Our Brand & Steel

Why are Gunter Wilhelm Knives the Best on the Market?

The Steel
In the beginning, knives were made from High Carbon steel. This was because High Carbon Steel was easy to sharpen and held an edge really well. The problem was that High Carbon would turn black quickly and was not attractive. The problem with Stainless Steel knives is that while they look great, they don t hold an edge and are almost impossible to sharpen. Then someone in Germany came up with an alloy which is the mixture of two steels, high carbon and stainless steel. This new alloy, called 440 was the answer to the problem. 440 holds an edge really well and sharpens easily while being very stain resistant. Most good knives such as Henckels, Wusthof, and of course Gunter Wilhelm, all use 440 high carbon-stainless steel. Gunter Wilhelm Knives are made from the finest 440C alloy imported from Thyssen krupp Steel in Germany. The final processes such as polishing, packaging, wood block manufacturing and final inspection are done in China under the personal supervision of Paul Hellman aka Gunter Wilhelm.

Stamped Style vs. Forged Style
There are two basic kinds of knives in the world. The first is stamped. Brands such as Cutco, Dexter-Russell, etc. make their knives from sheet metal stamping and then attach plastic or wood handles to the tang. Stamped knives have no bolster, and do not have the weight, balance and durability of Forged Style knives. Forged style knives are typically made from one block of steel and always have a Bolster. The Bolster is the large metal area joining the blade with the handle. Forged knives have better weight and balance than Stamped Knives. The best knives such as Gunter Wilhelm, Henckels and Wusthof are all of the forged style.

Gunter Wilhelm vs. "The Rest"
The most common question people ask us is how our knives compare to brands such as Henckels and Wusthof. Well, frankly speaking, those brands are quite good. However, there are a number of very important features which make the Gunter Wilhelm brand much better.

Tang. Let s talk about the "Tang". The tang is the metal that runs through the middle of the handle. Most people know that great knives always have a full tang (all the way through the handle). However, Gunter Wilhelm has a "TRIPLE FULL TANG". This means that metal runs through the handle on 3 sides and is all one piece. This gives the knife noticeably more weight and extremely nice balance. As soon as you hold a Gunter Wilhelm, you know its special.
Blade width. The wider the blade, the more knuckle clearance you get. No one likes to bang their knuckles on the cutting board while chopping. Gunter Wilhelm has extra wide blades compared to most other brands.
Heel. The heel is the first inch of cutting edge on the blade. On the previously mentioned brands, the heel is not sharp. Gunter Wilhelm sharpens the heel on all its knives for more increased productivity when chopping things like parsely, cilantro, etc.
Spine: The top of the blade is called the spine. When you hold the knife properly, your index finger contacts the spine during all cutting operations. Most other knives have a sharp spine and Chefs actually develop calluses in this area as a result. Gunter Wilhelm smoothes out the corners on the spine so that you don t need a chef s callus to slice and dice comfortably.
Warranty. Gunter Wilhelm guarantees that if your knife breaks, even if it s your fault, it will be replaced for free. No other knife company offers this kind of warranty. Most offer you a manufacturer s defect warranty and if they determine misuse, they will not replace it free.

Gunter Wilhelm Cutlery is the Mercedes of the cutlery world. Chefs all over the world have embraced it and consider it to be the finest cutlery out there. Why settle for less?