Thoughts on certain types of integral bolsters...

[JohnKSa]

A friend gave me two knives to work on. These are kitchen knives with integral bolsters of the kind that go all the way down to the cutting edge of the blade.

Here's an example, in fact, the knives in question are actually this brand. Henckels.


https://www.zwilling.com/us/henckel...enckels-international_cutlery_classic#start=9

The knives are many years old and have been sharpened many times. They have been sharpened so much that the integral bolster began to protrude below the cutting edge of the blade instead of being flush with the blade. This meant that the rear portion of the blade can't be brought into contact with the cutting surface, preventing the proper use of the knife for some purposes.

The owner was unhappy with this situation and wanted me to see if there was some way to remedy the problem. (Actually, the frustration level was such that the knives were given to me as an alternative to throwing them away.)

I was able to grind the bolsters down so that they were slightly above the cutting edge and then when I sharpened the knife, the edge ended up being just about flush with the bottom of the bolster, just as when the knife was new.

Then I touched up the bolsters so they look nice and have roughly the same profile as before the work. Fortunately the bolsters were not as hard as the blade steel and I was able to use a file to reprofile them and clean them up.

It was an interesting challenge, and both knives are now usable again, but I have decided that I do not like this type of integral bolster. I don't see any real advantage to them and dealing with them in the circumstances described above is a pain.

I apologize for not taking before and after photos as that would have made things easier to understand, but I didn't really think about it until I was finished.

Anyway, just something to think about when purchasing kitchen cutlery.

 

[Speedo66]

We had a Henkels corporate office near where I used to live in Westchester Co. NY, they would thrown an annual sale and wholesale out knives and accessories. They had several different lines at different price points, some without the integral bolster, some made in countries other than Germany.

I was under the impression that the blade and bolster were one piece, I was surprised when you stated the bolsters were softer.

We also had a Wusthof headquarters not far away for a while, same sales every year. I bought both, couldn't really say which brand was superior on equal lines.

 

[bikerdoc]

Never thought About or run into it. Thanks
Inherited dad's old butcher knives, carbon steel, wood scales. Some date back to the 50's
Might do a pictorial some day.

 

[hso]

I don't see any real advantage to them and dealing with them in the circumstances described above is a pain.

The blades are hot forged with a die to this shape making it a single process to form an integral bolster instead of piecing a bolster on. Other than the obvious labor savings there, the practical reason is to keep water and debris from getting into the pieced space (without the additional labor of properly soldering). That said, there's no particularly good reason to stamp the heel of the blade in front of the bolster this way when forging in the bolster except to "soften" that area for the finger that people will place against it. The folks that don't know how to use a pinch grip will find a hot spot develops quickly there if they're gripping too hard using the knife for an extended time. It also changes the balance by having all that material at the end of the cutting edge and might make a little sense for a large knife. I suspect comfort is the primary reason since you could balance the blade at the far end the same way.



As you and the owner found, that raised heel area makes it more difficult to sharpen near the heel of the blade. Annoyingly so.

Secondly, most people over sharpen their knives when they should be steeling them. They grind too much material off too frequently when all the kitchen knife, and most knives, need is to straighten the edge when it is used. Steeling will save a lot of time and material (and money) preserving a kitchen knife for many years. So, you end up with blades ground down too far either calling for the blade to be reprofiled or replaced (and with some, ground past the hardened steel leaving little to work with).

 

[Fiv3r]

I'm not a fan of them at all. I also agree that people over sharpen their kitchen knives. I cringe when I look at the pull through sharpeners that hog off several years worth of steel. A good regimen of using a steel and strop in a preventative fashion will make the need to take your knives to the stone a very infrequent chore to be saved for when actual damage is done to the blade due to bone...or boneheadedness.

My guess is that most modern kitchen knives fall in two categories: Cheap junkers that are made to be used, abused, and tossed. And fine knives that will be maintained to the point that sharpening down to the bolster would take so long that the knife will outlive the Chef or will be deemed to have provided a good enough life that replacement is acceptable.


My favorite user knives are Shuns. They are entry level with decent VG10 welded to some form of 440a stainless, but it should give me a couple decades worth of use. Not bad for an $80 knife. The other thing I like is that they are a nice blend of Japanese and western knives. I can pinch grip these all day. With the balance being right in front of the bolster, all I have to do is cock my wrist 15 degrees down and it just melts to the cutting board.

 

[JohnKSa]

I was under the impression that the blade and bolster were one piece, I was surprised when you stated the bolsters were softer.

They are one piece as far as I can tell, but they don't appear to be hardened to the same extent as the blade proper. That said, both knives were slightly magnetized and I noticed an unusual pattern in how the filings arranged themselves near what would be the juncture of the bolster and blade if they were actually two pieces. They made a nice, neat line, on the same place on both blades, about where one might expect that there would have been a join if they really were two pieces. I'm absolutely not going to say that they are two pieces based on such flimsy evidence, I just thought it was interesting.

Secondly, most people over sharpen their knives when they should be steeling them. They grind too much material off too frequently when all the kitchen knife, and most knives, need is to straighten the edge when it is used.

Yes, that is certainly true, however, I find that not many people know how to sharpen a knife properly and even fewer understand how to steel one properly.

As you and the owner found, that raised heel area makes it more difficult to sharpen near the heel of the blade. Annoyingly so.

That is certainly true, but in this case the worst of it was that the bolster had to be ground down to get everything lined up again before it could be sharpened.

I definitely agree that the resharpening process was not as smooth as I would have liked. If you want to sharpen all the way to the heel, you really can't. There's always going to be a small area near the heel that isn't sharpened right. Which, I guess isn't a big deal since the heel isn't sharp either. Which is another issue because: "Why would a design intentionally make part of the knife that contacts the cutting board not sharp?"

I do like the idea of integral bolsters, but (as of the past few days) now I strongly prefer the type shown in the first picture in your post where the bolster doesn't form a heel that reaches all the way down to the cutting edge of the blade. I think that it would also be possible to make a hybrid where the the bolster does provide a rounded/ergonomic surface for the index finger for those who don't use a pinch grip but that tapers down to blade thickness well before the cutting edge.

Anyway, these knives were purchased by a person who had never really considered the implications of the heel on the blade. In fact, I really hadn't ever thought about it before a few days ago either. But you can bet I will make it a consideration from now on.