JohnyChai
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- Sep 19, 2011
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It's been a few weeks now since Mario sent over a knife and it's time for a review..!
The profile is based on a TKC with some Masamoto KS gyuto added in there as well. This was his initiative and what he felt comfortable doing with this size knife. Personally was shooting for a flatter profile then the TKC and he matched the needs perfectly
It's 280mm on the cutting edge, 2.6mm at the heel(don't have calipers but it does taper nicely,) 61.5 HRC CPM154. The handle is Black-dyed Redwood, some kind of mokume, and horn spacer. There was some concern over the sizing of the handle for this knife but it fits this users hand's nicely...
Pretty much everything(in my current capacity, i'm not Rick!) has been thrown at this knife from every meat(15lb turkeys, 50Lb cuts beef(we pick our pork and chicken) and atleast 40Lbs Ahi) we cut at work to a few cases each of cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, green o's, mangoes, and plenty of herbs. As well as probably 7 days a week of home cooking. While those meat numbers aren't that impressive our business is mainly a vegetarian one so the numbers come in vegetables. It has been used mainly on some beat-up Boos boards, and some poly for the meat.
The edge retention has been very impressive indeed. While this wasn't recommended, it was only stropped on a Tsushima Nagura Natural stone twice since receiving it and the edge has kept amazingly well with this.It is able to Katsuramaki zucchini no problem and makes ken cuts with carrot as well as a Masamoto KS. It has gone from breaking down fish to making salsa and then to cutting 4-5 sushi rolls at a time with no tearing or resistance.
The length of the knife is ideal for using the tip, you might wonder why that is...would have to say the balance on the knife as well as the weight. Other knives that have used are either to light or the profile doesn't allow this kind of movement comfortably. The one thing that has been interesting is that find rock-chopping is very effective for many cuts whereas usually only did this kind of cut for a few items. Probably something to do with the TKC profile and the length of this blade. It slices amazingly well, walks the board nicely, and really like drawing cuts with it as well as straight chopping which it seems made for.
The sticktion on this knife is better than average, it sticks on a few items but honestly every knife have used does. This specific knife-- noticeably less. The steel has an interesting feel when it hits the board, kind of a dull, hollow feeling yet it absorbs the shock of a chop well.
All in all, Mario makes an excellent knife. He knows what he is doing and has an intuition for crafting a knife that is usuable...plain and simple. F+F was best on any knife have used so far...
