Changing beliefs about knives

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Used to think cutting on anything outside of end grain maple was reasonably considered abuse. Super super dumb.
 
*I thought KKF is a boring place where kitchen chefs exchange recipies (and their pics) in order to show off with their new knives. Wrong. It is great place with some strange ppl (me among them) and lots of nice ppl.
*I never thought (in the begining) I would place WTB thread about a Xerxes...I do think about such thread now...
*I did not know that a good basic (or average) knife can make such a difference when I cook. Amazing! To cook with a sharp knife you have carefully selected among MANY offers, a knife you read about for months, before you hit the "order" button - it is a real pleasure.*@l@
* @lemeneid, @Carl Kotte, @Corradobrit1, @RDalman &co could be that helpful team to give me a piece of advise at a moment when I met a TF Maboroshi. Thank you guys, you are part of a nice memory.
*there r more and more
 
I used to think I needed more knives. Have totally changed my opinion on knives after having bought the Kramer Zwilling 10 inch and 8 inch carbons (i bought both for 450$) two months ago. After having them thinned, they are the only knives i've used in my kitchen since.
I don't feel the need to grab any of my japanese or high end knives anymore.
Also 52100 at 61-62hrc has become my favorite steel. In two months of daily use without a single touch up or strop, both knives are still very sharp and I am no longer obsessed with sharpening. Each day i test their sharpness and they still shave hair.
I also like the fact that 52100 is not very reactive, taking a gunmetal patina and without any reactivity to acids anymore.
Best thing is in the past months I did not feel the urge to buy any other knives( other than a custom bark river bushcrafter in cpm 3v for camping ). Every time I see a knife I compare its value(steel /build /price) to the two Kramers and so far none made it pass this filter.
You could say I have made it out of the rabbit hole.
 
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I used to think I needed more knives. Have totally changed my opinion on knives after having bought the Kramer Zwilling 10 inch and 8 inch carbons (i bought both for 450$) two months ago. After having them thinned, they are the only knives i've used in my kitchen since.
I don't feel the need to grab any of my japanese or high end knives anymore.
Also 52100 at 61-62hrc has become my favorite steel. In two months of daily use without a single touch up or strop, both knives are still very sharp and I am no longer obsessed with sharpening. Each day i test their sharpness and they still shave hair.
I also like the fact that 52100 is not very reactive, taking a gunmetal patina and without any reactivity to acids anymore.
Best thing is in the past months I did not feel the urge to buy any other knives( other than a custom bark river bushcrafter in cpm 3v for camping ). Every time I see a knife I compare its value(steel /build /price) to the two Kramers and so far none made it pass this filter.
So far I have made it out of the rabbit hole.
I like the fact you love 52100, and you have reached the point where your happy with what you have. I wish I could be so lucky.
 
I used to think I needed more knives. Have totally changed my opinion on knives after having bought the Kramer Zwilling 10 inch and 8 inch carbons (i bought both for 450$) two months ago. After having them thinned, they are the only knives i've used in my kitchen since.
I don't feel the need to grab any of my japanese or high end knives anymore.
Also 52100 at 61-62hrc has become my favorite steel. In two months of daily use without a single touch up or strop, both knives are still very sharp and I am no longer obsessed with sharpening. Each day i test their sharpness and they still shave hair.
I also like the fact that 52100 is not very reactive, taking a gunmetal patina and without any reactivity to acids anymore.
Best thing is in the past months I did not feel the urge to buy any other knives( other than a custom bark river bushcrafter in cpm 3v for camping ). Every time I see a knife I compare its value(steel /build /price) to the two Kramers and so far none made it pass this filter.
You could say I have made it out of the rabbit hole.
I'm a big fan of 52100 now also.
 
You know, I was thinking about this issue, and as silly as it might sound to you guys, the thing that most flabbergasted me was the humble bread knife. Until the beginning of the pandemic, a dirt cheap supermarket-type bread knife was all I needed. Like everyone else, I started to cook more because of the pandemic, and then I got a good bread knife... Nothing fancy or even Japanese, but a good stamped-forged one.

Boy, was I surprised at how much I suffered before in vain! To the point I wasn't even very found of natural fermentation breads because they had those hard and difficult to cut crusts :oops:. Now I don't even ask the baker to pre-slice my loafs, since I can do a better job at home. And artisanal bread? It's basically all we eat now in terms of bread, from ciabatta do whole grain to campaigne bread.

I've learned many new truths in all the decades that I've been around blades, but honestly, I was amazed at what a simple bread knife can represent.
Which bread knife did you get?
 
I used to think I needed more knives. Have totally changed my opinion on knives after having bought the Kramer Zwilling 10 inch and 8 inch carbons (i bought both for 450$) two months ago. After having them thinned, they are the only knives i've used in my kitchen since.
I don't feel the need to grab any of my japanese or high end knives anymore.
Also 52100 at 61-62hrc has become my favorite steel. In two months of daily use without a single touch up or strop, both knives are still very sharp and I am no longer obsessed with sharpening. Each day i test their sharpness and they still shave hair.
I also like the fact that 52100 is not very reactive, taking a gunmetal patina and without any reactivity to acids anymore.
Best thing is in the past months I did not feel the urge to buy any other knives( other than a custom bark river bushcrafter in cpm 3v for camping ). Every time I see a knife I compare its value(steel /build /price) to the two Kramers and so far none made it pass this filter.
You could say I have made it out of the rabbit hole.
sorry to run this off topic - what thinning process/service provider did you use? what do the knives look like now? the zkramer carbon 10 was supposed to be my "forever" knife but i'm having trouble coming to terms with how thick it is
 
Which bread knife did you get?
Nothing fancy, just a Tramontina Century:

century-01.jpg


However, as I said, the knife that made the most difference to me in many years.
 
Knife blocks full on German W....TF steel was something to be proud of.
German Steel is the end-all of kitchen and hunting knives.

Now I can be very happy with 3 low-cost Japanese knives from JKI, would be overjoyed to have 3 mid-range knives form Jon. (note I did not pull up any specific mfg, just using JKI as a reference to the quality level of knife that work well for me and my budget)

Both stainless and carbon are fine, prefer stainless or semi-stainless in the kitchen.

I don't need a breadknife.

Older '70's German hunting knives are still cool, but not what I carry in the field anymore.
 
That you want a knife to feel heavy, that meant the knife is solid.

That jnats have the magical ability to improve any knife edge.
 
I thought carbon were the best blades but no...good stainless or atleast stainless clad is where happiness truly dwells.
I sharpened my buddy's hiragatake today, and their D2 sharpens more like A2. It's a much nicer sharpening/deburring steel than Yoshi's version. Price is right to. Couldn't remember if you're still looking around.
 
I sharpened my buddy's hiragatake today, and their D2 sharpens more like A2. It's a much nicer sharpening/deburring steel than Yoshi's version. Price is right to. Couldn't remember if you're still looking around.
I started a mirror polishing project yesterday (I wish I hadn't now, but it's too late to stop) with a d2 pocket knife. Wow it didn't seem like it would be this wear resistant when I was sharpening it. The sandpaper is barely doing anything to it. I had to order some mini sanding discs for my dremel to hopefully help me get this done.
 

Obviously this is opinion, everyone has, and is entitled to, a different one. White 3 is getting down to low enough carbon amounts that edge retention is objectively pretty poor. White 2 is a fair degree better. Both have the exact same weaknesses - reactivity, sub-optimal edge retention - but White 2 holds edges better than White 3. The difference in toughness between the two isn't really applicable in the kitchen knife space unless you are specifically talking about a knife subjected to pretty horrible treatment.

Again, this is all my opinion, based on using various knives over time.
 
Obviously, forging, geometry and heat treatment all have a big effect on performance and/or the steel itself. A really good, careful smith with a great HT for White 3 can make a knife with better performance and edge retention than an indifferently-made White 2.
 
White 3 for me has had the shortest edge retention, but my experience is n=1, so, you know, grain of salt. For D2 I've had half a dozen. The Hiragatake in D2 I regularly sharpen is pretty darn nice though, sharpens much more like A2.
 
Similar for me - I've had personal hands-on with 2 knives in White 3, and 2 in White 2. Only one of them was actually mine, the others were borrowed/short-term-traded. I'm basing this in a large part on the science behind the steels - and I'm neither a forging blacksmith nor a metallurgist, so it's information I've mostly acquired through reading and ****.
 
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