How "sharp" is a really sharp knife?
Everybody fells something different if we say "sharp knife blade". What is actually the measure of sharpness and who defines it?
 
We would like to bring more clarity in this point and have therefore put our knives and blades in four different categories.
 
The steels in the shop, we have assigned a level of sharpness. Of course you can use the steels with other levels of sharpness, but according to our experience, the respective steels are particularly well suited for the indicated levels of sharpness.
 
Category A
  • Watch video to "Category A" at YouTube
  • Grinded very thin
  • Shaves smoothly and without any trouble the hair from the arm
  • Sharpening angle below 25 ° (each side less than 12.5 °)
  • The thin blade is relatively sensitive and only for soft cut (*) in low load (**) suitable!
Category B
  • Grinded relatively thin
  • Shaves hair from the arm, but you have to attempt a little bit
  • Sharpening angle below 35 ° (each side less than 17.5 °)
  • The blade is a good all-rounder and for soft + medium cut (*) in medium heavy load (**) suitable

Schärfekategorie C

  • Grinded relatively tough
  • Shaves hair only with difficulty
  • Sharpening angle of 45 ° (each side less than 22.5 °)
  • The blade is a good all-rounder and suitable for medium cut (*) in medium-hard load (**).
  • Also suitable for hard cut (*) and hard load (**), but if you overdo it, it could lead to small eruptions on the cutting edge.
Schärfekategorie D
  • Grinded very tough
  • Not really shaved the hair from the arm
  • Sharpening angle greater than 45 ° (per side more than 22.5 °)
  • The cutting edge is like a tank and goes through almost any difficulty! Suitable for hard cut and hard load. Even shock loads (***) are ok.
 
* Under "soft cut", we mean raw meat without
    Bones, fish without bones and vegetables of all kinds.
    (But don't forget the wood you are cutting on, because this can
    make kitchen work to a "mid cut)
    "Mid cut" is for us, for example, a very hard salami, bread with normal crust, softer cartilage, etc.
    "Hard cut" means for us , for example softer bone, hard cartilage, wood, hard bread crust
 
** By "little stress" we mean, for example, the gentle and
     controlled contact with a wooden board without lateral
     Load of the cutting edge.
     Medium hard burden for us as the occasional contact
     with wood, bone and the cutting board without lateral
     Load of the cutting edge.
     Hard load mean for us, for example, the break-up of
     Wild and Batoning and other Bushcraft applications
 
*** Shocks means for us is that you hit the edge of the blade against something (hacking)