Hello,
I have only recently become aware of Robert Herber knives that are made by Windmühlenmesser manufacture in Solingen, Germnay. The offer interesting range of mostly european style knives both in carbon and stainless steels. What puts them aside of the common German knives is that they are relatively thin and hardened to 60-61 HRC (depending on steel, some models may be softer).
The manufacture does not have directly any usable webpage, the best source of information is their storefront: http://www.messer-mit-tradition.de, but some online shops in UK do carry them too, though usually not the full range and without much information.
Anyhow - they have a few different knife lines and quite some knives that do not really fit any category. Most of their knives seem to be grinded from steel sheets (not a surprise as most of their knives cost 60 or less), only the line 1922 and the single knife 'B1 Rudolf Broch' are hand forged. At least to my understanding.
And it is indeed the B1 Rudolf Broch knife I would like to ask your opinion about.
According to the German description (which uses very complicated words and special names for process that mostly are not that special or uncommon) the knife is:
- thin hand forged by Rudolf Broch - supposedly one of the last "true" knife smiths in Soligen (the gentleman is about 71, so that may be actually true)
- is forged from carbon steel with 1.1% carbon content (I do not know the exact steel)
- is monosteel knife
- has a little of 'kurouchi' left just in front of the handle
- has grind called 'Walkschiff' which I understand is something like full convex grind.
- has 130mm blade
- weight around 130-140g - what suggests that the full tang is a bit too thick
- handle gives enough room for knuckles
- the blade has 'blaugepliestet' finish - which should be some sort of polish in with leather that should give the blade slightly blueish reflection (many Windmühlenmesser knives have this finish)
- costs around 240 (around $330) with walnut root handle. Not cheap at all, but this is hand forged knife in Germany (life is expensive here and so is hand work)
In my opinion this knife has very interesting design - could actually well do the work that one would use ko-bunka with similar blade size for - that is also the reason why I am tempted to give it a try - to see how it compares to Masakage Koishi ko-bunka.
***
Enough for the introduction - what is your opinion or experience? Also on Herder knives in general (I do not put too much weight on what I read on German knife fora)
***
Here is a photo from the above mentioned webpage:
I have only recently become aware of Robert Herber knives that are made by Windmühlenmesser manufacture in Solingen, Germnay. The offer interesting range of mostly european style knives both in carbon and stainless steels. What puts them aside of the common German knives is that they are relatively thin and hardened to 60-61 HRC (depending on steel, some models may be softer).
The manufacture does not have directly any usable webpage, the best source of information is their storefront: http://www.messer-mit-tradition.de, but some online shops in UK do carry them too, though usually not the full range and without much information.
Anyhow - they have a few different knife lines and quite some knives that do not really fit any category. Most of their knives seem to be grinded from steel sheets (not a surprise as most of their knives cost 60 or less), only the line 1922 and the single knife 'B1 Rudolf Broch' are hand forged. At least to my understanding.
And it is indeed the B1 Rudolf Broch knife I would like to ask your opinion about.
According to the German description (which uses very complicated words and special names for process that mostly are not that special or uncommon) the knife is:
- thin hand forged by Rudolf Broch - supposedly one of the last "true" knife smiths in Soligen (the gentleman is about 71, so that may be actually true)
- is forged from carbon steel with 1.1% carbon content (I do not know the exact steel)
- is monosteel knife
- has a little of 'kurouchi' left just in front of the handle
- has grind called 'Walkschiff' which I understand is something like full convex grind.
- has 130mm blade
- weight around 130-140g - what suggests that the full tang is a bit too thick
- handle gives enough room for knuckles
- the blade has 'blaugepliestet' finish - which should be some sort of polish in with leather that should give the blade slightly blueish reflection (many Windmühlenmesser knives have this finish)
- costs around 240 (around $330) with walnut root handle. Not cheap at all, but this is hand forged knife in Germany (life is expensive here and so is hand work)
In my opinion this knife has very interesting design - could actually well do the work that one would use ko-bunka with similar blade size for - that is also the reason why I am tempted to give it a try - to see how it compares to Masakage Koishi ko-bunka.
***
Enough for the introduction - what is your opinion or experience? Also on Herder knives in general (I do not put too much weight on what I read on German knife fora)
***
Here is a photo from the above mentioned webpage:
