Apex Ultra Isasmedjan Passaround

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The box was smooshed a bit. I did not think it was anything major but I do see how lateral stress could have been applied with the crease marks.

It is quite of an angle. Thoughts on what to do? The blade itself seems pretty straight and it does not seem to be loose at the handle. Will wait to do anything with it until I hear the hosts thoughts. @jedy617
 
jedy617 said:
Do whatever you like! If it's just the handle you can go ahead and fix it...should just be hot glue
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I know I'm not on this passaround list, but I've been monitoring for people's thoughts and I'll toss my $0.02 in at this point: That knife is now warped from what looks like some lateral force near the heel; it could be a multi axis warp, but that will be difficult to tell from pictures. I'd say the knife has strayed far enough from it's original form that it should have a pause put on the passaround part to have the warp(s) worked out and at least sharpened/thinned depending on the opinion of whomever is undertaking the work.

I really like passarounds, I really want them all to go well, they're one of the best aspects of all us weirdos coming together to talk about/test/work on/compile these wonderful pieces of work. That said, sometimes things happen during the shipping and use that necessitates a re-work session before it continues on, and I'd argue this knife is at that point.
 
deltaplex said:
I know I'm not on this passaround list, but I've been monitoring for people's thoughts and I'll toss my $0.02 in at this point: That knife is now warped from what looks like some lateral force near the heel; it could be a multi axis warp, but that will be difficult to tell from pictures. I'd say the knife has strayed far enough from it's original form that it should have a pause put on the passaround part to have the warp(s) worked out and at least sharpened/thinned depending on the opinion of whomever is undertaking the work.

I really like passarounds, I really want them all to go well, they're one of the best aspects of all us weirdos coming together to talk about/test/work on/compile these wonderful pieces of work. That said, sometimes things happen during the shipping and use that necessitates a re-work session before it continues on, and I'd argue this knife is at that point.
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On vacation right now and was out to dinner about hearing the news, thinking about it more, the damage does look more than just superficial. The shipper is going to file an insurance claim and hopefully that goes well. Definitely a shame with what happened but I know what I signed up for...no hard feelings
 
ethompson said:
I know I was docked for end of the passaround to freshen it up for @jedy617 before he gets it back, but I could take a look at the bend now if needed. Provided it’s not something that requires extensive hammering I’m pretty sure I can get it straightened and freshened up.
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That's very kind of you 🙏. Before moving it along we are gonna see where we get with the insurance claim so this guy might need to take a little pause before moving on. We can definitely explore what we do with it next after we see how the claim goes
 
Quick update!

The knife is currently in my care. There were certainly some warps in the blade that needed to be addressed. It took awhile, but I got everything straightened out and have been using the blade this week getting a feel for it and the steel. I'll write up my full thoughts sometime next week when I send the blade onto the next person.

Initial takeaway - I am VERY impressed with Apex Ultra.
 
Alright, friends! Time for an update on this one. Took me a bit longer than anticipated to get everything ready for the next stop and have time to give it a test. It will be back on the move in the next 24 hrs. I'll break my review into two parts, the knife itself and Apex Ultra.

The Knife

Overall I was quite pleased with the blade itself. Okay, the handle isn't my cup of tea (sorry @jedy617), but whatever. The profile is natural even with the slightly raised tip from the earlier repair. The grind is very consistent in the bottom 15mm of the blade, which is where it really matters. It convexes nicely down to being quite thin behind the edge. Much like a Kato the grind seems to have high convexity at the heel and tip as compared to the middle. This lets the blade nicely balance a fine tip, good release where most chopping would occur, and a little thinness towards the heel for pushing through dense product. Fit and finish is great.

There are a few things I would like to see evolve with future iterations of this blade though. First, I would like to see the grind taken thinner. This is a common complaint I have with workhorse type knives, so if you're a diehard believer that "thiccer-is-better" feel free to ignore. I would like to see the convexity start in earnest 10-15mm higher up the blade and the edge taken even thinner - preferably to the point of easy nail flexing. The steel can definitely take it and this would lead to dramatic performance improvements, especially with denser product. Alternatively, additional asymmetry could lead to similar gains while maintaining the lower convexity on side. Finally, I'd like to see the tip taken a little thinner throughout - acknowledging that the tip repair has led to some thickening. These comments aren't to say the grind isn't good, but I think it lacks some of the finesse and nuance that separates something like Kato or Kippington convex from the crowd.

In conclusion, it is a very capable blade that is good, but maybe not great, at everything you would want a gyuto to handle. I think any enthusiast would be pleased with it and more casual consumers would be blown away.

The Steel

Apex Ultra is the steel I am maybe most excited about these days - at least in theory. A carbon alloy that doesn't require diamonds and can be taken to high hardness without being brittle is a rare thing. I am not disappointed at all. I've got a few crazy hard knives (65-67) of my own and all have great retention and are a joy to sharpen. Apex Ultra is maybe a bit glassier feeling on stones, but holds an edge exceptionally well and doesn't feel brittle on the board based on my experience. This knife would have no problem holding a serviceable edge for several days potentially a week in a commercial environment - no casual feat. While it doesn't feel as nice in sharpening as something like really well done shirogami, I had no issues with de-burring or using natural stones to sharpen and touch up this steel and it feels better than softer white 2 to my hands. Really, really impressed and hope to use more of this steel in the future.

Important Notes for Future Testers

The tang on this blade is quite narrow and tapers quickly, resulting in a fairly loose fitting handle. If the handle seems askew it probably needs a re-install. This is one of the few times I think epoxy would make sense, but I will leave that call up to @jedy617. Additionally, there are some forging artifacts along the spine that make it look a little wavy, the edge is straight though (as is the core running down the spine) so this isn't a cause for concern or defect.
 
Listen anything was better than this beige on beige! 🤣

handle.jpg



Thanks again for your notes and your work on this!
 
Delat said:
Received the passaround today, will be trying it out later in the week.
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Note, I used this for 3 days (not quite full commercial prep volume but equivalent of a few weeks of home dinners) without sharpening before sending it off. So edge isn’t fresh that way you’d feel more free to sharpen it.
 
I realize I had not given my thoughts on the short time I had the knife. Unfortunately I don't have an in depth review, just my thoughts about using it as a home cook.

I really liked the knife. I would consider it a heavy mid-weight or a work horse on the lighter end. With the forward/blade weighted balance I think it felt a bit more substantial than the weight would imply. The bull nose profile is one that I prefer as I do not rock chop. I know the limited flat spot was mentioned earlier in the thread but I did not have any issues with accordion cuts. I thought the food release was good, even on potatoes. From what I remember (as I delayed writing this for too long), I did not have any cracking issues on carrots and it did reasonably well on onions (though not great).

While I really liked the knife, I doubt I would buy it at this price. It is hard to justify why, other than being too close to other knives in my collection that were quite a bit less.

Thanks again for letting me use it for a couple days, and I hate that it got bent enroute to me. I hope everyone enjoys it down the line. It is a solid performer.
 
I’ve been radio silent for a few days since my fridge died and I’ve been scrambling for a replacement, which is thankfully coming later today. No cooking while the fridge is out, so no knife testing unfortunately but hopefully tomorrow I’ll be back in action.

In the meantime, I thought @jedy617 and the group would appreciate seeing the current state of the knife so here’s an intake video. It’s still pretty decent at the paper towel test but I think I’ll do a very light touchup of the edge so it can put its best foot forward when I finally get around to using it.







 
Ok finally got the new fridge installed, made a trip to the grocery store to stock up, and got some video for y’all.

Overall I was pretty impressed. I was prepared for it to feel thicc through food given prior comments but it was a solid performer in the carrots and onions I cut. You can see that it wedged a bit when cutting the onion in half, so yeah a bit thinner higher up on the blade road would be nice but still a solid performance as it was able to do horizontal cuts.

The blade has a very nice heft and a great feeling of quality - it’s heavier than I normally use but I can see the attraction and the weight did help with all the carrots I had to brunoise. My index finger did start getting sore towards the end, so a thicker spine at the pinch would be appreciated for long prep sessions.

I grabbed my Kamon for a carrot to compare, and you can see/hear on the video that the performance is quite similar for this particular task. The Kamon notably has a much thicker spine at the pinch and the balance is different, so overall it felt better in my hand but that’s purely personal preference.

The Apex Ultra steel is certainly impressive as it still had a decent edge after 3 days of commercial prep with @ethompson To touch it up I first tried some edge-leading stropping on an SG4000 but that didn’t do much. Maybe half a dozen light strokes on an SG1000 followed by deburring on the SG4000 got it fresh off the stones sharp. So very little drama on the stones; overall AU feels tougher to sharpen than simple steels like blue and white, but not difficult. Maybe somewhat similar to SG2/R2 in terms of abrasion resistance but I’m certainly not the most experienced sharpener out there.

In summary, very cool knife. If I was getting a custom from Isasmedjan I’d probably ask for a thicker spine at the pinch and a bit thinner down the blade road, but again those are personal preferences. Great knife and my appreciation to @jedy617 for making the passaround possible.

Video 1: Brunoise carrots, Isas followed by Kamon



Video 2: Onions, tomatoes, celery



3 hours of simmering later…. Bolognese for dinner.
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Received today. UPS must have chosen to transport the knife via boat. The knife's in pretty good shape, if very dull. Heel height is still 54 (measured at right angles, so probably 53 measured some other way).
 

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Turns out it was mainly just dull in the third toward the tip, and it’s sharpened at a less acute angle than I usually use.

Basic sharpening impression:
Shapton pro 2k was able to sharpen it just fine. I did not drop down to SP1k, even if half the forum just discovered it, because I did not want to go all the way to burr. I also did not want to change the bevel angle. The top third was still draggy in Costco paper towel so I tried it on my shiro suita. It did not really work. Not having time to do much else, I stopped there. It was a little better but not like blue or white.

I push cut some Brussels sprouts and compared to my Toyama 180. I’d say the Toyama is a little thinner behind the edge. I also tap chopped a yellow onion. The skin was rather tough. Here’s a video. Kinda annoyed I wasn’t cutting straight but the camera was in the way.

 
Knife is on its way to @ch_br

Final verdict: I liked the shape of the knife with the dropped nose, but I felt the blade was just a tad too short. Actually my only gripes are pure personal preference, having hands that like a larger handle and a longer blade.
 
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