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These are specs of a knife I will make for a contest.


Steel - 52100
Lengh - 240mm on the edge
Thickness -3.4mm at the spine, 3.25 over the heel, 2.25 half way, 1.85mm 50mm from the tip
Weight - 225g with the handle
Edge thickness - under .127mm at the edge
Thickness 10mm above edge - heel 1mm, halfway .85mm, tip .85mm
Handle - D (if all three testers are right or left handled, otherwise octagonal)
 
Marko Tsourkan said:
These are specs of a knife I will make for a contest.


Steel - 52100
Lengh - 240mm on the edge
Thickness -3.4mm at the spine, 3.25 over the heel, 2.25 half way, 1.85mm 50mm from the tip
Weight - 225g with the handle
Edge thickness - under .127mm at the edge
Thickness 10mm above edge - heel 1mm, halfway .85mm, tip .85mm
Handle - D (if all three testers are right or left handled, otherwise octagonal)
Click to expand...


Test run. Made a little thinner than specs above, however with a slightly thicker tip.

DSC_0565.jpg
 
ThEoRy said:
I'm getting one in mystery carbon. Right Marko? :poke1:
Click to expand...

Remember H.Ford's quote that you can have any color of a car you want, as long as it's black?

Looking into polishing steels with diamonds, Alternatively, I can make one but it won't have as nice a finish.

M
 
Love the contest knife looks like it's coming along very well.

I agree with son. Good looking honesukis.
 
Actually, this is a test run before I make a contest knife. I ground it with a slightly thicker tip and also tested a couple of approaches if I were to grind a whole batch (how to do it efficiently). As there is always a knife I need to make for someone, this one will go to a customer.

M
 
Marko Tsourkan said:
These are specs of a knife I will make for a contest.


Steel - 52100
Lengh - 240mm on the edge
Thickness -3.4mm at the spine, 3.25 over the heel, 2.25 half way, 1.85mm 50mm from the tip
Weight - 225g with the handle
Edge thickness - under .127mm at the edge
Thickness 10mm above edge - heel 1mm, halfway .85mm, tip .85mm
Handle - D (if all three testers are right or left handled, otherwise octagonal)
Click to expand...

Kinda in the sweet spot there.
 
hello, i've read this thread with great interest

1)Mr Tsourkan i love your attitude, in a world everyone claims more or less true statements, doing this kind of test (even if it remains subjective) is a nice behaviour.

2) i'm in france unfortunately, but i'll move to a new opening in september (as a chef in a highest grade retirement house reduced team so i'll do myself 70% of the work)
i'd love to test two knives.
i will be making a single menu everyday, and as the house will fill slowly i'll have time to put to test the knives. it will mostly be volume works but with regularity. I don't consider myself a grand chef, but i always try to do highest possible quality work in adequation with time, hardware and cost. 20-40 pounds of veggies per day to cut, on a 5 day a week work basis. slicing meat, but no raw fish work or large meat to butcher.

my set consists of misono and hattori HD's mostly along with a few gekko too and western blades.

i have a HD 240mm gyuto that i like very much, which is not considered high end in these boards, and could be a regular contender, along with some other japanese knife, maybe higher end (you choose and find :)

anyways i like the mood of this duel.

let me know if i can be of use, i'll be happy to help and to make myself an idea of what high end is.
 
Marko, I think the challenge is a nice chance to have some fun and see how your work stacks up. No matter how subjective, it will still be a good experience, and will help your never-ending quest for perfection. Shoot, who doesn't like to compete a little every now and then? No special rating or points system is needed, all you need to hear is "I liked this one more then that one". The world will not cease spinning because the reviewers are not measuring and reproducing x pounds of downforce and xx mm of draw with every cutting motion. Part of what will lead to the winning knife is the ability to elicit some emotions for the reviewers.
 
WildBoar said:
Marko, I think the challenge is a nice chance to have some fun and see how your work stacks up. No matter how subjective, it will still be a good experience, and will help your never-ending quest for perfection. Shoot, who doesn't like to compete a little every now and then? No special rating or points system is needed, all you need to hear is "I liked this one more then that one". The world will not cease spinning because the reviewers are not measuring and reproducing x pounds of downforce and xx mm of draw with every cutting motion. Part of what will lead to the winning knife is the ability to elicit some emotions for the reviewers.
Click to expand...

I love competing. Always did and doubt will ever won't let it go whatever things I do, be it sports, work, personal challenges, etc.

When I was younger, winning was everything. Now, I just put my best effort and enjoy the participation.

M
 
I see the shigefusa influence, do you have other favorites you draw inspiration from? Say Watanabe. I have both and wish I could combine both and also a slightly different profile.
 
panda said:
I see the shigefusa influence, do you have other favorites you draw inspiration from? Say Watanabe. I have both and wish I could combine both and also a slightly different profile.
Click to expand...

Shigefusa - geometry, fit and finish
Masamoto - profile
DT - steels, HT, DMT sharpening, damascus, handle construction, knife making process, and more
Fish, Bob Kramer - handles, saya
The Boardsmith, Nesmuk - endgrain boards
Roesle Open Kitchen - magnetic strip
Dave Martell - water stones sharpening, stropping

That's about it. I would say that the biggest influence and help (if everything could be totaled up) came from DT.
 
As someone who has known Marko for awhile, I would bet my last dollar that whatever happens with this contest he will come away with additional knowledge that he will put to use in honing his craft to even higher levels. Ultimately, Marko, and all his future customers, will be the winners.
 
Marko Tsourkan said:
I love competing. Always did and doubt will ever won't let it go whatever things I do, be it sports, work, personal challenges, etc.

When I was younger, winning was everything. Now, I just put my best effort and enjoy the participation.

M
Click to expand...

+10
 
This project didn't take off, unfortunately, but I am still a game for it.

If one of you guys would like to test my knife against any knife you provide (testing done by third parties, preferably pros and you do all organizing), please post here and let's get this started. The knife I would provide should match the knife tested against in weight and thickness, so I would like to know what it is.

To refresh the memories testing should be done on all of the following:

- sharpness
- edge retention
- edge stability (resistance to chipping)
- food release
- overall feel of the knife

I don't mind to send the knife out the US, as long as the criteria outlined in the thread are met.

M
 
Marko Tsourkan said:
This project didn't take off, unfortunately, but I am still a game for it.

If you would like to test my knife against any knife, do all the organizing (all I need to do is to send you the knife), please post here and let's start the discussion. The knife I would provide should match the knife tested against in weight and thickness, but other than that, anything goes.

M
Click to expand...

What, who cancelled?

Now, it is no biggie to me, and running this locally might actually be a more doable, and controllable, effort.
But for the record, my knife for this has been ready to go for months:)

I look forward to seeing the results regardless!
 
I assumed that it didn't take off as I haven't head for your or Harald for a while. Either way, I am a game, just need to know what to make.

M
 
Marko Tsourkan said:
I assumed that it didn't take off as I haven't head for your or Harald for a while. Either way, I am a game, just need to know what to make.

M
Click to expand...

Oh, my apologies then.
I was under the impression that you were busy making the knife, and seem to remember reading as much.
No worries, my choice of knife is still the same as back then, my first Kato.
That being the prototype I picked up back in 2011.
I have a newer version as well, but in my opinion, the first one is still the best of them:)
Naturally that knife has been used good, and have been thinned a couple times by now, but the basic geometry should be reasonable close to how it was as new.

Now, it's no big deal to me how this is done, if it is more doable, from a practical and logistical viewpoint, to do it locally I'm still standing behind my word and my bet.

I'm game either way:)
 
I can test it compared to a few of my knives if you need...

-Chuck
 
The original idea was to test it with somebody who doesn't know either makers.

Let's see how this develops.

M
 
Ya, I saw that was the initial idea. Then I read this post:

Marko Tsourkan said:
This project didn't take off, unfortunately, but I am still a game for it.

If one of you guys would like to test my knife against any knife you provide (testing done by third parties, preferably pros and you do all organizing), please post here and let's get this started. The knife I would provide should match the knife tested against in weight and thickness, so I would like to know what it is.

To refresh the memories testing should be done on all of the following:

- sharpness
- edge retention
- edge stability (resistance to chipping)
- food release
- overall feel of the knife

I don't mind to send the knife out the US, as long as the criteria outlined in the thread are met.

M
Click to expand...

Wasn't sure where it was going from there so figured I would just throw it out there. I guess I will just wait for my knife since I was 12th on your list. Hopefully that spot comes up at some point.

Also, I would like to say I hope who ever does compare the knives actually understand what good knives are. I can tell you my line cooks thought some very cheap OK japanese knives were way better then some of my very special knives. And I can tell you, I promise they were completely wrong in their evaluation. So all I'm saying is it would be good if it is someone who understands what a good knife is.

-Chuck
 
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