Knife Sharpening Guide
Sharpening angle per side and total edge angle for chef's, santoku, gyuto, paring, bread and cleaver knives, with a whetstone grit chart. How it works
Use the Knife Sharpening Guide
About the Knife Sharpening Guide
This guide sharpens a chef's knife at 18° per side by default, a 36° edge, with 15° and 20° as the other choices; a gyuto starts at 12°, a santoku and a paring knife at 15°, and a heavy cleaver at 25°. The angles are rules of thumb rather than maker figures, so when your knife's maker gives an angle, use that one. Type your blade height and the guide shows how far to lift the spine to hold the angle: 15.5 mm for a 50 mm blade at 18°.
Sharpening angles by knife type
| Knife | Angles offered per side | Default per side | Default edge angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chef's knife | 15°, 18°, 20° | 18° | 36° |
| Santoku | 12°, 15°, 17° | 15° | 30° |
| Gyuto | 10°, 12°, 15° | 12° | 24° |
| Cleaver | 25°, 30° | 25° | 50° |
| Paring knife | 15°, 17° | 15° | 30° |
| Bread knife (serrated) | 22°, 25° | 22° | Bevelled side only |
Edge angle = 2 × the angle per side, for a symmetric double bevel.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I hold the right angle on a whetstone?
- Lift the spine by the blade height × sin(angle); type the blade height in millimetres or inches and the guide works it out. A 50 mm blade at 18° needs 15.5 mm. A 45 mm tall blade at 15° needs its spine about 11.6 mm off the stone, and at 18° about 13.9 mm. Check it at the heel and again near the tip, where the blade is lower and the spine has to come down.
- What grit whetstone should I use?
- For routine sharpening, an 800 to 1000 grit stone. Go down to 250 to 400 only to repair chips or reshape an edge, and up to 2000 to 3000 to refine it; 5000 and above is for polishing.
- What angle for a Japanese knife?
- The guide offers 10°, 12° or 15° per side for a gyuto and 12°, 15° or 17° for a santoku, both as double-bevel knives. Single-bevel Japanese knives, ground on one face only, are not covered by these numbers.
- How do you sharpen a serrated bread knife?
- With a tapered sharpening rod rather than a whetstone, as the cookware maker Made In describes: lay the rod in each scallop on the bevelled side and draw it through 4 or 5 times, then smooth the burr that forms. The flat side is left alone, so there is no total edge angle to work out.
Related Tools
View all toolsDehydrator Guide
Dehydrator temperature, hours and prep for apples, bananas, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, jerky and herbs, from NCHFP and university extension guides.
Smoke Point Guide
Smoke points of 38 cooking oils and fats in °F and °C. Enter a cooking temperature to see which oils are listed above or below it.
Canning Altitude Guide
High-altitude canning adjustments: minutes to add in a water bath or steam canner, or pounds for a dial or weighted pressure canner, up to 10,000 ft.
Chocolate Tempering Guide
Tempering temperatures for dark, milk and white chocolate from Callebaut, Michel Cluizel and Valrhona: melt, cool and work, in °C and °F.
Coffee Brewing Guide
Coffee dose and water per serving for pour over, French press, AeroPress, moka pot, espresso, drip and cold brew, with each ratio's source where there is one.
Sous Vide Calculator
Sous vide bath temperature and minimum time by thickness and doneness for beef, pork, chicken, salmon and eggs, from Baldwin's tables.