HSC3 pass around gyuto

[thebradleycrew]

Yes that’s fine I don’t need it sooner and I will PM you an address Of a customer to ship it to

Thanks

Roger that! Will plan to get it out this weekend.

 

[panda]

I can't be the only one scratching their head about macerating tomatoes with spine..

 

[thebradleycrew]

Well, I didn't macerate tomatoes with the spine of the knife, but I did use it a lot.

BLUF:
This was a surprisingly fun knife to use and the edge retention and toothy feel of the steel really impressed me; while not the specifications I prefer in a blade, I still found it to be a great cutter and I appreciated the edge geometry with a longer flat section.

Disclaimers:
I had never used Z Wear before, so I was most excited about this pass around to try the steel. Admittedly, I am predisposed to like taller knives and this is what I would call a suji more than a gyuto, so I wasn't sure how that would go.

Details:
I used the knife for about 5 days straight of home cooking. I used it about 3x daily (3 different meal preps for a family of four). So it got some decent use on a wide range of foods, from veggies to grilled cheese to steak to strawberries. Rather than repeat much of what others said above, I'll try and give some experiences. Below, in no particular order some of those things:

• I didn't mind the lower heel as much as I thought I would; I just used the tip of the knife more than I would with taller knife
• The grind overall is pretty darn good. Nice and thin distal taper; if I had to make suggestions to make it better I would want it a touch thinner behind the edge and I'd want to see a little more convexity to the middle of the blade
• I don't know where the edge was left when I got it, but it was quite sharp and both could shave hair easily and toothy enough to bite right into soft tomatoes; perfect
• I did not need to sharpen it after my use. I could discern no change in perceived sharpness over the week I used it, and I didn't even need to strop it; awesome
• I did sharpen it just because I had to try it on the stones. I went 800 Chosera, 1000 JNS, 2k Chosera and left it there. It did not feel crazy hard to sharpen to me and feedback on the stones was good; not like carbon steel, but among the better high hardness super steels I've used; nicely done on the heat treat Harbeer
• I intentionally tried to check the resistance to pitting; I made a slow, intentional batch of pico de gallo, and in between did some other cooking, which let the knife sit with some acids for 10-15 minutes; I noticed no real signs of pitting or discoloration, however it did seem like over the course of the pass around there was some pitting on the blade; it felt very stainless overall, but definitely not as corrosion resistant as my Nitro-V knives

Thanks for the opportunity everyone! The knife is off to the next user. Ping me with questions or follow-up if needed!

 

[HSC /// Knives]

Thx for the review and comments. Knife is in the hands of the next user

 

[HSC /// Knives]

Well, I didn't macerate tomatoes with the spine of the knife, but I did use it a lot.

BLUF:
This was a surprisingly fun knife to use and the edge retention and toothy feel of the steel really impressed me; while not the specifications I prefer in a blade, I still found it to be a great cutter and I appreciated the edge geometry with a longer flat section.

Disclaimers:
I had never used Z Wear before, so I was most excited about this pass around to try the steel. Admittedly, I am predisposed to like taller knives and this is what I would call a suji more than a gyuto, so I wasn't sure how that would go.

Details:
I used the knife for about 5 days straight of home cooking. I used it about 3x daily (3 different meal preps for a family of four). So it got some decent use on a wide range of foods, from veggies to grilled cheese to steak to strawberries. Rather than repeat much of what others said above, I'll try and give some experiences. Below, in no particular order some of those things:

• I didn't mind the lower heel as much as I thought I would; I just used the tip of the knife more than I would with taller knife
• The grind overall is pretty darn good. Nice and thin distal taper; if I had to make suggestions to make it better I would want it a touch thinner behind the edge and I'd want to see a little more convexity to the middle of the blade
• I don't know where the edge was left when I got it, but it was quite sharp and both could shave hair easily and toothy enough to bite right into soft tomatoes; perfect
• I did not need to sharpen it after my use. I could discern no change in perceived sharpness over the week I used it, and I didn't even need to strop it; awesome
• I did sharpen it just because I had to try it on the stones. I went 800 Chosera, 1000 JNS, 2k Chosera and left it there. It did not feel crazy hard to sharpen to me and feedback on the stones was good; not like carbon steel, but among the better high hardness super steels I've used; nicely done on the heat treat Harbeer
• I intentionally tried to check the resistance to pitting; I made a slow, intentional batch of pico de gallo, and in between did some other cooking, which let the knife sit with some acids for 10-15 minutes; I noticed no real signs of pitting or discoloration, however it did seem like over the course of the pass around there was some pitting on the blade; it felt very stainless overall, but definitely not as corrosion resistant as my Nitro-V knives

Thanks for the opportunity everyone! The knife is off to the next user. Ping me with questions or follow-up if needed!

Any thoughts or opinion on the cutting performance vs nitro v?

 

[thebradleycrew]

Any thoughts or opinion on the cutting performance vs nitro v?

I liked the ZWear better than Nitro-V on edge retention and toothiness. Nitro-V seems to be more corrosion resistant and I like that it seems to require a touch less care. But I don't know how much of my view was due to how your blade was sharpened relative to my Nitro-V knives. I'd need to do a side-by-side test and use the same stones/progression. But initial thoughts were "wow, I like this edge a lot and it feels toothier than my Nitro-V". I think it felt more brittle (higher hrc) and as such held edges longer. I think the Nitro-V is easier to sharpen.

 

[HSC /// Knives]

Yes indeed the nitro v is a “true” stainless with 13% chromium.
Thanks

 

[Barmoley]

I liked the ZWear better than Nitro-V on edge retention and toothiness. Nitro-V seems to be more corrosion resistant and I like that it seems to require a touch less care. But I don't know how much of my view was due to how your blade was sharpened relative to my Nitro-V knives. I'd need to do a side-by-side test and use the same stones/progression. But initial thoughts were "wow, I like this edge a lot and it feels toothier than my Nitro-V". I think it felt more brittle (higher hrc) and as such held edges longer. I think the Nitro-V is easier to sharpen.

Same impressions. Z-wear lasts longer and is toothier, not as corrosion resistant. Nitro-V to me feels very similar to AEB-L, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two in use or sharpening at all from the examples I've tried. The closest to Z-wear that I've tried is vanadis 23 and CPM-M4 (this is in a much smaller knife, so different use, but still similar feel)

 

[Chang]

I was given the blessed opportunity by Harbeer to give the zwear a test. Here's my review:

After using the knife for everyday meal prep in home for about 5 days, I can honestly say that I am a fan of z-wear. Thebradleycrew did a wonderful job getting it sharp and ready for me to put it thru the trials, so thank you for that.

Usage:

5 days, each day preparing three meals, including a wide variety of tasks including but not limited to: dicing potatoes, tomatoes, peppers; slicing cooked steak; breaking down a whole watermelon

Thoughts:

• The lack of height really made naturally use it like a suji at first, due to muscle memory, but after day 2, I could say that the low height wasn't really a problem anymore and the knife performed really well to my tastes considering that I am a fan of taller blades.
• I thought the edge would be shot after going thru the thick crust of a cooked steak, but, to my surprise, it still held up really well afterwards, still slicing thru tomato skins and newspaper.
• Even after all the of the lite abuse I put the knife thru, I never felt that it needed to hit the stones, so edge retention is definitely up there.
• On day 4.5, I decided to give the knife a little refresher on my Shapro 5k and leather strop, just to get see how it felt on stones. To me, it felt like a harder cobalt steel. It did take a couple more passes to get it to where I like it, but I don't think that's a negative point, since I was able to get a razor and toothy edge relatively quickly.
• During use, the knife never felt "fragile" to me. I even went ahead and crushed multiple garlic cloves with it. This may just be a personal thing, but with certain knives, I'm too nervous to crush garlic with them, thinking I'll compromise the blade somehow. However, that thought never ran across my mind, so the is definitely "tough".
• The only area I thought the knife was lacking in was definitely length, especially when I was slicing steak and cutting thru a watermelon. I would say that's more a personal thing and not a fault of the knife.
• It definitely performed like a carbon blade, but with stainless properties. I let the knife sit out for at least 20-30 mins to see if any early rust would set in, but nah, nothing. Although, from experience, that left me really anxious so I would go to wipe the blade down ASAP.
• No signs of wedging nor heavy food "stickage", so that shows that Harbeer definitely knows what he's doing with the grind.

Thanks for the opportunity! I am now definitely interested in owning another HSC/// piece in zwear.

 

[HSC /// Knives]

thanks for all the input and reviews, secretly I was trying to convert everyone to a shallower heel knife.... just kidding, it's just my personal preference