Any Ultimatum m390 reports?

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scott6452

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Anybody have any opinions on these? Only reason that i ask is that i have said knife and feel that it lacks "fall through food" performance. Infact, its really tough to cut hard veg with. With swede, squash etc i have to use really alot of force with lots of horrible wedging noises. I can even feel resistance when slicing peppers. As a result i have really hardly used this knife which is a shame as the weight and profile feels great.

I'm hoping that other users have had similar problems and solutions to this.
 
Is there anything that falls through Swede? We just made some for dinner a couple of nights ago....my watanabe had a heck of a time with it...I was worried about using a Suisin IH on it at all.
 
Well i would use the infamous kato as an example but i think theres enough mystery around that one already! Possibly bad example with swede. Things like cutting potato, it is noticibly tougher than any other knife i own including the house globals.
 
Any chance of a pic from behind the heel to see the grind?
The fix would be thinning, but with the hardness and abrasion resistance it'd be slow work without power.
Other than the wedging how do you find it?
 
I find think knives like the IH easily cut through "wedgie" tough objects. I haven't cut a swede though. I guess I can go do that tonight. I didn't think M390 was all that bad to grind, at least on diamond plates.
 
Phew getting a spine shot to work with an iphone is tough work! Anyway:

rul_800x600.jpg


Just took another of tanaka for comparison:

tan_800x600.jpg


So it does look like there could be some thinning needed? Quick question, how long would you expect to take to get the major work out of the way on a knife like this. I am not intimidated by such a task but get easily bored and disheartened. If i had a rough timescale hopefully that could keep me motivated!

TB, other that that it is a really quality piece. No f&f complaints. My favourite feature of the knife is the crazy thin tip. It makes things like meat trimming really easy. Unfortunatly due to the main issue, ive not had a chance to stretch its legs as far as the steel goes.
 
...So it does look like there could be some thinning needed? Quick question, how long would you expect to take to get the major work out of the way on a knife like this. I am not intimidated by such a task but get easily bored and disheartened. If i had a rough timescale hopefully that could keep me motivated!...
That is a fattie, alright. Looks like several hours to me. What would you be grinding it on?
 
Several hours :scared4: Mind you, the sheer satisfaction afterwords i suppose! It would be a 140ish diamond plate for the heavy work.
 
Haha. Well, maybe you can try it out a little to gauge the effect the diamond plate has on the metal and then decide if it's worth your trouble. If not, then you'll have to send it off or use power tools.
 
Like I said recently in another thread, these Lamson made (Addict, Artifex, Ultimatum, etc) knives are VERY thick. They need a lot of work to perform at the level that most people here (that's users not loving Henckels) are hoping to score with a purchase.
 
I think the convex thing is getting carried away. Convexing is near impossible on super thin, and you get one or the other. There is, however a certain level of "stiction" that should be tolerated, in my mind. If it doesn't get in the way of the performance, some is acceptable. It's not like we're frying eggs on the side of our blades, or anything.
 
I think the convex thing is getting carried away. Convexing is near impossible on super thin, and you get one or the other. There is, however a certain level of "stiction" that should be tolerated, in my mind. If it doesn't get in the way of the performance, some is acceptable. It's not like we're frying eggs on the side of our blades, or anything.

with certain knives, like my Shig, i convex the flats while flat grinding the edge portion. that gets you a thin edge with low sticktion. it's still a compromise, though.
 
Yup, what you do makes sense. You thin the blade "where it matters" by forgetting about convex grinds on that portion. However, the only way to convex the cm or so directly behind the edge is to make it thick behind the edge. Of course, by flat grinding, you now get stiction on julienned carrots, etc, but not full potato slices, as a result of convexing higher up. A thin, small piece of carrot is better than half a russet, but it's still stiction. To have none whatsoever would, in my opinion kill cutting performance.

It's almost like how a year ago, you couldn't go too thin, until a freakishly talented Del Ealy proved that yes, in fact, you can.
 
Phew getting a spine shot to work with an iphone is tough work! Anyway:

rul_800x600.jpg


Just took another of tanaka for comparison:

tan_800x600.jpg


So it does look like there could be some thinning needed? Quick question, how long would you expect to take to get the major work out of the way on a knife like this. I am not intimidated by such a task but get easily bored and disheartened. If i had a rough timescale hopefully that could keep me motivated!

TB, other that that it is a really quality piece. No f&f complaints. My favourite feature of the knife is the crazy thin tip. It makes things like meat trimming really easy. Unfortunatly due to the main issue, ive not had a chance to stretch its legs as far as the steel goes.

Wow that is a thick bastard. I wouldnt even bother with diamond. Send it for pro machine job.
I would say it will take you two days - expect to get bored after an hour or so:whistling:
Its those kind of projects I hate. Always take too long.
 
Given the m390, that looks like a machine job to me.

I also very much agree with leftys opinion on the balance between convexing (and by doing that being rewarded food release on the cost of sticktion) and thinness (and being rewarded "fall through food" by loosing some food release)
 
That's sharpening in a nutshell. Balancing desirable performance characteristics with undesirable performance characteristics.
 
Ok thanks all for advice. The next question...does anybody know who offers this service in uk or even Europe?! Sounds ridiculous but I really can't think of anybody!

I'm sure maxim doesn't do international(not sure if he even offers this kind of major thinning thing anyway). Hopefully there will be someone that "knows a guy" :doublethumbsup:
 
It's a long shot, but I wonder if Will C. might do it for you.
 
you might wanna check out ken ********'s video on it on youtube.

[video=youtube;dpZjPUAffZI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpZjPUAffZI[/video]
 
Technically Will can for sure do it. Question is if he works on other makers knives.
Ohhh, and he has a lot of work until christmas as well. Or at least until my knife is ready he should be focusing on that:whistling:
 
Excuse my ignorance, but when you say "swede" I think of a busty stripper; while my heaver cleaver would definately go through one I cannot imagine doing it. ???

Hax the Cook CLEAVERS RULE!!! :D
 
Excuse my ignorance, but when you say "swede" I think of a busty stripper; while my heaver cleaver would definately go through one I cannot imagine doing it. ???

Hax the Cook CLEAVERS RULE!!! :D

+1

-AJ
 
I would call it "turnip" but now I have an old Bulgarian stripper with a boil on her nose and the beginnings of a fine beard :laugh:
 
I would call it "turnip" but now I have an old Bulgarian stripper with a boil on her nose and the beginnings of a fine beard :laugh:
I am a Bulgarian , now I am not offended by your comment, but I can bet you anything, you will be really surprised how beautiful Bulgarian girls are. I have seen a lot more ugliness in other parts of the world
 
Yeh I have first hand Bulgarian beauty experience! There's no such thing as an ugly country so I had to think of an ugly sounding country name. I think (since we are describing a woman) it's the relation to "bulge":lol2:
 
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