What
Does Balance Add to a Chef Knife?
You read a lot about the Balance of a chef knife.
Have you ever wondered what it means?
Why would you need to check the balance of the
chef knife before
you buy it?
What actually helps the balance or makes your
knife unbalanced?
Let's start by explaining what a balanced knife
is.
A balanced knife is a knife that when you hold it between the blade
and the handle, it will balance itself and not lean to one side or
another.
Why is that so important?
When you work with a chef knife or any knife for
a long time, you will
hold it at the place where the handle meets
the blade. Sometimes, if you
hold the knife correctly, your index
finger and thumb will be holding the
blade itself.
If your knife is balanced, you will be able to work with it for a
long
time without tiring you wrist.
It is not unusual for starting chefs to have
wrist problems due to the
way they hold the chef knife, or because
their knife is unbalanced, so
either the handle is too heavy and
then it pulls the hand down, or the
blade is too heavy and then it
is harder to lift it.
Please bear in mind that I am talking about long
working hours of
cutting and dicing in the kitchen.
Usually what determines the balance of the
knife is the
handle.
Many cheap chef knives have plastic handles.
These are a bit light
and so the chef knife is balanced towards the
blade.
Another problem with more expensive chefs knives
are those that
have metal handles that make it heavier on the handle
side of the knife,
thus making unbalanced and tiring for long hours
of use.
Usually the better handle types for the correct balance are wood
handles or Pakka wood handles, or Mikarta wood handles since these
are more balanced with the blade
A Balanced Chef Knife with a Pakka Wood
Handle
