Anatomy of a Güde knife

A knife steel has to be hard, but not so hard that it breaks, and not so soft that the edge wears away quickly. Güde uses a chrome-vanadium-molybdenum knife steel hardened to about 57–58 HRC on the Rockwell scale, the point where edge retention and toughness meet.

Wood is warm and soft in the hand, and its grain makes every knife different, but it is never dishwasher-safe. Güde’s Hostaform handles meet the requirements of professional kitchens, are easy to clean and can go in the dishwasher.

In drop forging the whole blank is heated and shaped, which gives the steel its strength under load. Upset forging heats only a small section of the strip, mostly for reasons of production cost, and limits the shape. Drop forging leaves the form free from the tip of the blade to the end of the handle, which is what makes designs like SYNCHROS and THE KNIFE possible. That is why Güde stays with it.

Even hard steel flexes when it is ground thin. A flexible blade suits filleting fish, bending slightly as it moves between skin and flesh. A rigid blade resists twisting and guides the cut more precisely. The front of the SYNCHROS carving knife is ground thin, so it can also fillet.

Cutting means driving a wedge through food, and a narrower wedge cuts more easily. Too narrow, though, and the edge chips. Güde grinds its edges to about 33 degrees, which keeps them sharp and stable at the same time.

In the 1930s Franz Güde developed a serration with more pointed teeth than a conventional bread-knife edge. It cuts better and stays sharp longer, which is why a Güde bread knife goes through the hardest crust without crushing the crumb.

The bolster is the thickened steel between blade and handle: it protects the fingers and adds balancing weight. Many Güde lines have a second bolster at the end of the handle, which balances the knife for long sessions at the board. THE KNIFE and SYNCHROS leave the bolster out, so the handle flows straight into the blade.

The tang is the part of the steel the handle is fixed to. On Alpha knives the full tang is visible between the handle scales; on SYNCHROS it ends in a cross tang at the base of the handle. Güde knives have a full tang for balance, with one exception: THE KNIFE, which is held in a pinch grip so its centre of gravity already sits in the hand.

In a handle grip the hand wraps the handle, on Alpha knives between the two bolsters. Many cooks hold further forward, with thumb and index finger on either side of the blade, for more control and power. THE KNIFE is shaped so you hold it this way automatically; SYNCHROS lets you choose.