Do German or Japanese knives hold their edge longer?

Question

I want to buy a chef's knife, but I can't sharpen, and I don't plan to learn it. I will have to send my knives for sharpening, so I obviously prefer this to happen as rarely as possible.

I am leaning towards a Solingen style knife, probably a forged Zwilling. But I read in an answer herethat the Japanese style knives like Global need less frequent sharpening. This surprised me, as I seem to recall reading the opposite somewhere (but don't recall where).

Assumed that I hone the knife after use, which type will need less frequent sharpening?

Asked by rumtscho

Answer

The reason you're seeing conflicting opinions is because their two different things going on here - in opposite directions.

German/European knives are made of a softer steel than Japenese knives - they need sharpening more often but are easier to sharpen because of the softness. Since the steel in Japanese harder, it needs to be sharpened less often.

The other factor is the angle of the edge - the German/European angle is flatter than the Japanese knives. This means the German knives take 'abuse' better on the edge and requires less sharpening because of that. You can see below that there are two different angles:

As far as which requires sharpening less, I'd say it depends on how general purpose your knife is going to be. If its going to be going through bone and all sorts of things, the German edge will probably stay a bit better and the softer steel will re-hone better. If you're mainly cutting veggies, breads, cheeses, and other soft items - the Japanese knife will last longer because the difference of edge doesn't matter as much as the steel here.

Answered by rfusca

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