Anatomy of a Knife

Back to Basics: Know Your Knife

What makes a great knife? It’s all in the details. (Also - we do!)

As a company, we've always been all about comfort in the kitchen. From tip to tang, each part of your knife plays a key role in performance, balance, and precision.

Know your knife—cook with confidence.

BLADE

Tip: The first bit of the blade! If used correctly, the tip of the knife points away from the chef. Speaking of points - most knives have points, but not all! Knives like Nakiris and some Santokus have a flat-top tip. 

Points are good for piercing. Use that part of the knife for delicate cutting, like scoring a fruit or vegetable. When dicing, use it to cut a grid pattern. Then use the rest of the blade to slice all the way through. 

Edge: The sharp part! The entire cutting surface of the knife, which extends from the point to the heel.

Heel: The rear part of the blade, used for cutting activities that require more force.

Spine: The top part of the blade, usually thicker than the cutting edge to add weight and strength to your knife.

Bolster: The thick metal that joins the handle and the blade. Like the thicker spine, the bolster is meant to add weight and balance .

Grantons: Indentations on the bottom of the blade to make the cutting surface less likely to stick. Typically seen on Santoku knives. 

HANDLE

Schmidt Brothers Curve®: The curve that sets us apart! Your handle is designed with a direction­al guide built right in, called the Schmidt Brothers Curve®. This is a space to place your forefinger to help you guide the blade with greater precision and control. The Schmidt Brothers Curve® also offers safety and better overall technique. For forged knives, it allows the weight of the blade to get distributed under your thumb and forefingers, so the knife isn’t so blade heavy towards the tip. It also creates a longer line for rocking the blade.

Tang: The tang lives inside the handle! This is the metal part of the knife that extends through the knife from the blade. All Schmidt Brothers knives are full-tang, to give the knife additional stability and weight.

Rivets: Metal pins that help hold the knife together via the tang. Rivets offer increased structural stability. 

Finger Guard: The part of the bolster that prevents your hand from slipping onto the blade. Important for those of us that want to keep all our available (or remaining) digits!