Cut Brooklyn pass around.....

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tgraypots

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I received it last Friday and immediately drove to the coast to visit with my family and fiancee. As I am a craftsman not a chef, I figured my usage and review would be very different from others on this forum, especially as I was more interested in aesthetics than edge holding, etc.

My first thoughts were how handsome the knife was. The fit and finish - the hand polishing, the fit of the handles scales, the sculpted aspects and the saya I really appreciated.

After cutting a variety of stuff with it, I was equally impressed by the edge and the grind. It didn't do well with potatoes, too much stiction, but other than that it was a fun knife to use. Although my experiences have been with knives that are usually pooh-poohed here (my reprofiled, rehandled and thinned down Mac 9 1/2, a 240 AS Moritaka) plus quite a few of my own, I'm an avid home cook, and can be very opinionated. No scarcity of that around here, huh? So, my pluses were the F and F and the great edge. I did not sharpen it when it came to me nor did I before I sent it to FL with Rick. Instead, I ran the edge under a fairly hard buffing wheel loaded with chrome oxide. It should arrive clean and sharp.

On the other side of the table, the profile is very similar to Bob Kramer's European knives, with the handle dropping toward the rear. I use the back half of my knives for chopping veggies for stir-fry, soups and salads, etc., and found it impractical, for me. The balance point is right where the handle ends, which might be perfect for some, but I like a knife with a little farther forward balance point. Even though I have long fingers, I also found the handle to be a little thick. I think if the scales had been a little thinner it would have pushed the weight forward, which would have been more appropriate for my uses. That still leaves the downward curve to the handle. I do like the non-traditional handle shape and found it comfortable except for the thickness. If the handle had extended straight from the blade it would have been great for me. But then, I think that's what his Journeyman series accomplishes, albeit with a more traditional handle.

I appreciate the opportunity to use this knife -- it gave me some ideas regarding ways I can improve upon my own, but I don't think it's a knife I could use everyday. That said, his Journeyman might be right up my alley.

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With the spine a little straighter, it would have fit my needs well, after I thinned the scales too. Thanks Ben! The knife is on it's way to Rick in Pensacola.
 
Nice writeup Tom. Thanks for sharing your impressions of the knife, and thanks to Pitonboy for making this happen!
 
Hi Tom: thanks for the thoughtful review; I think your point about the balance and the curvature hits the crux issue for this knife. Interesting to see if others agree

Glad it was fun

Formulating next passaround as we speak


Ben
 
almost to much. He uses twitter to post sales. Same styles. Only thing missing is videos.

Not sure about Brooklyn's steels, but a quote from the site.

The first is 440C Stainless Steel and the second is 1095 Carbon Steel. They are both brilliant steels for different reasons.
 
just checking my web stats and noticed an influx of views to my site... I guess I can only thank you chaps for that.

Its interesting to hear what people make of the knives and to be mentioned with the likes of Cut Brooklyn and Bob Kramer is in my eyes nothing but a compliment. Being in the early stages of knife making [6 months] the more feedback I receive the better.

Re 'tgraypots' comments about a farther forward balance point... I believe that i've developed this in the blok knife. Maybe you would like to try one.

Crothcipt - twitter is free and a great way for me to promote... seems i'm doing something right.

Everybody gathers influence from the people, products, companies etc. that they admire and yes, Cut Brooklyn Is one of them. That's not to say that i've not spent hours developing my own knives and practicing an art that takes years to master.

Johnny.B.Good - 10 years in the design industry means that i don't view all script fonts as the same! but hey...

thanks again chaps.

Ben
 
Interesting to see a few more UK knifemakers spring up. Welcome to the forum. There are some rules about advertising your work that you should note, but this is an excellent place to learn and ask questions.
 
Cheers Tom. Just checked out your collection! All amazing
Knives you have there. Thanks for the heads up!
 
No worries. Just don't want folks thinking I've just jumped into this without any thought.

Looking forward to learning more and more!
 
Welcome blok,

I was just noticing that you use twitter is all. I am pretty much a non twitter band wagon kinda guy. I just don't like it, but if it is working then great.

It is good to see another knife maker on the forum too!!! Hope you post more.:thumbsup:
 
no worries... I guess your right, twitter is for some folks and not others!

I look forward to chatting with you!
 
Benjamin, welcome to the forum. Sorry for any misunderstandings.

Rick, what are your thoughts on the CB knife?
 
Rick, what are your thoughts on the CB knife?

My first impression on taking it out of its saya was that it is solidly built. There are no visible gaps between tang and scales, and the mosaic pins add a bit of “bling” to an otherwise plain knife. The spine was not rounded, but the sharp edges were broken and “finger friendly”.

The profile is reminiscent of the Haslinger chef’s knife that was passed around recently, but when comparing geometry, the Haslinger had more pronounced distal taper, and its tip was thinner. The Haslinger was more comfortable because of its rounded scales.

I did not sharpen the knife, only stropped it to refresh the edge.

It performed very well on carrots, bell peppers and scallions; less well on “taller” foods like Vidalia onions and potatoes. It needs to be thinned behind the edge to really cut well. I noted moderate stiction.

I would have to say that the Cut Brooklyn is competent, but not exceptional. Is it a good value? There are many other knives that are better performers for the same price or less.
In the end, the knife failed to ignite any strong desire in me to own it.
 
My first impression on taking it out of its saya was that it is solidly built. There are no visible gaps between tang and scales, and the mosaic pins add a bit of “bling” to an otherwise plain knife. The spine was not rounded, but the sharp edges were broken and “finger friendly”.

The profile is reminiscent of the Haslinger chef’s knife that was passed around recently, but when comparing geometry, the Haslinger had more pronounced distal taper, and its tip was thinner. The Haslinger was more comfortable because of its rounded scales.

I did not sharpen the knife, only stropped it to refresh the edge.

It performed very well on carrots, bell peppers and scallions; less well on “taller” foods like Vidalia onions and potatoes. It needs to be thinned behind the edge to really cut well. I noted moderate stiction.

I would have to say that the Cut Brooklyn is competent, but not exceptional. Is it a good value? There are many other knives that are better performers for the same price or less.
In the end, the knife failed to ignite any strong desire in me to own it.

that's really just about exactly what i expected.
 
In the end, the knife failed to ignite any strong desire in me to own it.

I wish we had one of his "Journeyman" series knives to try side by side with this one...

Do you think a change in profile might change your overall assessment of the knife Rick? (All other things being equal.)
 
I wish we had one of his "Journeyman" series knives to try side by side with this one...

Do you think a change in profile might change your overall assessment of the knife Rick? (All other things being equal.)

It isn't so much the profile as the geometry. One of the foods I cut to assess a knife is a lemon, a sort of "acid test", if you'll pardon the pun. I trim the ends, then halve the lemon pole-to-pole. If the geometry isn't up to par, the blade just doesn't go through easily.
 
Anyone else have any thoughts on this one. Those of us in a vicarious learning scenario want to know.
 
I keep forgetting to use the damn thing. I have it though, and will be done with it shortly.
 
If a Hasslinger has more distal taper than the CB, I can only imagine what it weighs? Is it a hefty knife?
 

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