stevenStefano
Senior Member
Ok this is my first review so here goes nothing. I'd say this is the first time I've actually got a knife anyone wants to hear about! In case anyone has a feeling of deja vu, Tinh did a review of a similar knife (here) but I wanted to give my views because mine is a little different, and because of the passaround, I thought quite a few people would be interested. Compared to Tinh's knife, I believe mine is a little thicker and obviously the handle is different
The story behind this knife is that a while ago I got a Sakai Yusuke White #2 210 suji and found it incredibly useful so I thought if I were ever to go the way of a custom I'd go for something similar to sorta wet my feet. The Yusuke is/was a great knife, but after seeing Tinh's knife, I thought were a lot of things about it that were an improvement over the Yusuke. The slightly taller and flatter blade looked good to me, and due to my "forgetful" colleagues, I wanted something stainless. The Yusuke's handle is also a little small, so I wanted something a little bigger. I actually sorta got to know Tilman through something different, but it worked out pretty good.
Profile/Geometry
After using the knife for about 2 weeks in work I am very impressed. I have been using this and a 270 Konosuke HD (which Tilman also rehandled) and nothing else and there is nothing I can't do with these knives. I use the Rottman for I'd say about 60% of my work and keep the HD for larger jobs. The profile of this knife is incredibly versatile and useful. Despite being 210 long, it is a little taller than most other 210 sujis which makes it a bit better suited to gyuto like tasks, but it isn't so tall that it can't be used like a suji or petty. So I think it sort of combines a petty, gyuto and suji very well. It also has a pretty big flat portion of the blade so you can chop with it.
I mentioned this knife is a little thicker than Tinh's, I have calipers but I suck at using them, so basically the knife has a nice bit of meat in the middle but tapers pretty well to the tip so it barely flexes at all but still has a very fine tip. I believe the handle is spalted maple/ebony/blond buffalo horn
The knife has a lefty convex grind and food release is fantastic. At first when I used it I actually thought I was getting accordioning , but it was just that the excellent release meant that the things I cut stayed perfectly in place
Sharpening/ Edge Retention
I have only sharpened the knife once but it was very easy. Set the bevel on a 1200 Bester, then 5k Chosera then stropped on 0.5 Cro on leather. Burr removal was very easy
I have to say firstly I can't comment 100% accurately on edge retention because after I sharpened the knife literally before I had used it once, one of my co-workers boned out a turkey leg with it:spankarse: Saying that, I have used it for about 2-3 weeks and despite me using it more than my Konosuke, it has stayed a lot sharper and after stropping it still has a very usable edge now so the retention is a bit above the Konosuke I'd say
So this review is really long and I can't think of anything else to say. Overall I couldn't be happier with the knife, and Tilman is a really awesome generous guy so the whole thing has been great. Since I got it I have asked him to make me another knife so hopefully that is a good indication of how happy I am with his work. Tilman doesn't post a whole lot about his knives, but he is clearly very skilled and knows his stuff inside out and having perhaps slightly gotten to know him, I can't recommend him and his work highly enough
If anyone has any advice/tips/requests fire away
The story behind this knife is that a while ago I got a Sakai Yusuke White #2 210 suji and found it incredibly useful so I thought if I were ever to go the way of a custom I'd go for something similar to sorta wet my feet. The Yusuke is/was a great knife, but after seeing Tinh's knife, I thought were a lot of things about it that were an improvement over the Yusuke. The slightly taller and flatter blade looked good to me, and due to my "forgetful" colleagues, I wanted something stainless. The Yusuke's handle is also a little small, so I wanted something a little bigger. I actually sorta got to know Tilman through something different, but it worked out pretty good.
Profile/Geometry
After using the knife for about 2 weeks in work I am very impressed. I have been using this and a 270 Konosuke HD (which Tilman also rehandled) and nothing else and there is nothing I can't do with these knives. I use the Rottman for I'd say about 60% of my work and keep the HD for larger jobs. The profile of this knife is incredibly versatile and useful. Despite being 210 long, it is a little taller than most other 210 sujis which makes it a bit better suited to gyuto like tasks, but it isn't so tall that it can't be used like a suji or petty. So I think it sort of combines a petty, gyuto and suji very well. It also has a pretty big flat portion of the blade so you can chop with it.
I mentioned this knife is a little thicker than Tinh's, I have calipers but I suck at using them, so basically the knife has a nice bit of meat in the middle but tapers pretty well to the tip so it barely flexes at all but still has a very fine tip. I believe the handle is spalted maple/ebony/blond buffalo horn
The knife has a lefty convex grind and food release is fantastic. At first when I used it I actually thought I was getting accordioning , but it was just that the excellent release meant that the things I cut stayed perfectly in place
Sharpening/ Edge Retention
I have only sharpened the knife once but it was very easy. Set the bevel on a 1200 Bester, then 5k Chosera then stropped on 0.5 Cro on leather. Burr removal was very easy
I have to say firstly I can't comment 100% accurately on edge retention because after I sharpened the knife literally before I had used it once, one of my co-workers boned out a turkey leg with it:spankarse: Saying that, I have used it for about 2-3 weeks and despite me using it more than my Konosuke, it has stayed a lot sharper and after stropping it still has a very usable edge now so the retention is a bit above the Konosuke I'd say
So this review is really long and I can't think of anything else to say. Overall I couldn't be happier with the knife, and Tilman is a really awesome generous guy so the whole thing has been great. Since I got it I have asked him to make me another knife so hopefully that is a good indication of how happy I am with his work. Tilman doesn't post a whole lot about his knives, but he is clearly very skilled and knows his stuff inside out and having perhaps slightly gotten to know him, I can't recommend him and his work highly enough
If anyone has any advice/tips/requests fire away