sachem allison
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2011
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A couple of weeks ago, someone posted an interest in Serenity Knives out of Texas. We for the most part agreed that the knife maker needed a little more experience and had potential. His grinds are a little rough if not rustic. Today, I received a knife in the mail from one of my Chef buddies. He purchased it a little while ago as a present to me and decided against it, because he wasn't happy with what he received. He used it once to cut some onions and tomatoes and put it away. This knife has never been sharpened and is in the exact condition it came in. This is the fit and finish as received.
The blade is an 8in wide chef knife in 440C at 60 HRC. It is incredibly thinly ground and has a Double distal taper. The blade tapers about and inch from the bolster area to the tip and from the heel to that same area there is a taper also, but it tapers toward the tip also. That one inch space at the spine above the heel is actually the thinnest part of the blade minus the tip. The blade is so, thinly ground that the whole thing flexes. The hell is over-ground for the first 1 1/2 of the heel edge and the it looks like he tried to blend multiple different types of grinds on the face without actually blending any of them on the right face and doing a much better job on the left face. There are divots all over the right face of the blade were it looked like the edge of the belt dug in. It appears that the blade faces were hand sanded smooth. but the alternating pattern of the scratch lines shows that he didn't get rid of the coarser scratches before he went onto the next grit.
It looks like it might take quite a decent edge if the right stones are found. 440C tends to be a bit gummy or sticky on the stones and clogs it nice and good if you don't have the right stone. trial and era well get you there.
The handle. I have to say this is one of the nicest finished handles I have seen for a new guy. There are a few issues, but they are more a result of the blade then the handle. The handle looks like Lignum Vitae and it is one of the woods he uses. there is a single 1/8 in mosaic pin and two nickle silver peened pins holding the handle down. The two issues I have with the handle other than I hate the Kramer design is the area where the bolster would be has some chips, they don't look like sharpening chips they look like the wood was two thin when he was fitting it to the blade and little pieces just broke off, not much mind you, but noticeable to us. The second major thing for me is the fact that he used green dyed epoxy to fill in the gap in the scales left over from that strange distal tang taper. other than that no issues on the handle.
Over all I would, say that for a knife this early in someones career it's not bad. It isn't up to the exacting standards that most people on this forum are used to.
Some people will like the rustic appearance of his work some won't. I have a feeling he isn't going for rustic though. I think he wants to make the best knife he can. Unfortunately he hasn't found his style yet. If you go and look at his site you will find that his works are all over the map and looks like twenty different makers made them. He is finding his way and when he finally hits it he will go far. This knife looks like a cross between a Kramer and Wildfire cutlery. It is too thin and quite flexible verging on dangerously so. The finish on the blade not so good. I don't know how old this one is, his newer ones maybe infinitely better.
This knife as best I can tell , by adding all the options together runs between $250 and $300 dollars. In that price range there are many , much better knives out there. In 5 years who knows you might have another Kramer. The potential is there, If Bill Burke is keeping and eye on him, he probably has potential. I wouldn't let this one example cloud your judgement. Let's wait and see.
Pass around same rules apply . 10-15 people one week, sharpen it if you want. insure it for $300. let's get some new blood in here. 50 posts or more or pm me
The blade is an 8in wide chef knife in 440C at 60 HRC. It is incredibly thinly ground and has a Double distal taper. The blade tapers about and inch from the bolster area to the tip and from the heel to that same area there is a taper also, but it tapers toward the tip also. That one inch space at the spine above the heel is actually the thinnest part of the blade minus the tip. The blade is so, thinly ground that the whole thing flexes. The hell is over-ground for the first 1 1/2 of the heel edge and the it looks like he tried to blend multiple different types of grinds on the face without actually blending any of them on the right face and doing a much better job on the left face. There are divots all over the right face of the blade were it looked like the edge of the belt dug in. It appears that the blade faces were hand sanded smooth. but the alternating pattern of the scratch lines shows that he didn't get rid of the coarser scratches before he went onto the next grit.
It looks like it might take quite a decent edge if the right stones are found. 440C tends to be a bit gummy or sticky on the stones and clogs it nice and good if you don't have the right stone. trial and era well get you there.
The handle. I have to say this is one of the nicest finished handles I have seen for a new guy. There are a few issues, but they are more a result of the blade then the handle. The handle looks like Lignum Vitae and it is one of the woods he uses. there is a single 1/8 in mosaic pin and two nickle silver peened pins holding the handle down. The two issues I have with the handle other than I hate the Kramer design is the area where the bolster would be has some chips, they don't look like sharpening chips they look like the wood was two thin when he was fitting it to the blade and little pieces just broke off, not much mind you, but noticeable to us. The second major thing for me is the fact that he used green dyed epoxy to fill in the gap in the scales left over from that strange distal tang taper. other than that no issues on the handle.
Over all I would, say that for a knife this early in someones career it's not bad. It isn't up to the exacting standards that most people on this forum are used to.
Some people will like the rustic appearance of his work some won't. I have a feeling he isn't going for rustic though. I think he wants to make the best knife he can. Unfortunately he hasn't found his style yet. If you go and look at his site you will find that his works are all over the map and looks like twenty different makers made them. He is finding his way and when he finally hits it he will go far. This knife looks like a cross between a Kramer and Wildfire cutlery. It is too thin and quite flexible verging on dangerously so. The finish on the blade not so good. I don't know how old this one is, his newer ones maybe infinitely better.
This knife as best I can tell , by adding all the options together runs between $250 and $300 dollars. In that price range there are many , much better knives out there. In 5 years who knows you might have another Kramer. The potential is there, If Bill Burke is keeping and eye on him, he probably has potential. I wouldn't let this one example cloud your judgement. Let's wait and see.
Pass around same rules apply . 10-15 people one week, sharpen it if you want. insure it for $300. let's get some new blood in here. 50 posts or more or pm me