Victorinox kitchen knives—types, benefits, how to choose & FAQs

In this guide, we:

• look at the different types of Victorinox kitchen knives available
• tell you how to choose the right one for your purposes
• answer some common questions about Victorinox knives

Quick links:

• Why buy Victorinox kitchen knives over other brands?
• What types of kitchen knives does Victorinox make?
• How do I choose a knife?
• FAQs

Why buy Victorinox kitchen knives over other brands?

Victorinox is a Swiss company renowned across the world for the high quality of its kitchen knives.

Many chefs value Victorinox knives because they are:

• lightweight
• extremely strong
• razor-sharp
• reasonably priced

Established professional cooks prize the more expensive forged knives for their full tang, balanced weight, and the comfort and grip of the handle.

Chefs who are just starting out in the kitchen might opt for knives in the Victorinox Fibrox range, which perform well without the need to break the bank.

What types of kitchen knives does Victorinox make?

Victorinox’s range of kitchen knives is extensive and includes the following:

• Chef’s/cook’s knives
• Butcher’s knives
  • Boning knives
  • Carving knives
  • Cleavers
  • Slicing knives
• Wooden handle knives
• Fibrox knives
• Forged knives
• Pastry knives
• Knife sets

Chef’s knives/cook’s knives

An all-purpose knife for preparing food. Its curved blade can be used in a rocking motion for thinner, more precise cuts. The blade is broad enough that the knife can serve as a cleaver for cutting through bone.

Fibrox

Anti-slip, soft-grip handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Dishwasher-safe

Wooden

Comfortable riveted wooden handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Hand-washing recommended

Forged steel

Handle fully forged from single piece of steel

Ergonomic riveted handle for better balance and comfort

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Hand-washing recommended

Butcher’s knives

There are many knives designed for butchery and working with meat. These include the following:

• Boning knives
  • Remove bones from cuts of meat
  • Flexible blade with sharp, narrow tip

Read more in our guide to boning knives.

• Carving knives
  • Slice lean cuts of meat
  • Thin blade for precise cutting
  • Pointed tip allows for better cutting along a board
  • Some have serrated blades—can sometimes shred and tear meat
  • Some have fluted blades—ensures very thinly sliced meat doesn’t stick to the steel

Read more in our guide to carving knives.

• Cleavers
  • Chop and cut through thick meat and hard bone
  • Long, wide blade
• Slicing knives
  • Cut smaller, thinner slices of meat
  • Similar to carving knives, but usually longer and narrower
  • Often rounded tip
  • Serrated or fluted blades are common

Read more in our guide to slicing knives.

Boning knives

Fibrox

Anti-slip, soft-grip handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Dishwasher-safe

Wooden

Comfortable riveted wooden handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Hand-washing recommended

Forged steel

Handle fully forged from single piece of steel

Ergonomic riveted handle for better balance and comfort

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Hand-washing recommended

Carving knives

Fibrox

Anti-slip, soft-grip handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Dishwasher-safe

Wooden

Comfortable riveted wooden handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Hand-washing recommended

Cleavers

Slicing knives

Fibrox

Forged steel

Victorinox wooden handle knives

View our full range of Victorinox wooden handle knives here.

Comfortable riveted wooden handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Hand-washing recommended

Victorinox Fibrox knives

What is Victorinox Fibrox?

These knives feature handles made from the material Fibrox. The mineral fibres used in Fibrox products are spun at high temperatures from molten minerals to produce slip-resistant handles which are ergonomic, comfortable, heat-resistant and immune to the harmful effects of water, such as swelling and rust.

View our full range of Victorinox Fibrox knives here.

Anti-slip, soft-grip handle

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Dishwasher-safe

Victorinox forged knives

View our full range of Victorinox forged knives here.

Handle fully forged from single piece of steel

Ergonomic riveted handle for better balance and comfort

High-carbon stainless steel blade

Hand-washing recommended

Pastry knives

A highly versatile knife that many chefs use as their everyday, all-purpose knife. It has a long, broad, flexible blade with a serrated edge, which allows it to remain strong while also doubling as a palette knife or spatula for certain jobs.

Read more in our guide to pastry knives.

Victorinox knife sets

View our full range of Victorinox knife sets here.

How do I choose a knife?

Victorinox has produced a four-part YouTube video that explains how to go about choosing the perfect knife for your needs:

Part 1—Introduction

Part 2—How to choose a knife that’s right for you

Part 3—Fibrox knives

Part 4—Forged knives

FAQs

Click on a link to jump to the relevant question:

• Where are Victorinox kitchen knives made?
• How are they made?
• What type of steel does Victorinox use?
• What’s the best way to sharpen them?
• Are they dishwasher-safe?
• What types of kitchen knife does Victorinox make?

Where are Victorinox kitchen knives made?

Most Victorinox kitchen knives are made in the company’s factory, based at its headquarters in Ibach, Switzerland.

How are they made?

A Victorinox knife may be stamped or forged, depending on the product range.

During the stamping process, a machine with a knife-shaped cutter stamps out the blade and tang (the metal that extends through the centre of the handle). The handle is then attached and the blade is sharpened.

Most forged knives are cut from a piece of metal which has been machine-beaten to make it stronger.

The benefit of the stamping method is that the process is less expensive, meaning you can buy high-quality knives at lower prices. Forged knives are thought of as stronger and less prone to bending or chipping. They also tend to cost more.

What type of steel does Victorinox use?

Victorinox uses a stainless-steel alloy known as ‘high-carbon stainless steel’ in many of its knives. This alloy contains around 0.5% of carbon, giving the knife the best attributes of both carbon steel and ordinary stainless steel. This includes a blade that:

• does not stain or rust
• has the necessary hardness and strength
• keeps its sharp edge for longer

The high-carbon stainless steel Victorinox uses is designated as X55CrMo14 or 1.4110. What this means is that the alloy is made up of the following elements:

• 15% chromium
• 60% silicon
• 52% carbon
• 50% molybdenum
• 45% manganese

What’s the best way to sharpen them?

The best method of sharpening any professional kitchen knife is to use a whetstone. This allows you to sharpen the blade to the angle you want without losing too much steel from the edge.

However, professional kitchens use many knives, and sharpening more than 15 knives with a whetstone can be very time-consuming. This is why some kitchens prefer to use a desktop sharpener or send their knives away to be professionally ground. The drawback of these methods is that they can reduce the life of a knife by removing more of the steel than a whetstone might.

We recommend that you use a whetstone to sharpen the knives you use most. For more information about how to sharpen a knife, click here.

Are they dishwasher-safe?

Never wash an expensive knife in a dishwasher. When the dishwasher is on, the knife can move around and knock against other kitchenware, which can chip and dull the edge of its blade. Wooden handles can also soak up water, which might cause them to swell and become damaged.

However, the Fibrox handles that come with many Victorinox kitchen knives will not swell in water as the fibres to make them are waterproof.

What types of kitchen knife does Victorinox make?

Victorinox produces almost any knife you might need in a professional kitchen, along with spatulas, scissors and other kitchen equipment.

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