Greetings from STEELPORT Knives

[SamSteelport]

Hi all - we recently had the opportunity to speak with a customer who told us how much he enjoys this community so naturally, I had to check it out.
My name is Sam and I work at STEELPORT Knives here in Portland, OR. I am the new-ish marketing coordinator for the brand and still pretty new to the culinary knife space but am lucky to be working with a very supportive and knowledgable team.
I hope to participate here to ask questions to help fill in my (embarrassingly) sparse knowledge of the space. Opinions, brands, tools, materials, practices, attitudes, ideas, needs... all stuff I hope to absorb.
Lastly, Im not here to spam this community with our products but I would like at serve as an ambassador of our brand so if any one has any questions or thoughts regarding our brand, I have direct access to our bladesmiths and our entire knowledgable team. If any one ever has a question, don't hesitate to ask!

Last lastly, thanks to the other Sam for sharing his experience in this community. I hope to bump into you again!

Thanks for having me!

 

[Matus]

Welcome to the forums, Sam

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

I thought your support of @Deadboxhero's aka Shawn Houston's knife sharpening contest was very cool!

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

Hi all - we recently had the opportunity to speak with a customer who told us how much he enjoys this community so naturally, I had to check it out.
My name is Sam and I work at STEELPORT Knives here in Portland, OR. I am the new-ish marketing coordinator for the brand and still pretty new to the culinary knife space but am lucky to be working with a very supportive and knowledgable team.
I hope to participate here to ask questions to help fill in my (embarrassingly) sparse knowledge of the space. Opinions, brands, tools, materials, practices, attitudes, ideas, needs... all stuff I hope to absorb.
Lastly, Im not here to spam this community with our products but I would like at serve as an ambassador of our brand so if any one has any questions or thoughts regarding our brand, I have direct access to our bladesmiths and our entire knowledgable team. If any one ever has a question, don't hesitate to ask!

Last lastly, thanks to the other Sam for sharing his experience in this community. I hope to bump into you again!

Thanks for having me!

You betcha. I haven’t had time to use my Steelport much other than cut up some easy vegetables (water spinach) but I hope to give it a serious shake down once I have time.

First impressions: it easily outclasses my ZKramer Carbon 2.0
Performance wise, it is close to the far more expensive (and poorly finished) TF Denka. It’s not a lightweight laser but it isn’t a hefty German blade.

Question about the Paring knife. It feels more like a Utility or Petty knife. In my mind, most paring knives don’t even contact the cutting board.

 

[tostadas]

Any plans for a 9"-10" chef?

 

[PolishAvenger]

I encourage all here who end up in Portland for a spell to drop in on Steelport and have the folks show you around (if they're still doing that) the workspace if they're not too busy. Down-to-earth people who love what they do and have great pride in their products.

 

[jedy617]

Cool to see you guys not afraid pushing 52100 to its limit. For fun, any plans to do any other steels in the future? Need to try one out one of these days.

 

[xsmx13]

Any plans for a 9"-10" chef?

Welcome!

What he said. I've been curious about your knives for a long time, but I'm not going to sink money into them until there's at least a 230mm gyuto (if not 250mm) and/or a longer slicer.

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

Cool to see you guys not afraid pushing 52100 to its limit. For fun, any plans to do any other steels in the future? Need to try one out one of these days.

Since they drop forge, would a different steel require massive retooling and change of technique? 65 HRc on 52100 is utterly badass. My Steelport is one of the best finished knives I’ve had.

 

[jedy617]

Since they drop forge, would a different steel require massive retooling and change of technique? 65 HRc on 52100 is utterly badass. My Steelport is one of the best finished knives I’ve had.

Honestly no idea. I would assume not...at least for simpler higher carbon steels. Something like magnacut or whatever...yeah probably (although I've seen it forged). The heat treatment would change, but looks like you guys already do cryo, so pretty advanced on that end.

No reason to change though, was just curious, would be fun to see some variety someday.

 

[Matt Jacobs]

Welcome Sam.
The Steelport knife is so close to being such an amazing knife. Great material, fantastic fit and finish, gorgeous. Maybe the best edge retention I have tried in a knife. Way too thick behind the edge and no forward balance. I with they would make a "pro" version. 9" WA handle or at least shave some weight and go super thin behind the edge. I understand for a mass marketing knife you have to go thicker and make it a profile people are used to. It just shocks me that the founder of this knife cut his teeth selling thin Japanese knives and then he made something that can't perform the same way. I am hopeful we will get more models. Great owners, great company and clearly doing well. Eytan actually sold me my first Japanese knife at Portland Knife house.

 

[tostadas]

I loved everything about mine. The handle fit my hand perfectly, blade felt robust, steel was very durable for any task, and the profile just felt right. Edge could be a tad thinner, but the main thing that made me let it go was the length. If it had at like 230-240mm edge, I'd still be rockin it today.

 

[SamSteelport]

I encourage all here who end up in Portland for a spell to drop in on Steelport and have the folks show you around (if they're still doing that) the workspace if they're not too busy. Down-to-earth people who love what they do and have great pride in their products.

Thanks for mentioning this and the kind words. We welcome everyone to stop by. We’re here 5 days a week 9-5 and do tours.
Would love to meet you.

 

[SamSteelport]

Welcome Sam.
The Steelport knife is so close to being such an amazing knife. Great material, fantastic fit and finish, gorgeous. Maybe the best edge retention I have tried in a knife. Way too thick behind the edge and no forward balance. I with they would make a "pro" version. 9" WA handle or at least shave some weight and go super thin behind the edge. I understand for a mass marketing knife you have to go thicker and make it a profile people are used to. It just shocks me that the founder of this knife cut his teeth selling thin Japanese knives and then he made something that can't perform the same way. I am hopeful we will get more models. Great owners, great company and clearly doing well. Eytan actually sold me my first Japanese knife at Portland Knife house.

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback. I’ll pass this on to the team.

 

[SamSteelport]

Hi All - I have received a lot of feedback regarding the thickness of our blades and wanted to follow up after speaking with our founding team. Here's the response:

Thank you for your kind welcome. It’s great to be part of such a community with members like you that really get what a good knife is. As you noted, Eytan and team based every aspect of design on the best overall performance relying on many years of experience (and disappointments from existing solutions.)
Having unique valuable features like 65HRC steel, contour one piece handle wrapped around a full tang, and a perfect balance when pinch holding are all examples of thoughts that went into it. It’s always possible to make thinner blades but the team considered what is a versatile knife that fits typical American cooking. It all resulted in a unique overall design that takes the best of Japanese and German designs while not being constrained by their rigid traditions. You should try using one if you haven’t yet. The feedback when chefs have used STEELPORT over years has given us the reassurance that the choices proven good ones by other too. Thank you again for the kind feedback and support in our journey to reintroduce American forged carbon steel cutlery.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Thanks @SamSteelport. Would the team consider adding a line that is thinner? Keeping the more robust primary line but introducing a thinner one?

May be more trouble than it's worth. Just a thought.

 

[sousme]

Any plans for a 9"-10" chef?

Came here to say this. Would definitely try one out if it were a bit longer.

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

Hi All - I have received a lot of feedback regarding the thickness of our blades and wanted to follow up after speaking with our founding team. Here's the response:

Thank you for your kind welcome. It’s great to be part of such a community with members like you that really get what a good knife is. As you noted, Eytan and team based every aspect of design on the best overall performance relying on many years of experience (and disappointments from existing solutions.)
Having unique valuable features like 65HRC steel, contour one piece handle wrapped around a full tang, and a perfect balance when pinch holding are all examples of thoughts that went into it. It’s always possible to make thinner blades but the team considered what is a versatile knife that fits typical American cooking. It all resulted in a unique overall design that takes the best of Japanese and German designs while not being constrained by their rigid traditions. You should try using one if you haven’t yet. The feedback when chefs have used STEELPORT over years has given us the reassurance that the choices proven good ones by other too. Thank you again for the kind feedback and support in our journey to reintroduce American forged carbon steel cutlery.

It’s good to make what is good and different. There are a dozen laser thin blades out there… I admit to grabbing for my TF Denka when I need to break down lots of food. The Steelport is a beast and fun to use in its own right.

Maybe do a pass around for the members of the forum.

 

[drrayeye]

Great to see a knifemaker practicing and marketing Euro-Japanese cultural fusion. It's really a very American way to think.

 

[SamSteelport]

Came here to say this. Would definitely try one out if it were a bit longer.

Not at the moment.

 

[SamSteelport]

Cool to see you guys not afraid pushing 52100 to its limit. For fun, any plans to do any other steels in the future? Need to try one out one of these days.

Not at the moment. Any particular steels you’d like to see? I think we’ll get a pass around going here soon… once I figure out how that is done.

 

[jedy617]

Not at the moment. Any particular steels you’d like to see? I think we’ll get a pass around going here soon… once I figure out how that is done.

Hmm. Seems like Hitachi steels are harder to get in the US. Personally, I love edge retention, apex ultra could be cool forgeable, high hardness potential like 52100, extremely good edge retention for a carbon steel, and toughness is passable. I like magnacut, s90v, vanadis4, m4,...but most of these arent forge friendly generally speaking I think, that's why apex might be a nice bet.

Always wanted to try a steelport so a passaround would be sweet. Basically, just make a thread in the loaners section: https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/forums/passarounds-loaners.81/

Just set up the rules, like: Limited to 15 people in the US only, max one week per person, only sharpen if you are confident in your skills and it feels like it needs it, and the shipper is responsible for the full value of the knife till it gets to the next person (these are just sample rules that I would use)

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Not at the moment. Any particular steels you’d like to see? I think we’ll get a pass around going here soon… once I figure out how that is done.

AEB-L and 52100 just seem to go together.

 

[SharpestToolintheShed]

Not at the moment. Any particular steels you’d like to see? I think we’ll get a pass around going here soon… once I figure out how that is done.

Ask the participants to post about their experiences and thoughts about the knife as well as photos. I can’t wait to hear others’ opinion about the knife.