Knife Sharpening Angle Chart: Find Your Knife by Brand

Knife sharpening angle for a pocket knife is 15° to 20° per side, Victorinox says; Buck grinds 13° to 16° and Shun kitchen knives 16°.

Last updated: November 5, 2026 · Originally published October 24, 2026

A knife sharpening angle is the tilt between the blade and the stone, measured on one side of the edge, and it decides how thin the cutting wedge is and how long it lasts. Pocket knives, hunting folders and kitchen knives leave the factory at different angles, and a few brands print the number while others never do. The chart below gives each brand’s figure in its own words, doubles it into the full edge angle, and names the steel it rides on. Hold the angle steady and take your time, because a dull knife that has to be forced is the one that slips. The right angle is the one the factory ground, so match the stone to the knife.

Knife Sharpening Angle Chart by Brand

Having worked behind the counter for over 20 years, I get asked “what angle do I hold it at?” more than any other sharpening question, and the answer is almost never on the box. So I went to the brands. Where a brand publishes a number, it is in the table in that brand’s words. Where it does not, the cell says what I searched.

Per-side figures are quoted from each brand’s own FAQ, care page or product page, read October 18, 2026, and linked in the sources at the bottom. The inclusive column is simply the per-side figure doubled. Steels are from one named model’s product page, so check your own model. Shun and Buck state “per side” or “each side” outright; Victorinox’s “15 to 20°” is the angle you hold against the stone, which is a per-side measurement.

Per Side vs Inclusive Angle

A normal double-bevel edge is two flat faces meeting at a point, like the letter V. The per-side angle is how far one face tilts away from the center of the blade; the inclusive angle is the whole opening of the V, both faces added together. So 15° per side and a 30° inclusive edge are the same edge, described two ways.

Why does it matter? Because sharpeners print it both ways. Spyderco’s Sharpmaker, for one, is labeled “30° (15° each side) or 40° (20° each side).” If you read 30 on the base and think it is per side, you just doubled the angle on your knife (and turned a slicer into a splitting wedge). Remember, a stone only ever touches one side at a time, so the number you hold in your hand is the per-side number.

15 vs 20 Degrees: Which Cuts Better?

The thinner wedge cuts easier, and the thicker wedge lasts longer. That is the whole trade. A 15° edge has less steel behind the apex, so it slides into rope or a tomato with less push. A 20° edge has more steel backing up that apex, so it shrugs off cardboard staples, wood and the odd bone before it rolls or chips.

The brands say the same thing in their own words. Buck sets each knife’s angle “based on how we feel the knife will be used,” and puts it plainly: “Heavy use needs a strong and blunt ‘V,’ while skinning or filleting would need a deeper but more vulnerable ‘V.'” Shun says German-style kitchen knives typically run 20° to 25° on each side, “requiring more muscle to cut through foods,” while its own knives sit at 16°, and it grinds its Western Cook’s Knife to 22° so it can take on squash, pumpkins and pineapple.

So which do I tell customers? For a pocket knife that opens boxes, cuts zip ties and trims a fishing line, I would go 20° per side and stop worrying about it. For a hunting knife that only ever sees hide and meat, drop toward 15°. For kitchen knives, follow the brand, because those numbers are lower than most people guess.

How High to Lift the Spine

Nobody carries a protractor to deer camp. Buck’s rule of thumb is to “hold the blade so the back of it is about one blade width up from flat on the stone.” If you want to see what an angle looks like, the lift is plain geometry: blade width times the sine of the angle. Here it is worked out for common blade widths.

Spine lift is blade width multiplied by the sine of the angle (sin 15° = 0.259, sin 20° = 0.342), rounded to the hundredth of an inch. Measure your own blade with a ruler.

Think about it: the difference between 15° and 20° on a one-inch blade is less than a tenth of an inch of lift. That is why holding the angle STEADY matters more than picking the perfect number.

The Marker Trick

Not sure what angle your knife has now? Use the trick Buck credits to Al Buck. Color the bevel with a black felt pen, take two strokes on the stone, and look. If the black is gone from the whole bevel, you matched the factory angle. Black left at the top of the bevel means the spine is too high; black left at the bottom means you are laying the knife too flat. Repaint and try again until it comes off clean.

What Each Brand Says

Benchmade

Benchmade publishes one number: its Hunt Class SelectEdge is “our proprietary 14° per-side edge grind,” and Benchmade calls it “like having a scalpel in the field.” For its other folders I found no figure, so match the existing bevel or send it in. LifeSharp service is free; ordering it through benchmade.com carries a $20 service kit fee for packaging and insured shipping both ways, and Benchmade does not sharpen serrations.

Kershaw and Zero Tolerance

Kershaw says its blades are sharpened “to a range of angles, depending on the type of steel and end-use of the knife,” generally 20° to 22°, with fillet knives at 18°, and it tells owners to hold 18° to 22°. Zero Tolerance gives the same 18° to 22°. Neither says per side or total, so the chart flags it.

Buck

Buck grinds “13-16 degrees per side,” and for heavy work it tells you to start with five strokes per side on a coarse stone and check your bevel before you go finer. The 110 Folding Hunter is a good example of why the steel column matters: Buck sells it in 420HC and in S30V, S35VN, S45VN and MagnaCut versions. If you would rather not, Buck’s SPA service restores the factory edge for $6.95 a knife, return shipping included. Our older Buck 110 review covers the knife itself.

Victorinox

Victorinox’s pocket knife guide says to aim for 15° to 20°, to “always move the blade toward the cutting edge, not back and forth,” and to follow up with a ceramic or diamond sharpener. Our Victorinox Manager review covers the little keychain model.

Kitchen Knives: Western vs Japanese

Wüsthof sharpens its knives at 14.5° per side, against “about 20° per side” it says most other brands’ kitchen knives carry, and it tells owners to tilt an Asian-style knife to 10° on the honing steel. Shun puts its double-bevel knives at 16° on each side, and its factory sharpening service grinds them back to 16°.

The steel is the reason. Shun hardens VG10 and VG-MAX to 60-61 Rockwell and SG2 to 61-62, and says harder steel lets the blade stock be thinner and the edge more acute. It also warns that micro chipping “can be the downside of very hard” steel without proper technique. So a Japanese knife sharpened at a German 20° loses the thin edge you paid for, and a German knife pushed down to 10° gives up the toughness it was built around.

Honing Between Sharpenings

Honing is not sharpening. A honing steel pushes a bent edge back into line and removes almost no metal, and it is what keeps you off the stone. Victorinox says to hold the knife at 20° to the steel, draw it heel to tip, five times on each side, and to hone every few uses. Wüsthof says 14.5° on its steel, alternating sides, and the coarse slot of a hand sharpener only once or twice a year. Shun suggests honing about once a week, on a steel with a built-in 16° guide, and asks you not to use a diamond steel for regular honing because diamond removes metal. Our pocket knife maintenance guide covers cleaning and oiling the rest of the knife.

Does Steel Change the Knife Sharpening Angle?

Yes, and that is why the brands disagree. Kershaw says its angles depend on “the type of steel and end-use,” and its Leek runs 14C28N at HRC 58-60. Spyderco’s Delica 4 is VG-10 and its Para 3 is CPM S45VN; Benchmade’s hunting line uses CPM-S45VN and CPM-154. To see how those steels compare on toughness and edge retention before you pick an angle, run them through our knife steel comparison tool or the full knife steel comparison chart. For the stone, the strokes and the grit ladder, our how to sharpen a knife guide walks through every method step by step.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my knife is 15 or 20 degrees?

Check the brand’s figure in the chart first. If there is none, color the bevel with a marker and take two light strokes at 20°: if the ink comes off only at the very edge, you are steeper than the factory bevel, so lower the spine toward 15° until the whole bevel comes clean.

What happens if you sharpen a knife at the wrong angle?

Go lower than the factory bevel and you grind a wide new bevel, which takes a long time and thins the edge. Go higher and you only touch the apex, which sharpens fast but leaves a blunter, tougher edge. Victorinox warns that the wrong angle can dull the blade instead of sharpening it.

What angle should I sharpen a hunting knife?

Start with the brand. Buck grinds 13° to 16° per side and Benchmade’s Hunt Class SelectEdge is 14° per side, both lower than a typical pocket knife, because skinning and caping reward a thin edge.

Can I sharpen a Japanese kitchen knife at 20 degrees?

You can, but you give away its edge. Shun asks owners to make sure any electric sharpener they use matches its 16° angle, and Wüsthof uses 10° on the honing steel for Asian-style knives.

Do knife companies sharpen their own knives for free?

Several do. Benchmade’s LifeSharp service is free (a $20 kit when you order it online), and Kershaw and Zero Tolerance sharpen for free for as long as you own the knife if you pay shipping. Buck’s SPA service is $6.95 a knife with return shipping.

Here is my verdict. Find your brand in the chart, hold that angle the same on every stroke, and if the brand never printed one, 20° per side on a pocket knife will not steer you wrong. Come see us if you want a second opinion on your edge.

Sources: Benchmade, “Hunt Class”; Benchmade, “LifeSharp – How It Works”; Spyderco, “Tri-Angle Sharpmaker”; Spyderco, “Delica 4 Stainless”; Spyderco, “Para 3”; Kershaw, “FAQ”; Kershaw, “Leek”; Zero Tolerance, “FAQ”; Buck Knives, “How to Sharpen Your Knife”; Buck Knives, “Knife Sharpening Services”; Victorinox, “How to sharpen a pocket knife”; Victorinox, “How to Sharpen Your Kitchen Knife”; Wüsthof, “What is PEtec?”; Wüsthof, “How to Sharpen Your Wüsthof Knives”; Shun, “FAQ”; Shun, “Sharpening Services”.

James Nicholas

NFA Firearms Manufacturer & Professional Gunsmith The XDMAN has a talent for taking complex firearms subject matter and breaking it down into an easy-to-understand format that all experience levels can relate to. James is an 07/02 NFA Firearms Manufacturer, a Professional Gunsmith with over 20 years of experience, and a Firearms Writer, Photographer and Firearms Expert. Connect with him on Instagram, X, and Facebook as @therealxdman.

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