Knife comparison worksheet

Is there a knife comparison tool on the site somewhere to use when one is shopping for knives?
Of course, after I bought one I thought to ask. 😄 Would have been helpful for this visual learner.

Maggie

Of all knives? not that I am aware, would seem like quite the project!

If anyone has such a thing it would be Rick (Pensacola Tiger). He owns or has owned every knife ever made.:cool2:

Not really. Zknives has something but it's super super bare bones. Best thing to do would be nail down a few blades and fill out the what knife to buy form, and than let the jedi council make their choice for you.

What kind of parameters? It would be hard to nail down the nuances of how grinds differ and that's a pretty important factor

Good lord no😨!
I meant more like a downloadable/printable blank spreadsheet w headings so shoppers could compare the knives. Stats such as type, maker/brand, steel, ?cladding, length, width of blade/spine/?, handle type, comments and other stats I know I read but forget now.
There was a mention of a comparison tool somewhere on the JKI website. I couldn't find it and ended up talking to Jon which solved the problem for me @ the time.
Not knowing what I was doing, having a form like this would have cued me to relevant details. It would also have helped me to organize my decision process.

Maggie

How grinds differ? I saw something called a workhorse grind. It looked sharp and like nothing would stick to it. What is that and what other grinds are there? Is single/double bevel the same or different?
There's a form for what knife to buy?

We don't, but it wouldn't be a bad idea. As many knives as there are, there are a half-coupla'-dozen really common and popular ones, especially for people starting out. Things like Tanaka, Takamura, Itinomonn, Ginga. It should be possible to make a spreadsheet that lists types, lengths, class (different sellers take different measurements, so I wouldn't compare them exactly, but we could list laser, workhorse, wide bevel, etc), and price.

People looking at this sort of spreadsheet wouldn't need one that listed Shigefusa, Dalman, Shi-Han, or whichever Hinoura is the expensive one. Just the readily-available basics.

I look forward to seeing the chart when you have finished this project Maggie

MaggieG said:

. . . .
There's a form for what knife to buy?

Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but think the form to which Godslayer was referring is the same questionnaire as you previously completed (in a separate thread).

Sorry, my communication skills have tanked. What I'm talking about is a spreadsheet w headings and empty cells for the user to complete.They would first complete the site questionaire. Shopper would ask for input. Shopper would make a list of specific potential knives on spreadsheet and fill in the pertinent data. They could compare the data and whittle down the list. They might (or might not) then discuss their narrowed list of choices w the forum.

I expect it would
A. Help visual learners
B. Focus the decision process
C. Reduce the number of 90+ posts on a Which Knife...thread🤣

Folks took the time to patiently give me suggestions and answer all my newbie questions. I looked up each knife and they all had one or, more things to recommend them.

At the time, I didn't think to ask about or create a short list so I could fine tune my contenders w the forum. I possibly would have understood more, in a concrete way, what would make a good knife for me.

Some level of pressure is inherent in any decision. For me it was primarily buying a knife that would inspire me to learn more, was hard to irrevocably wreck, and not the loss of a mortgage payment if I did.

I don't know knives to be able to make a chart but I'd be glad to contribute a form if it seems potentially helpful.

MaggieG said:

I don't know knives to be able to make a chart but I'd be glad to contribute a form if it seems potentially helpful.

Click to expand...

I was half joking (hence the ) but it actually does sound like an interesting idea

I'll definitely be using one next time. Being a visual learner and reasonably mature, I learn better from things on actual paper.

M,

Your 100+ post query set some sort of record here for a "which knife?" thread. You kept asking relevant questions, they kept getting answered, and it was an entertaining and educational process for all. You may have met the BST requirement for 50 posts in that one thread so if you don't like it you can move it and try again.:groucho:

Most don't go that long. All is good.

Developing a "form" may not get as an enthusiastic response. You may notice that the which knife questionnaire is labeled V2. The process of going from V1 to V2 was ugly, violent, bloody and took up a lot of bandwidth for a few weeks. The original proponent of the "upgrade" got called everything but a Presbyterian. People still are not speaking to each other. And it's still not correct - the way I think it should be.

But by all means give the form a go. A lot of the new folks don't hate each other yet.:viking:

Above of course is almost entirely tongue in cheek. But I'll watch from the sidelines.

Nemo said:

I was half joking (hence the ) but it actually does sound like an interesting idea

Click to expand...

Honestly, if someone wants to set up the Google Doc (I don't have an account) I can set it up and start populating it. It's exactly the kind of nerdy endeavor I'd love, and it's not like I don't have a four-day weekend coming up.

...with my wife in Asia for work.

daveb said:

You may notice that the which knife questionnaire is labeled V2. The process of going from V1 to V2 was ugly, violent, bloody and took up a lot of bandwidth for a few weeks. The original proponent of the "upgrade" got called everything but a Presbyterian. People still are not speaking to each other. And it's still not correct - the way I think it should be.

Click to expand...

Oh good, because every time I filled it out parts of it drove me up the wall.

DanHumphrey said:

Honestly, if someone wants to set up the Google Doc (I don't have an account) I can set it up and start populating it. It's exactly the kind of nerdy endeavor I'd love, and it's not like I don't have a four-day weekend coming up.

...with my wife in Asia for work.

Click to expand...

Yes! KKF should get behind this and work for an interactive spreadsheet that can be searchable by different parameters, such as "grind", "blade height", "blade length", etc...etc... Kudos to you DanHumphrey for your offer!

daveb said:

M,

Your 100+ post query set some sort of record here for a "which knife?" thread.

Click to expand...

Go big or go home

daveb said:

You kept asking relevant questions, they kept getting answered, and it was an entertaining and educational process for all.

Click to expand...

I appreciate that.

daveb said:

You may have met the BST requirement for 50 posts in that one thread so if you don't like it you can move it and try again.:groucho:

Click to expand...

Move it???

daveb said:

Most don't go that long. All is good.....The process of going from V1 to V2 was ugly, violent, bloody and took up a lot of bandwidth for a few weeks....... People still are not speaking to each other........

Click to expand...

😨😨😨

daveb said:

But by all means give the form a go......Above of course is almost entirely tongue in cheek.

Click to expand...

I think not, I have a severe allergy to drama. There are profound truths in humor.

daveb said:

But I'll watch from the sidelines.

Click to expand...

I'll just keep this thing to myself. I need one though for my next 70 knives😄 and as a learning tool so I'll be picking the forum's hive brain for input.
Ex: HT is incredibly important. Several writers here and outside said a good HT is more important that the kind of steel used. Several knives I looked at had the HT info but many did not. My bias is if the info on the HT isn't there, then it wasn't important to the maker and wasn't as good as it could have been.
Are there any threads/sites that describe and discuss the purpose, pros, and cons of different HT? Search gets too many hits to be helpful.

I'll jump in on the HT thing. Just because the method isn't posted somewhere does not mean the knife had poor HT. Many makers are a bit secretive...and most of the J-knife makers are known by reputation rather than method. Good luck with your spreadsheet.

OK, so I could out in "maker has good rep" or some kind of 1-5 scale or something that cues me. Thanks. I'm used to forming important opinions/ decisions on research statistics. So much harder to apply to an art.