weak and dangerous. The tang can fall out even while you are using the knife.

3. The steel: The two major types of steel commonly used by knife manufacturers are carbon and stainless steel. Each type has both

advantages and disadvantages. Carbon steel are very strong and even much more expensive than stainless steel. But they rust and corrode over time which makes them unattractive and unsanitary to use.

Stainless steel on the other hand are much more attractive to use

but they get dull easily and need to be sharpened almost before every use.

4. The Edges: The edges of knives are either straight or serrated. Straight edged knives make a smooth cut but they must be sharpened constantly almost at every use. Serrated edge knives don’t need to be sharpened constantly. They cannot even be re-sharpened and they also rip and tear into food as we cut with the knife.

After researching a lot of knife brands and their products, I have decided on which brands of knives best satisfy both health and kitchen needs.

Number one on the list is Cutco, I believe they have are the best knives because of the following reasons.

The first is their type of handle. This handle is made to fit into anyone’s. According to cutco.com, the design was made by industrial designer,  Thomas Lamb who studied over 700 pairs of hands. This means that the knives will fit your hand whether you are left handed or right handed or you have small or big hands. This design is called the UNIVERSALWEDGELOCKHANDLE.Another important feature of these handles is the property from which it was made. The handles are made from thermo-resin handle material. According to materialstoday.com, thermo-resin is a very strong type of plastic that can withstand up to 330 degrees of. Heating this plastic only makes it stronger and not otherwise.

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Cutco knives also have a full tang construction that ensures durability and makes sure the knives are very strong and the blades won’t pop out while you are using them. The full tang is held into the thermos-resin handle with silver nickel rivets that are flushed smoothly on the surface of the handles for smooth grip on the knives. This silver-nickel material will not expand and contract under various heat conditions and leaves no room for harboring bacteria.

The steel is neither stainless or the common carbon that rusts and corrodes. The steel is made up of High-Carbon stainless steel 440A, Rockwell hardness 55-57C. This material is used to make surgical knives and build ships so it is strong and very sharp at the same time and it will never rust or corrode.

The edge of the knives are designed as the Double-Dedge.This edge has points like serrated knives but these points are not doing the cutting. In between these points are 3 razors  that cut food. The points protect the razor from being dull and the knives stay sharp for 7-10 years or even longer according to customer reviews from cutco.com.

The second choice of knife manufacturer is Wusthof.These knives also have blades that are made of the same material like Cutco’s but the blades are only a little harder with Rockwell Hardness of 58C compared to 55-57C of Cutco knives. The handles have an ergonomic design that fits good in different hands as well as the wedge-lock design in Cutco.

The edges of the knives have an angle that is so small to provide a very sharp and precise cut on food. The edges only have a 14-degree angle. The  smaller the angle of the edge of a knife, the sharper the knife is.

The rivets in Wusthof’s knives are made of brass, which will expand and contract over a long time but they are flushed fitly on the handle and also have other metals inside the handle that help the blade to fit snugly into the handle. This makes these knives very durable and they will not pop out while they are used.

The third and the last best option is Shun, they also have high quality materials like Cutco and Wusthof. The knives are incredibly sharp and. They use hard wood for the handles and cover them with resin so it does not absorb moisture, grease or bacteria.

Of all the three knife manufacturers, Cutco was the best option because of the following reasons:

• They have the cheapest knives of all three of them
• It is American-based; this is most important to Americans. An American based company means that if there is a problem with the product, you can easily contact the manufacturer and fix it. Compared to Wusthof which is in Germany and Shun that is in Japan.