Güde alpha chef knife.

[HappyamateurDK]

Hi all.

Anyone familiar with the Güde Messer Alpha chef knife.

I am looking for a sturdy German knife that can take hard use. I know I could just go for a zwilling or wüsthof. But I like the Güde wooden handles. And the fact that they are hand finished.

So..anyone who knows if they are any good ?

Thanks.
Søren

 

[AFKitchenknivesguy]

On this site, Gude is renowned for their bread knife. Not so much for anything else. I'm sure it's OK though.

 

[daveb]

Thick.

If you like the Germans, the Messermeister Meridian merits consideration. No bolster, nicely balanced a little blade forward, well finished. The basic pakka handle is about $100 USD, they get into some fancy wood for a premium.

 

[HappyamateurDK]

Thick.

If you like the Germans, the Messermeister Meridian merits consideration. No bolster, nicely balanced a little blade forward, well finished. The basic pakka handle is about $100 USD, they get into some fancy wood for a premium.

Thick? You mean the spinal is thick?

I have looked at the Messermeister..and it is a nice knife. But you can't buy them in Europe. Here they are sold under the Burgvogel brand. It is my understanding that Burgvogel is the manufacturer of Messermeister.

I would like to have a wood handle. And both the Burgvogel Oliva and walnut handles are beautiful. I just can't help thinking that it looks like a design that will end up with loose handles. Anyone know how Messermeister/Burgvogel handles are attached?

Anyway a bolster doesn't bother the user of the knife.

 

[spaceconvoy]

I was looking for something more comfortable than a sharp heel against my thumb for in-hand work, so I bought a Messermeister paring knife for the semi-bolster, I guess you would call it. Doesn't interfere with sharpening like a typical Wusthof bolster, and the wooden handle on their Elite lines is really nice too, but not sure about longevity. I wanted to like this knife but it's thick as a brick behind the edge, like a swiss army knife, so I returned it. The handle felt solid to me, and might be worth all the thinning required.

 

[lars78]

good quality but very thick

 

[JayS20]

Heard good things about the bread knife but never good things about their chefknives. Maybe also look at Herder/Windmühlenmesser.

 

[Eloh]

Basically all modern German production knives (minus Herder) have automated flat machine grinds with too much material behind the edge.
For someone with a belt grinder (and the skills) it's a quick job to thin it to a slightly convex thinner grind to make a decent cutter out of it. But thinning on stones wouldn't be really worth it imo.
In terms of f&f güde, dick, wusthof, burgvogel etc all pretty good, so that shouldn't be really a concern imo.
Personally I don't think the güde handles are too comfortable, also their knives are pretty handle heavy, but that's also a preference thing, because I know people who like them....

At the end you need to try a few different knives yourself, to see what you like

 

[HappyamateurDK]

Basically all modern German production knives (minus Herder) have automated flat machine grinds with too much material behind the edge.
For someone with a belt grinder (and the skills) it's a quick job to thin it to a slightly convex thinner grind to make a decent cutter out of it. But thinning on stones wouldn't be really worth it imo.
In terms of f&f güde, dick, wusthof, burgvogel etc all pretty good, so that shouldn't be really a concern imo.
Personally I don't think the güde handles are too comfortable, also their knives are pretty handle heavy, but that's also a preference thing, because I know people who like them....

At the end you need to try a few different knives yourself, to see what you like

Thanks for your input

Normally I would go out and try them in my hand. But since the knife is a present for my dad, it wouldn't help anyway.

I ended up buying a wusthof Crafter. It has the classic profile and looks I think he will like. And I guess the brand assure a descent level of quality.

Also I now have the time to take it to a pro sharpener and let him make a convex edge and polish. Before giving it away.