Fredrik Spåre Impressions

[esoo]

For my 225, the balance point is just in front of the makers mark. My pinch grip is at the back/just behind the mark, which is where I like the balance, but I'll be the first to admit this is just a preference.

My knife came sharp enough that I'm not going to sharpen it until I feel it needs it, so no comments on that so far.

Last night I only needed to mince some garlic and parsley - the profile was a winner for the two handed rock chop.

Just because, another knife shot. I do love how much hamon is on this knife:

 

[Barmoley]

Where is the balance? The neck/choil area looks very good now and balance sounds good being in front of pinch somewhat. Or is it far forward from the pinch?

 

[Barmoley]

For my 225, the balance point is just in front of the makers mark. My pinch grip is at the back/just behind the mark, which is where I like the balance, but I'll be the first to admit this is just a preference.

My knife came sharp enough that I'm not going to sharpen it until I feel it needs it, so no comments on that so far.

Last night I only needed to mince some garlic and parsley - the profile was a winner for the two handed rock chop.

Just because, another knife shot. I do love how much hamon is on this knife:
View attachment 164719

Sounds like perfect balance to me.

 

[Delat]

Man, I really am sorry I missed out on this drop. I have two customs from him:

180 bunka in 2092 Steel. I asked for a more workhorse grind, and I got it. I love this thing. It's a bit taller than the other bunka I have (Yoshimi Kato AS), but this thing cuts so nice. Out of the box edge was a bit odd, but I touched it up on a Roma 3k, and it just flew through whatever I put on my cutting board. The 2092 steel is crazy reactive, but I have a nice patina now. I'm still new at this game, but cutting with it just makes me happy, so I guess that's a good thing.

Cleaver (180?) In 1.2419. It's my first cleaver, and I love it too. It's a Chinese style cleaver, so it's thin. I used it to make cole slaw, and it flew through the cabbage. I really like cleavers now...

Overall, I am super happy with them, and am thinking of ordering another one from him because of all the excitement. But I really want to try some other western makers. The upside of Spåre is that his books are still open, and you can actually get knives from him. It seems impossible everywhere else...

@Rainman890 would you mind sharing pics and specs of your bunka? I’m on Spare’s list for a custom bunka and curious what you got.

 

[Delat]

I won’t get a chance to use this guy until the weekend, but I took a good look at it during the light of day. Have to say that f&f is impressive, but especially so at this price point.

Very snug fit from the blade through the brass ferrule. Love the extra detail of the hammered finish on the forward portion of the ferrule. Nobody but an excessively uptight knife lover would ever notice but I am and I do and I love it. Everything in the handle is absolutely flush, which is a good trick given relative humidity differences between Sweden and Phoenix. Maybe the bog oak is more stable, but regardless ridges on the handle are always a pet peeve of mine and in this case the fit is impressive.

Look at that hamon, the ku, the tsuchime, the beautiful curved and rounded choil…. ‘nuff said.

Much flush. Many impressive.

I wouldn’t object to more aggressive distal taper, but since I haven’t even used it yet that’s more of an aesthetic and academic observation at this point. The tip does look very thin.

 

[moderncooking]

@Delat that hammered finish on the bolster is a Fredrik Spåre trade mark. I am a big fan of that little detail also.

Really glad that you are happy with it. Thanks for the initial review

Regarding the distal taper, aggressive distal taper is a planed feature on the next knife, which Fredrik is gearing up to start forging soon.

 

[Rainman890]

@Rainman890 would you mind sharing pics and specs of your bunka? I’m on Spare’s list for a custom bunka and curious what you got.

Hi there,

I love the bunka from him - it's my go-to knife and probably my favorite to cut with.... I'm working right now, so I only have old pictures (2092 steel takes a patina fast, so cut lots of meat first), but it looks the same with a bit more blue..

Here are specs:
185mm length, 97mm height, 2mm spine (although I don't have calipers or any real measuring tool for that)

and here are some pictures:

 

[blokey]

Hi there,

I love the bunka from him - it's my go-to knife and probably my favorite to cut with.... I'm working right now, so I only have old pictures (2092 steel takes a patina fast, so cut lots of meat first), but it looks the same with a bit more blue..

Here are specs:
185mm length, 97mm height, 2mm spine (although I don't have calipers or any real measuring tool for that)

and here are some pictures:View attachment 164982View attachment 164983View attachment 164984

That's beautiful, I also ordered a small cleaver from him, hopefully can get it in this year. Could you also take a choil shot of the cleaver from the front, please?
Thank you!

 

[Rainman890]

That's beautiful, I also ordered a small cleaver from him, hopefully can get it in this year. Could you also take a choil shot of the cleaver from the front, please?
Thank you!

Best I can do in a coffee break. I love the cleaver as well. Never had much experience with them, but it cuts really easily. I like the weight and thinness behind the edge...

 

[Bear]

I won't be getting mine for awhile, I'm just curious how the steel is doing, anyone put it on the stones yet?

 

[blokey]

Best I can do in a coffee break. I love the cleaver as well. Never had much experience with them, but it cuts really easily. I like the weight and thinness behind the edge...

Thank you!

 

[DF18]

@Rainman890 would you mind sharing pics and specs of your bunka? I’m on Spare’s list for a custom bunka and curious what you got.

Not who you were asking, but I have a bunka from him that I love:

 

[Delat]

Hi there,

I love the bunka from him - it's my go-to knife and probably my favorite to cut with.... I'm working right now, so I only have old pictures (2092 steel takes a patina fast, so cut lots of meat first), but it looks the same with a bit more blue..

Here are specs:
185mm length, 97mm height, 2mm spine (although I don't have calipers or any real measuring tool for that)

and here are some pictures:View attachment 164982View attachment 164983View attachment 164984

Those handles

 

[Delat]

Not who you were asking, but I have a bunka from him that I love:

I like it! What steel is it?

 

[marc4pt0]

Patiently waiting on ups. Tracking seems to be stalled out in Germany for the past couple weeks with mine. Fingers crossed..

 

[Jville]

Best I can do in a coffee break. I love the cleaver as well. Never had much experience with them, but it cuts really easily. I like the weight and thinness behind the edge...

What’s the specs on the cleaver?

 

[pavhav]

Patiently waiting on ups. Tracking seems to be stalled out in Germany for the past couple weeks with mine. Fingers crossed..

You must've angered the shipping gods somehow, I got mine (V1,B2) delivered in Hawaii on Monday.
I probably angered them as well though - this is what my box looked like:

 

[tostadas]

You must've angered the shipping gods somehow, I got mine (V1,B2) delivered in Hawaii on Monday.
I probably angered them as well though - this is what my box looked like:

The box from my order from Modern Cooking previously was also pretty poor. Luckily no damage on the knife itself though.

 

[pavhav]

The box from my order from Modern Cooking previously was also pretty poor. Luckily no damage on the knife itself though.

Yeah, I'm not sure if they're trying to cut down on weight, but some additional stiffening/padding elements may have helped. The vacuum sealed bag did manage to prevent water damage though; the box was wet, yet carefully placed into a plastic bag .
The blade had a mild, (2-3mm), bend to it, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with some gentle pressure - otherwise my initial impressions are aligned with everyone else's.

 

[DF18]

I like it! What steel is it?

It’s his signature damascus, unfortunately I don’t remember what’s in it.

 

[moderncooking]

Yeah, I'm not sure if they're trying to cut down on weight, but some additional stiffening/padding elements may have helped. The vacuum sealed bag did manage to prevent water damage though; the box was wet, yet carefully placed into a plastic bag .
The blade had a mild, (2-3mm), bend to it, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with some gentle pressure - otherwise my initial impressions are aligned with everyone else's.

Thats very disappoint. Sorry to hear that you had this experience and that your blade was damaged in transit. I will certainly look into more heavy duty packaging.

 

[daniel_il]

I was unboxing mine 250 an hour ago. First impressions, its a beautiful blade, well made and handle is very comparable. Sharpness is decent but i can fix that. unfortunately tip came slightly bent, probably happened during shipping, I would say it should came with a better blade protection.

 

[Delat]

Awwww damn that sucks!

Agree, some additional protection inside the outer box would be a good idea. I think this whole batch had a rough go in shipping - I seriously suspect the truck crashed in a storm or something since more than one box (mine included) was squashed and wet and shipping was delayed.

 

[tostadas]

It seems like modern cooking needs to step up their game in the shipping department which is seriously lacking. Here was my box from the original batch back in November. I took some photos because I expected to have to file a claim. The box was not designed for shipping and there were maybe 2 pieces of crumpled up paper for padding. Luckily the blade was not damaged.

 

[daniel_il]

When i ship a knife it’s always constructed from a box inside a box, adding cushioning inside for zero movement. Also can make some kind of saya made out from cardboard. Never saving on packing ..

Kind of disappointing for me cause this situation could have been prevented quite easily.

 

[moderncooking]

Hey guys,

message received loud and clear on the packaging

Its disappointing from our side, but I am sure many of you are also feeling a little sad after waiting for you knives to arrive, with the delays in shipping and now some damaged blades.

We haven't had this experience before with our packaging, and we pride ourselves on this element of our service.

We actually worked with @kamonknives to develop the vacuum bag - knife sheaf combination as a proactive step in protecting carbon knives during transit.

While I believe we shouldn't have to take on extra expenses to protect our products from poor logistics services we are actively looking into more premium and robust packaging options and should have a new solution within a few weeks.

Apologies to anyone who received a damaged knife and please feel free to reach out if you need to discuss issues with your knives. You all deserve to receive what you paid for in perfect condition and to have that exciting unboxing moment.

Best regards,
Peter

 

[Jason183]

The Kamon knife packaging have some kind of wrapping material outside of the vacuum bag, the vacuum seal only protects the knife from rusting IMO, The rolling material outside of the knife it’s actually protecting it from any kind of bending. The Kamon knife packaging is probably the most solid way I’ve experienced.
There’s a Kamon unbox video from @Delat

 

[M1k3]

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...ppington-chevron-hook-grind.45384/post-671731

 

[esoo]

So today's episodes with the MCX Spåre:

I tried to etch it, which came out with a finish I didn't like. Then just did used some stone powder to polish the blade (and removed some for the forge scale)

Doing that dulled the edge so I took the knife through SG500-Naniwa Diamond 3K followed by 1u diamond on leather. Really nice and sharp. While prepping dinner I noticed a few times how wicked sharp the tip was.

I left raw chicken on the knife covering both sides during dinner prep. Got some wicked blues on it that unfortunately I can't manage to photograph at the moment.
.

 

[Delat]

So today's episodes with the MCX Spåre:

I tried to etch it, which came out with a finish I didn't like. Then just did used some stone powder to polish the blade (and removed some for the forge scale)

Doing that dulled the edge so I took the knife through SG500-Naniwa Diamond 3K followed by 1u diamond on leather. Really nice and sharp. While prepping dinner I noticed a few times how wicked sharp the tip was.

I left raw chicken on the knife covering both sides during dinner prep. Got some wicked blues on it that unfortunately I can't manage to photograph at the moment.
.

What did you use for etching? I was thinking about doing a coffee soak on mine.