New petty by 'Raisedbybrocks'

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TB_London

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So I've had the knife for about four weeks now, it was a custom order from Will to get a more pointy knife than the Santoku i picked up from him

The profile is aimed at being a cross between a petty and a small slicer. There is a large amount of flat to the blade which was intentional as i don't rock chop with a knife, and wanted to see how flat i could go before it was too flat.

In terms of the review, as the profile was from a sketch i drew anything wrong with this aspect of the knife is inherently my fault so i won't comment too much other than to say that i really like it

Handle:

I asked for the knife to come handle less, and so had to fit my own handle to it which i enjoy doing and allows me to play around with shapes, weights, balance points etc. the handle making can be seen here if anyone is interested:
http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/sh...3598#post33598


I made it so that the balance point was directly in front of the handle, i pinch grip knives and this made the knife feel agile and comfortable

v7dq25b


Fit and Finish

The blade came immaculate, the blade was straight, the grind even, the edge dead centre and an even distal taper to the tip. That isn't mentioning the damascus pattern which is really stunning, like the grain of a really nice piece of wood. The blade had a satin mirror finish, there were no signs of wayward scratches, and a nice light etch. I have some knives with a heavy etch and the texture can aggravate me as it files away at my knuckles which i was glad was not the case with this knife.

Edge:

Out of the envelope the blade was really sharp, it easily shaved and would slice paper, on starting to cut with it in the kitchen though it was lacking some bite and so i took it through my standard progression on the stones to "open" a knife-400g Chosera, 1000g chosera, 6000ish random stone from Japan and then just for the fun of it an 8000g stone from JCK and a 12000g Shapton pro, followed by a light strop on leather with 0.5micron poly diamond. The 8000 and 12000 were probably overkill but i thought i'd see how the steel took it, usually only my PM knives or yanagiba will be taken this highly.

The knife was now a razor with bite, it would tree top hairs of my arm, passed the HHT with a satisfying ping and in the kitchen fell through everything. The thinness of the knife and the narrowness of the tip meant it had barely any resistance going through anything. The GF used it to slice some potatoes and thought they were already cooked as the knife was just falling through them (This was more of a revelation to me as she can pick up any knife and with some amazing skill (read cack-handedness) make it struggle to cut paper).

Performance:

I have now used the knife for two weeks without touching it up to get some idea of the retention. The extreme razorness of the edge subsided over a few days but it still has bite and in no way struggles with anything (except push cutting tomato-just had to go try and it went through but with resistance), though it is probably time to give it a quick once over on the stones.

On using the knife it is slightly more reactive than the san mai santoku. Whether this is due to the damascus or the etch increasing the surface area i'm not sure, but it is building a healthy patina which whilst it's hiding the damascus is a bit, is all cool and blue
It's not as reactive as my Shigefusa which without a forced patina is an onion killing machine-every slice having a brown margin, but is more so than my other carbon knives. In another couple of weeks when the patina is fully set in i'll try and give an update, but it is calming down a lot so i'm expecting it to be almost inert by then.


Overall

Performance wise it is great. The length is just right for what i wanted it for-a utility knife that will double up as a small slicer. I have been reaching for it as my go to knife, both because it is new and because it is performing admirably. There is some degree of flex in the tip area which i am not used to, and while it isn't a huge amount took few uses to adapt to, though i plough through cutting at what i hope is a not unreasonable speed for a home cook and am slightly more sensitive to this-probably due to poor technique established from practice rather than any kind of instruction....
Nobody else using the knife has noticed this at all though and everyone has wanted it after using it, if only it were dishwasher safe Will would have got a few orders.....

Any questions, ask away.............

Pics

With some others for comparison

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Heel shot


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Next to Santoku


Photo%2031-07-2011%2023%2043%2040.jpeg


With some measurements

petty%20measurements.jpg


Vid
Quick vid slicing a potato to see how much sticking there is compared to other knives of similar size, and push cutting tomato

[video=youtube;QmcXmdI6tpo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmcXmdI6tpo[/video]
 
Thanks for the review. The only problem I have with this one is the potato slices are all different thicknesses. The lighter, more flexible (read "thin") stick more than heavier, more rigid slices (read "thick"). It's really impossible to get any useful information with regard to food release.
 
Yeah the vid was in no way scientific, it was late and I was intrigued. The other two petties did need the slices to be pushed off the blade though as they stuck on, in use it doesn't release as well as the Carter but is much better than the knives it was replacing. I'll try and find the time this week to do a proper "Salty" test if it's of interest.....
 
I love the profile of both this knife and your Carter....I'm jealous.
 
Cheers, it was my first custom so was an anxious wait to see if the drawing turned out to be a usable knife, or whether it would be too flat. The Carter I had just been using as a slicer for small stuff, but used it for everything tonight and it just breezed through stuff. I keep wanting to rehandle it but don't want to be without it whilst I do....I also wish it was longer, but that's an excuse to save for a full size suji :D
 
Looks really good! Nice size too.
 
Very interesting and thanks for the feedback Tom. Cracking job on the handle. I am using the shorter twin of this knife which was meant to be for Tom but had to be shortened as there was a tiny flaw unfortunately right behind the edge at the back. So I shortened it. I made these before reading about the effects of sticking and different grinds. As an afterthought to mine I honed a 7 degree secondary per side. Despite being only about 3mm the bevel makes a big difference and mine doesn't stick like yours with tatos. With a micro bevel a few degrees higher the edge is holding up great. You'll have to have a look at the weekend and see if you want yours the same.:biggrin:
 
What is the knife 2nd from the left?

Thanks,

-AJ

I picked it up in Japan, I think Kyoto, from a small shop in one of the side streets. All I could find out about the steel was that it was no good for me as it needed to be kept dry :D
Something about the geometry doesn't work for me though and it wedges and sticks like no other knife I have, I'm guessing I need to thin it, but haven't got around to it as I subsequently have other knives that do what I wanted this to do.....
Just found the bag from the shop, if anyone can tell me anything about it that would be cool, as at the moment I only know it as the "keep dry" shop, they must have said it 20 times lol

zUkD3Bd
 
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