For one to use the kitchen knife rightly, he or she needs to study the anatomy of the knife and understand the importance of each of the parts of a knife. When you understand the importance of each part of a knife, it will help you balance and have easy maneuverability while using it in the kitchen. In this write-up, we look at the whole anatomy of the kitchen knife, stating the importance of each knife part. We look at the parts of a knife blade (tip, edge, spine, heel, finger guard), as well as the parts of the knife handle as you will see below.
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Parts of a Kitchen Knife blade
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The Tip
The shiny part of the knife is what we call the blade, so the most end of the blade away from the handle is the tip. The tip is the part where the spine and the edge intersect from. It is tiny and sharp. Even on the dull knives, the tip is seen to be sharp. One would say the tip is the region that wraps up the blade from the other side away from the knife handle.
Uses of the Knife blade tip
This part of a knife blade is mostly used to create a guide when cutting through fruits such as lemons, watermelons, pineapples, etc.
The tip is also used to pierce and separate sinew from meat, followed by separating the meat from the bone. This part plays a significant role and quickening the whole process.
When trying to get out seeds from the small fruits, this tip also serves an important role, more so, for the paring knife.
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The Edge
This is the workhorse of the kitchen knife. When dull, nothing can go on until when sharpened. The edge starts from the tip to the heel towards the knife handle.
More so, this is the part of a knife sharpened to attain a razor blade feel and look. Some blades are V-shaped, straight, curved while others are serrated with a tooth-like structure.
The Spine
This is the opposite side of the knife’s edge, and it is the thickest part of the blade, giving the required strength to the knife. It is said that the thicker the spine, the stronger the edge.
During chopping or cutting, the index finger rests on the spine, enabling the edge to penetrate what you are cutting or chopping on your cutting board.
Heel
You can take it as the lower part of the blade, close to the bolster. The point where the edge starts as it ends towards the tip. It is not that sharp like the edge but can scratch when mistakenly held. Not all kitchen knives feature a heel, because some are fully bolstered or even directly connected to the knife handle.
Finger guard
This region is mistaken as the heel, or to some, the bolster. It is located just behind or below the heel; it protects your fingers when using your knife.
Bolster
This is the region where the blade joins the knife handle when holding the knife. This restricts your downer fingers. The one you roll around the handle of the kitchen knives not to get to the heel, even to the edge.
The importance of the bolster is to add strength to the knife’s handle, hence providing more comfort to the user while creating more balance in your hands.
The Knife Handle Parts
As in our recent article about handle materials, we hinted at the parts of the handle, but we did not get into details, so let us elaborate on these parts of a knife.
The Tang
The extension of the knife blade inside the knife handle is what we call the tang. Some tangs run throughout the handle length to the butt. These are called the full tang. Whereas other tangs are just half the handle or even a quarter, hence called the partial tang.
The full tang is always the best as it entirely holds up the knife handle to the blade. The full tang is also stronger, even at more challenging jobs like cutting through the bone as compared to the partial tang.
With the partial tang, when the kitchen knife handle is spoilt, you can no longer use the knife. But for the full tang, you can still use the blade with the help of the kitchen towel.
The tang is connected to the handle with what we call the rivets.
The Rivets
Knife with one Rivet
Not all knives have rivets, but most of them do. Rivets help to attach the knife handle to the tang. Fasteners on the blade can be one, two, or three. Most feature with three.
With the presence of rivets, you are assured that your knife handle is compact. Rivets not only help to bond the handle with the tang but also, improves the gripping factor of your knife.
The Butt
As the name sounds, this is the last part of the kitchen knife on the side of the handle. It has an indexed feature to aid in griping while holding your knife such that it keeps firm in the fingers.
Conclusion
The knife is not just a piece of cutlery. It is rather a piece of art that is designed to perform important functions in the kitchen. Each part of a knife contributes to the whole functionality of the knife, which makes its comfortable and efficient use possible. Having known all the parts of a knife, more so, the chef’s knife, as well as their importance, we hope that now this gives your confidence when using it. Each given part should be held with care and used the right way such that your knife delivers what you expect of it. Also, check the different kitchen shears and scissors and the different ways to put the kitchen shears to use.
