HHH Dragonslayers (overall conclusions are in bold at the bottom)
Aesthetics A
The blade is dark, and very deeply etched. The wood is very nice and dark, very nice quality material, imo. The look was very consistent across the matching set. The signature HHH look is very dramatic but classy-looking in my opinion.
Fit and finish B
There were a few issues that I think are easily corrected for the most part but fair to mention. The choil felt a bit uncomfortable and I wouldn’t want to fix it myself an ruin the etched finish. There were gaps between the copper liners and the tang on every blade. One in particular was quite large where a credit card could easily slide into the gap. I was surprised all of the gaps arrived clean and corrosion free, actually. The grind is fairly even judging by bevel width across the blade. As with most knifemakers, one side is ground more consistently, in this case that was the right side. Small handles were very smooth with no voids or checks and silky smooth, natural feeling.
Cutting C
As soon as the knives arrived I checked for sharpness (they shaved arm hair) and tried cutting an onion and a potato. My overwhelming feeling was that the knife really struggled to cut compared to the other bladed I’d been testing lately. Upon closer inspection, I found the bevels had been cut at 25+ deg on a side by my estimation. With Son’s permission, I reground the bevels to about 15 deg per side with a slight right hand asymmetry. Cutting was MUCH better. Lateral cuts on an onion were nice but vertical or radial cuts required more force than I would have liked. Food release was reasonable but not great with butternut squash posing a bit of an inconvenience. Power cutting was very good. Cleaving the onion in two was surprisingly pleasant and easy. On hard veggies like carrots, the knife felt a bit clumsy and the very flat profile led to some accordion cuts when I was handling large amounts of leafy veggies. The edge felt nice and aggressive but seemed to roll more than I expected but the steel responded well to my glass rod. Reactivity was not bad. Onions stank a bit and mangos discolored before patina really set in. I did feel the damascus drag, as usual.
Sharpening B
The steel was easy to grind but the burr was more fragmented and a bit more tenacious than expected. At first, I thought I might not have finished grinding the bevels in but this observations was reproducible. My guess is that one of the steels in the damascus mix was more of a burr lover than the other. Regardless, I produced the edge with my now standard Gesshin 1k, 5k, Kit8k and a little clean-up stropping on leather w/ 1 mcn diamond and passed the tomato test reasonably well. The plunge line is a little annoying and would catch here and there on my stones.
Other design points B
I thought the knuckle clearance was good on the gyuto and might be an issue on slicer and paring depending on how you like using them. The sheath has a nice, heavy and compact construction. Looks like a modified first draft with some odd stitching holes here and there and the slicer tip sticks out the bottom when completely inserted into the sheath. Cool “ferrule” shape, while aesthically pleasing is not fit for dropping into a knifeblock. I also noticed some tiny voids in the damascus, which I’ve seen in some other damascus knives and I don’t know that they are really a problem.
Overall B-/C+
I think these knives represent a very good, early effort by HHH.:thumbsup: These knives are decent cutters, esp if you like flat profiles. They have a distinctive look, as do all HHH pieces, in general. A few grind tweaks and fixing the gap issues would take these from decent to excellent, in my opinion. For what it’s worth, I’ve checked out some of HHH’s more recent work and the cutting ability has significantly improved. If these were my knives, I would be strongly inclined to take Randy up on his offer to modify the set a touch since I know he’s capable. I’m sure both knifemaker and customer would be happier, in the long run. :my2cents:
Aesthetics A
The blade is dark, and very deeply etched. The wood is very nice and dark, very nice quality material, imo. The look was very consistent across the matching set. The signature HHH look is very dramatic but classy-looking in my opinion.
Fit and finish B
There were a few issues that I think are easily corrected for the most part but fair to mention. The choil felt a bit uncomfortable and I wouldn’t want to fix it myself an ruin the etched finish. There were gaps between the copper liners and the tang on every blade. One in particular was quite large where a credit card could easily slide into the gap. I was surprised all of the gaps arrived clean and corrosion free, actually. The grind is fairly even judging by bevel width across the blade. As with most knifemakers, one side is ground more consistently, in this case that was the right side. Small handles were very smooth with no voids or checks and silky smooth, natural feeling.
Cutting C
As soon as the knives arrived I checked for sharpness (they shaved arm hair) and tried cutting an onion and a potato. My overwhelming feeling was that the knife really struggled to cut compared to the other bladed I’d been testing lately. Upon closer inspection, I found the bevels had been cut at 25+ deg on a side by my estimation. With Son’s permission, I reground the bevels to about 15 deg per side with a slight right hand asymmetry. Cutting was MUCH better. Lateral cuts on an onion were nice but vertical or radial cuts required more force than I would have liked. Food release was reasonable but not great with butternut squash posing a bit of an inconvenience. Power cutting was very good. Cleaving the onion in two was surprisingly pleasant and easy. On hard veggies like carrots, the knife felt a bit clumsy and the very flat profile led to some accordion cuts when I was handling large amounts of leafy veggies. The edge felt nice and aggressive but seemed to roll more than I expected but the steel responded well to my glass rod. Reactivity was not bad. Onions stank a bit and mangos discolored before patina really set in. I did feel the damascus drag, as usual.
Sharpening B
The steel was easy to grind but the burr was more fragmented and a bit more tenacious than expected. At first, I thought I might not have finished grinding the bevels in but this observations was reproducible. My guess is that one of the steels in the damascus mix was more of a burr lover than the other. Regardless, I produced the edge with my now standard Gesshin 1k, 5k, Kit8k and a little clean-up stropping on leather w/ 1 mcn diamond and passed the tomato test reasonably well. The plunge line is a little annoying and would catch here and there on my stones.
Other design points B
I thought the knuckle clearance was good on the gyuto and might be an issue on slicer and paring depending on how you like using them. The sheath has a nice, heavy and compact construction. Looks like a modified first draft with some odd stitching holes here and there and the slicer tip sticks out the bottom when completely inserted into the sheath. Cool “ferrule” shape, while aesthically pleasing is not fit for dropping into a knifeblock. I also noticed some tiny voids in the damascus, which I’ve seen in some other damascus knives and I don’t know that they are really a problem.
Overall B-/C+
I think these knives represent a very good, early effort by HHH.:thumbsup: These knives are decent cutters, esp if you like flat profiles. They have a distinctive look, as do all HHH pieces, in general. A few grind tweaks and fixing the gap issues would take these from decent to excellent, in my opinion. For what it’s worth, I’ve checked out some of HHH’s more recent work and the cutting ability has significantly improved. If these were my knives, I would be strongly inclined to take Randy up on his offer to modify the set a touch since I know he’s capable. I’m sure both knifemaker and customer would be happier, in the long run. :my2cents:
