All About Pocket Knives

What purpose do these dimples serve? More importantly what happens when the edge gets past a few sharpening s and is into the dimples? Seems to me this knife has a very short life span. Am I missing something?

The dimples are supposed to keep food from sticking to the blade when you’re slicing stuff.

Jeffinn wrote:The dimples are supposed to keep food from sticking to the blade when you’re slicing stuff.

Yup.

And I guess that once you get into the dimples, you now have a serrated edge!

They theory is that they create air pockets, so food does not stick so much. Just slides over the blade. We bought a bone in ham, and the butcher knife struggled. Used my J. A. HENCKELS, fine EDGE Pro and it sliced it like butter. also; The hollows are called Grantons. Can form air pockets to help food side over the blade or reduce drag.

I think it works, from my limited experience. I would hope that a quality piece would not have the grantons TOO CLOSE to the cutting edge. I have mostly opted for another method which is also somewhat helpful-- a skinny blade fillet knife. It does not get as 'stuck' as a taller blade. I use fillet knives in the kitchen quite often. Not a substitute for my Japanese made santuko, however, which gets more use than any knife I own, including pocket knives.

I believe that style blade, or knife, is called a Santoku. It seems to me that it does help some with the sticking, but not a lot. On most Santoku knives the dimples are far enough from the edge that a normal lifetime of sharpening is not going to get into the Grantons. Unless you use a machine to sharpen, anyway. Here is one that is my wife's favorite kitchen knife. It is a Chefmate: not an expensive knife to begin with, and the handle is chipping away where it hit the knife block. I have kept it sharp with various whetstones for twenty years and not hit the Grantons yet.

Here's an old Remington with a LOT of dimples........

Santoku is correct. It became very popular because Rachel Rae was using them to cook on her TV show. Now found used in many thrift store. ESP. the low end brands like Farberware. Lot's of that brand like they don't hold an edge?

I first encountered this type of grinding on slicing knives that were called Granton slicers. We sold a lot of them in 1980s in the cutlery store to buffet type restaurants like King's Table, which was a popular chain of restaurants in those years. Below is the modern version of the Forschner/Victorinox slicing knife which was used by buffet restaurants of the 1980s to slice large cuts of ham and roast beef.
The Santoku pattern of Japanese chef knife was still a couple years away, and even then the first ones we got at the cutlery store were flat ground.

I asked the Henckels salesman what was the purpose of these "dimples" ground and to the blades? He said the old name for it is called "Granton" style, (perhaps named after the inventor), but he said what it really is is a double hollow grind. If you look at each of these dimples you notice there the dimple on the opposite side is staggered so that the ones on the front side are between the ones on the backside. The purpose of this the salesman explained is so that as the edge of the knife gets thicker, as the knife it sharpened up the blade, these offsetting double hollow grinds actually thin the blade out to compensate for the blade getting thicker as it is used up. Once they get into that double hollow grind they have a very thin cutting-edge, far sharper than the knife was when it was new!

One of the favorite patterns in our kitchen is a Santoku that has the double hollow grind. It has been sharpened until the edge is now in the double hollow grind and it is very very sharp!
I haven't noticed the double hollow grind helping with food not sticking to the blade, even though I use a double hollow ground Santoku every day to make a sandwich, I do not use it to cut cheddar cheese because it still sticks to the blade.

The Granton style of double hollow grind, as far as I know, was introduced on large knives used to slice large cuts of meat into thin uniform slices. Due to the fats and most meats, they usually do not stick to the blades of slicing knives. My understanding is that the Granton style of double hollow grind was invented to give and keep a sharper edge for slicing meat.

Thanks guys. Lots of great information in this thread. I’m glad I asked.

Thoze "dimples" have other names...;their intent is to reduce friction between the blade and the substance being cut.?? I have found them to be effective when slicing dense,moist,& sticky foods.