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We're a few weeks out now, so I thought I'd post some updates. The edge was way too refined with. 5 Chromium oxide. I brought it to the stones, bester 1200 and finished on a rika and newsprint strop. I easily shaved half the hair off my arm.
I've noticed a huge difference on carrots and celery vs the HD. The HD seems to cut through carrots with ease. I must use force to cut a carrot in half with the Martel. By force I mean exerting pressure on the back of the spine with my left hand. The HD also fell through celery with ease while the Martel felt more resistance.
The only conclusion I can come to is that the HD is thinner behind the edge. I've noticed that the HD seems to have a very slight asymmetry to the blade faces. The edge on the HD looks almost like a micro bevel even though the HD and Martel seem to have very close bevel angles.
Keep working on getting the edge thinner! Maybe asymmetry is the key.

After each cutting session I've been cutting a woodcraft catalog and shaving my arm hair. The edge retention is pretty good, I'd say about what I'd expect from carbon steel. For my home use i'd touch up on strops weekly and sharpen monthly. I cook about 5-6 nights a week.

Dave, I hope this helps you make a better knife. Keep reaching towards perfection!
 
Whoops! I forgot an L silly me. Sorry I just noticed it now. Now I feel dumb.
 
If it makes you feel any better I frequently misspell my own name...
 
We need more Reviews! I know I'm not the only one... there are dozens of us now.
 
Yup. The lack of reviews is pretty weird...
 
I kinda wrote a review I think with a poor quality video? I've been using it pretty much nonstop since I got it, definitely one of the most comfortable and natural feeling knives I've used! As much as I like my other knives I keep coming back to this one. The only issue I've really had is the one section of the blade wedging on some occasions but I think it will be fixable! If anyone would like, I would be happy to answer specific questions, as well as attempt to make videos or take pictures wherever is desired. Let me know!
 
Hi Avishar, I had a tough time finding your video and it turned out you actually made a few of them. Here's the review post you did. Thanks again! :)

Oh and I hope it's OK that I re-posted them.


[video=youtube;cd-OlQkuzp8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cd-OlQkuzp8[/video]

[video=youtube;11Nh_HILYGY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=11Nh_HILYGY[/video]

[video=youtube;zJ0cCCYLH7c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zJ0cCCYLH7c[/video]

[video=youtube;06LIQJ_L4uI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=06LIQJ_L4uI[/video]

[video=youtube;CMviFPpRHcQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CMviFPpRHcQ[/video]

[video=youtube;7QeeNEflKf8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7QeeNEflKf8[/video]
 
A few weeks ago I had posted about having difficulty cutting apples. Today I flew through some apples. I guess the variety makes a difference. I also cut some butternut squash and experienced some wedging and some interesting stearing. The stearing appeared to be towards the right going in, then it began moving towards the left midway up the blade. I don't cut squash very often, so I'll make a point to do more testing.
 
I'm happy to hear about the newest apples but not so happy to hear about the squash. If you do more of that please let me know what you find.

Thanks Aaron! :)
 
I guess I'll be eating a lot of butternut squash... I might have to make a new thread for winter squash recipes. :)
 
obtuse said:
A few weeks ago I had posted about having difficulty cutting apples. Today I flew through some apples. I guess the variety makes a difference. I also cut some butternut squash and experienced some wedging and some interesting stearing. The stearing appeared to be towards the right going in, then it began moving towards the left midway up the blade. I don't cut squash very often, so I'll make a point to do more testing.
Click to expand...

Interesting. My Martell suji is by far my best knife for butternut squash. Flies right through the stuff. Play around with different cutting motions, often with squash you can find a sweet spot where the motion and momentum of the blade will do the work for you.
 
Dave Martell said:
Hi Avishar, I had a tough time finding your video and it turned out you actually made a few of them. Here's the review post you did. Thanks again! :)

Oh and I hope it's OK that I re-posted them.
Click to expand...

Nooooooo! :p I had those videos as link only because I figured they would be of no use to anyone other than for comical entertainment at my terrible knife skills! If making them publicly searchable makes it for your benefit I'll be happy to do it :) I'll be sending her to you soon to see what magic you can work out on again! This time I will wrap the edge doubly to prevent another hole in the case!
 
obtuse said:
...The stearing appeared to be towards the right going in, then it began moving towards the left midway up the blade. I don't cut squash very often, so I'll make a point to do more testing.
Click to expand...
Bizarre. I'll be interested to know if you keep on seeing that. I'd be interested to know what happens when you have someone else try it without telling them about the steering and see what they say.
 
tk59 said:
Bizarre. I'll be interested to know if you keep on seeing that. I'd be interested to know what happens when you have someone else try it without telling them about the steering and see what they say.
Click to expand...


It felt very strange. Hopefully it's something I'm doing and not the knife. Next squash I'm going To push straight down and observe the path.
 
Here's a short review of the most recent Martell 240 gyuto which was mine. I ordered this many months ago, and I finally received it in October.

So far, I've only used the knife for some raw fish, pre-Thanksgiving prep and during Thanksgiving. But, I've really enjoyed using the knife.

First, the first thing I cut was some raw yellowtail. It absolutely just glided through it. The edge was not scary sharp, i.e. I could touch it with my finger without cutting through skin, however, it cut effortlessly, without any drag and great precision.

Second, the balance is fantastic. The balance point is just past the bolster. It has a great feel in the hand and the weight is excellent - not too light, not too heavy. I think the Kauri adds to the balance. This knife, compared to my 240 Hiromoto AS that was rehandled by Dave with, IIRC walnut burl, (Group Buy #2) seems less handle heavy despite the fact that the Hiromoto is definitely a thicker and heavier knife.

Third, the knife is also stiff. There is no flex when cutting despite the fact that the steel doesn't feel very heavy or dense.

Fourth, I can also use a light, modified pinch grip for almost all tasks except for chopping hard items. It's a nimble knife and simply cuts where you want it to go. I noticed no steering whatsoever.

Fifth, chopping near the heel is very smooth. As I recall, it's about as smooth as the DT ITK Western that I used to have. It's much, much smoother than the Hiromoto AS -much less wedging than the Hiromoto, much better precision with the tip - just an all around better knife than the Hiromoto.

Here are also some other things that I noticed.

First, above the midpoint of the knife toward the tip, the knife requires a little extra force to cut through hard items. I noticed this in particular with carrots. The heel area of the knife is smoother when cutting hard items. I don't have a caliper or magnifying glass so I cannot tell if the grind is a little thicker here than the heel area and that this is what is causing this.

Second, I noticed that the knife was not as scary sharp OOTB as my Hiromoto AS was when I received it. While the Hiromoto AS that I received from Dave with his Level II sharpening caused me to cut my finger by just touching the edge, this knife did not do this, which to me, was a good thing as I prefer knives with some bite, which, IMHO, results in better control.

Third, there is some sticking. I noticed some sticking with carrots, celery and onions. I haven't tried cutting potatoes yet, but again, the Hiromoto is noticeably worse.

Fourth, the patina did not start to show until I cut onions. Two drops of water that I did not wash off also left two spots. However, for several days, no patina developed - it kept its beautiful polish after several uses.

Fifth, it doesn't have quite the responsiveness or feel of Japanese carbon knives but I think that's a characteristic of O1. The steel feels light, not dense, similar to Devin's AEB-L. But, it does not have any flex which I absolutely love about the knife.

All in all, I've been really enjoying this knife. I hadn't had a chance to use it much before Thanksgiving, but I gave it a good workout prior to Thanksgiving and during Thanksgiving. As far as how it looks, the bolster is not as yellow as the pictures make it out to be. It's actually more of a light tan and the Kauri is also lighter colored.

Frankly, for those of you interested in the Hiromoto knives that Dave is rehandling, I recommend that you consider spending a little more, and get one of these knives instead. You'll still get a custom handled knife, but a knife that offers better all around performance.

Great work Dave! :yatta:
 
I'd still like to get my hands on a wa-handled Martell gyuto ... but, given that at this point I'd be skinned alive for going beyond what I've already claimed as my "last new knife purchases", I can wait a bit :D
 
mhlee said:
First, above the midpoint of the knife toward the tip, the knife requires a little extra force to cut through hard items. I noticed this in particular with carrots. The heel area of the knife is smoother when cutting hard items. I don't have a caliper or magnifying glass so I cannot tell if the grind is a little thicker here than the heel area and that this is what is causing this.




:yatta:
Click to expand...

This is something I noticed as well.
 
I was telling Michael that I can see how I need to make this section thinner. I've been noticing that I keep going back and redoing that section more and more on each knife. This is definitely something that I'm working on bettering with each knife. I'm thankful that you guys pointed it out.
 
Update:

I cut five Russet potatoes yesterday, another onion, some carrots, cucumbers and chives.

First, using about the front 1/4 to 1/3 of the blade, I experienced no sticking when cutting potatoes. I sliced up half of a potato (initially cut lengthwise, then sliced cross-wise), to see if this would cause any sticking. There was no sticking - in fact, the slices of potato stayed on the board, with only one slice disrupting the original shape of the half potato.

Second, there was less sticking when slicing very, very thin slices of white onion (see through thin). Because the knife is not thick and is stiff, I found it very comfortable to do this kind of cutting with the knife; it's the best knife I own for this. (Note: I don't own a laser so I don't have a point of reference with respect to using a laser knife for such cutting, but it's superior to my inexpensive carbon steel usuba, Hiromoto AS.)

Third, there was the same resistance when cutting carrots into lengthwise sticks and then into small chop. Again, the rear portion of the knife felt like it had less resistance than the tip when cutting carrots.

Fourth, it was very easy to do very delicate, fine cutting of chives. About half of the chives stuck to the knife, but I've yet to use a knife that chives did not stick to.

Fifth, some of the cucumbers stuck to the knife. I noticed less cucumbers sticking to the knife when the knife did not have a patina.

It certainly seems like there is a decrease in sticking after the patina started developing.
 
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