Billipp Knives: Gyuto in Review

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Just to be the devil's advocate it is rather obvious that the choil is a mess and the grind, from that perspective, is a bit chunky, aka, looks like it needs thinning. If I were enthusiastic about the knife's cutting performance and giving a review I would point out that the knife performed such that you could simply ignore these apparent imperfections as they were for all practical considerations not evident anywhere else on the blade.

That being said, if I were the knife maker I would not want one of my pieces making it's way out in public looking like this particular knife, not good advertising.

Rick
 
Ahahaha, I really should read the comments more carefully especially when I come to a post late, please ignore mine concerning the messy looking choil, dohh!

Rick
 
Umberto said:
For seven hundred bucks I'd want a knife to have a straight round spine and no slop in between the choil. According the maker via his own personal web-site, it is claimed that he spends about 20 hours on each blade. So for seven hundred bucks that's a bargain if you factor in the hourly wage acquired to make the knives...

But for me the consumer, I just see no value in a 700$ lump of 52100 steel. I love 1095 and 52100 carbon but that's just absurd to spend that kind of dough. If the op is happy more power to him. I'd love to see a video of the op using the knife on some food...The bottom line is the OP is happier than a pig in a pile of old produce. Let's see the knife in action.
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One man's trash is another man's treasure. Not saying the knife is trash, but you get the point. Also, I think there is a certain level of subjectivity that goes into pricing some of these custom pieces that makers generally see as a work of art. A reproduction might go for a fraction of $700.
 
Not sure how I missed all this the first go-round, but safe to say this thread contains some of the most asinine opinions ever posted on a kitchen knife forum.

A choil shot does not tell the entire story of the grind. I too am a fan of nicely rounded and polished choils and spines and was hesitant about Andy's style choices initially. But just because the lines are not perfectly straight does not mean they are not smooth and extremely comfortable.
 
Umberto said:
That's a lot of money for 52100 barstock pounded out. I like rustic blades but that is just too damn expensive. For his asking prices I'd rather buy a Japanese blade from somebody who actually forges from generations of experience. I'm getting a little tired of seeing these back yard blacksmiths get on the bandwagon, making overpriced mediocre carbon blades and adding a bling handle.

A pretty handle doesn't mean squat to me. For 750$ I don't want to see a lumpy spine and half ass grind. Sorry that knife is atrocious.
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Umberto said:
For seven hundred bucks I'd want a knife to have a straight round spine and no slop in between the choil. According the maker via his own personal web-site, it is claimed that he spends about 20 hours on each blade. So for seven hundred bucks that's a bargain if you factor in the hourly wage acquired to make the knives...

But for me the consumer, I just see no value in a 700$ lump of 52100 steel. I love 1095 and 52100 carbon but that's just absurd to spend that kind of dough. If the op is happy more power to him. I'd love to see a video of the op using the knife on some food...The bottom line is the OP is happier than a pig in a pile of old produce. Let's see the knife in action.
Click to expand...

I must say, this is quite rich, lol.

Do the best race car drivers come from 'generations' of race car drivers? Sometimes, but not always.
Do the best professional chefs come from 'generations' of culinary professionals? Sometimes, but not always.
Do the best police men or firefighters come from 'generations' of police men and firefighters (thought you'd appreciate this Tom!). Yep...sometimes, but not always.

As a person who knows first hand what it means to successfully teach yourself to do something (actually, a number of somethings) professionally 'in your back yard'...I can honestly say that this person doesn't have the first clue. 'Generations' of collective experience mean exactly squat if there is no innovation, drive, and most importantly...questioning of one's methods and or relevant ideologies.

Period.

This is not a bash on Japanese makers...of whom I have tremendous respect. This is a bash on ignorance and the outright public display of it.

As for Andy...he makes great knives...and I'd like to think that I have enough experience in this area to know ;).
 
On the bright side this Umberto fellow will probably never come back to the forums he hasn't logged on since 2014.

I will say that I have handled one of Andy's knives in person and it is both a work of art and an amazing cutter (easily top 5 knives I have used).
 
There's two years of dust on this thing. Andy has earned a lot of praise since then. Why are we having this conversation?
 
daveb said:
There's two years of dust on this thing. Andy has earned a lot of praise since then. Why are we having this conversation?
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I was telling myself the same thing. I think this thread should be cleaned up and/or closed.
 
daveb said:
There's two years of dust on this thing. Andy has earned a lot of praise since then. Why are we having this conversation?
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For me...because it just popped up in my feed, making it recent. If I checked the date of every post/thread I'm active in on every forum...well, I'd never have time to post lol.
 
mikedtran said:
On the bright side this Umberto fellow will probably never come back to the forums he hasn't logged on since 2014.

I will say that I have handled one of Andy's knives in person and it is both a work of art and an amazing cutter (easily top 5 knives I have used).
Click to expand...

That guys banned, look up the moritaka thread and you'll see why
 
Matus said:
I was telling myself the same thing. I think this thread should be cleaned up and/or closed.
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Why clean it up? Reasonable people can read both sides and draw their own conclusions.

I quite like the look of these knives, but I can see how some would expect more polish for the price. I trust that they're performers given the buzz generated by experienced owners/users.
 
mikedtran said:
On the bright side this Umberto fellow will probably never come back to the forums he hasn't logged on since 2014.

I will say that I have handled one of Andy's knives in person and it is both a work of art and an amazing cutter (easily top 5 knives I have used).
Click to expand...

Curious on the others, what are your top 5?
 
I'm sorry, but now this has come back to the surface I feel compelled to ask; do the choils on Andy's current knives look like this?
 
Thanks Matus, the angled shot answered all the questions I had.

The odd looking choil seems to be purely a product of the way the knife is finished, rather than an indicator of the grind.
 
MAS4T0 said:
Thanks Matus, the angled shot answered all the questions I had.

The odd looking choil seems to be purely a product of the way the knife is finished, rather than an indicator of the grind.
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Yes, this is correct. Andy rounds the spines and choils by forging them that way. They receive very little if any attention from a belt/file/sandpaper/etc. So naturally there are some variations from hammer blows. These are magnified by backlit macro choil shots.
 
Awesome thread. Lovely knives. Love the look and finish. A know a lot of farms houses in my area with an old knife of unknown origin. They are often a piece of steel, possibly from the barn, banged out on a farriers anvil. The steel is unknown, the heat treat either not there or very poor and the maker long since dead and unrecognized. The knife cuts, which is exactly what it's supposed to do.

The Billipp knives reflect this heritage and in that way their lineage transcends bloodlines and joins a family of backyard makers that do out of need.
 
CrisAnderson27 said:
I must say, this is quite rich, lol.

Do the best race car drivers come from 'generations' of race car drivers? Sometimes, but not always.
Do the best professional chefs come from 'generations' of culinary professionals? Sometimes, but not always.
Do the best police men or firefighters come from 'generations' of police men and firefighters (thought you'd appreciate this Tom!). Yep...sometimes, but not always.

As a person who knows first hand what it means to successfully teach yourself to do something (actually, a number of somethings) professionally 'in your back yard'...I can honestly say that this person doesn't have the first clue. 'Generations' of collective experience mean exactly squat if there is no innovation, drive, and most importantly...questioning of one's methods and or relevant ideologies.

Period.

This is not a bash on Japanese makers...of whom I have tremendous respect. This is a bash on ignorance and the outright public display of it.

As for Andy...he makes great knives...and I'd like to think that I have enough experience in this area to know ;).
Click to expand...

Just because I like having examples, one the one hand we have the Manning brothers, Steph Curry, Nelson Piquet Jr, and Max Verstappen (I know those last two aren't champions; work with me here). On the other, we have Aaron Rodgers, LeBron James, Lewis Hamilton, and Sebastian Vettel. Having parents who can teach you a craft from birth certainly helps, but is by no means necessary.

On Billipp, it's really cool that someone is making serious knives in my home state, but something about the shape of his handles doesn't sit right with me. :eyebrow: Like it's trying to split the difference between western and wa, and doesn't make it work. That's actually how I feel about a lot of hidden-tang western handles, though, including Catcheside.
 
DanHumphrey said:
On Billipp, it's really cool that someone is making serious knives in my home state, but something about the shape of his handles doesn't sit right with me. :eyebrow: Like it's trying to split the difference between western and wa, and doesn't make it work. That's actually how I feel about a lot of hidden-tang western handles, though, including Catcheside.
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Is this impression based on using a Billipp?
 
toddnmd said:
Is this impression based on using a Billipp?

DanHumphrey said:
On Billipp, it's really cool that someone is making serious knives in my home state, but something about the shape of his handles doesn't sit right with me. :eyebrow: Like it's trying to split the difference between western and wa, and doesn't make it work. That's actually how I feel about a lot of hidden-tang western handles, though, including Catcheside.
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I can see what he means, it's a western with a hidden tang and an emoto.

To me it's more of a sculptural Wa handle than a "true" western, but I personally prefer that.
 
I quit reading the thread circa 2014, but what this forum is about I don't think attacking someone offering a negative opinion is a positive thing. Not about the knife or maker (I would love to get a Billipp), but I think only positive things are normally posted.
 
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