OKay. I'm sorry to take so long in getting this done. The Fam and I have been under the weather so it's been ought to get anything done while just trying to keep it together.
So I'm not going to jump super deep into the cutting performance as lot of this is outlined in previous reviews but I'll quickly bullet point pros and cons. My main interest is going to be the price
Note: I did a quick stropping on a 0.1 micron diamond spray to touch it up but otherwise left is alone.
- despite being under the weather I think I did a decent amount of cooking: Getting a chicken noodle soup going with home made broth. Cutting up chicken (no bones), butternut squash, and sweet potatoes.
Thank you to Matt and the ACRE forge team for doing this pass around and allowing me the chance to use the knife!
pros:
- cuts nicely - nice laser with what thought was reasonable food release
- Handle was comfortable (with caveats in "cons")
- decent fit and finish- very comfortable in a pinch grip despite how thin it is out the handle.
- good length (for the average home cook - when I first started cooking a few years ago those large 210 were scary, so this would have been a perfect length for me. Now that I'm used to 240s it's hard to go lower than 210 for a gyuto/chef knife).
- great profile. good at rocking and push chopping no problems.
- hold a fine edge and sharpened up pretty fast (using diamond paste + strop).
- good stainless steel
areas for improvement?
- One caveat about the handle is it think I would have liked to see more form factor on the handle. like a little more girth where you wound pinch grip or fully palm the handle. But again, the handle was otherwise very serviceable.
- Price. :
Price/Market?
Disclaimer: I've been thinking about this on and off.
- I'm no expert on pricing and the knife market so these are just general layman observations.
- I do not mean to sound critical or mean or "negative". I just want to do my best in providing my thoughts on the matter so take it for what you think it's worth.
- I'm not questioning that this is a better knife than your shun/miyabi, wustoff, etc). this is a completely separate discussion of what performs or is better value.
- I figure the team has already thought about the market and marketing aspect so if there are responses to this I'd be curious what that markets looks like as I jumped right from your big box retailer knives hard into the "fine" artisan knives/J-knives.
I'm struggling to see where it fits in the market. The length and form factor makes me think its trying to compete with the likes of Shun, miyabi, wustoff (which I'll refer to as the big box brands) but fits right into what seems like Muteki /Carter cutlery is primary catering. I see that it is fitting in to sell to the general public who wants an alternative to your typical makers (rather than specifically knife enthusiasts who are looking to build collections and chase the makers or specific specs etc). So this is what leads me to question the price. Doing a general look through the starting offerings of the big box brand their prices start as low as 100s (maybe not miyabi) but then trail up quite a bit higher). The starting point of the ACRE - at least this knife is 300 which I'm guessing is the base model? So assuming this is true, I think the challenge is going to be:
1. Marketing this to the average consumer who is likely going to be interested in paying probably 100 to 200 - so I think the 300 may be a bit of a jump. Are they going to be able to adequately differentiate themselves to convince the consumer to pay the extra hundred or two to upgrade to their knife (which I do think is superior)?
2. How are they going to sell the knife (through local retailers or online)? Im probably just thinking about this from my "local" point of view in mid Wisconsin/ suburban Chicago that are primarily dominated by your big box retailers (with some local retailers, more so in Chicago than Wisconsin). nI'm guessing there is more of a local retailer presence that you can leverage in your home area where local retailers will help you sell vs working with your big box William Sonoma or whatever who are going to be pushing the big box knives.
3. Challenges in the online space - I feel like selling online is going to be challenging since there are so many other knives now competing with so many other brands that are targeting the general public like Misen, (now Babish), MAC, etc.
Anyways. sorry for the long post, hopefully something was helpful and not just a rant and the pondering of a lay person over something the team has already put a considerable amount of time ruminating.
I'll get the knife pictured, packed up, and shipped today/tomorrow to post no later by Tuesday to JustinV.