I wanted to share my experience with Michael Knot as he's a maker I've seen very little mention of here on KKF. I just happened across his work on Instagram and started following him. What really got my attention was a video he posted of him slicing potatoes off a partially finished knife at 80 grit. Anyone who puts that kind of attention into performance at low grits is someone I'm going to watch. He posted up a nakiri on IG that my wife both liked the look of and price point for and that kicked off our interactions.
Michael is a former chef with ~20yrs of fine dining experience who has been a full-time knife maker for the past five years. He does stock removal only but seems to work with a good variety of both carbon and stainless as well as mono and san mai.
He does have a website: Knot Handcrafted. That will give an idea of his pricing but it is very limited in what it displays. Michael's Instagram page has a ton more variety to look at and you can see that he does everything from cleavers to "traditional" style gyuto's to more modern angular designs. He's got a wide range of handle materials and styles and different blade finishes too.
His communication is outstanding! I messaged him about the specs and price on the nakiri and even with the time difference, I got a prompt response. This would be the case for all additional communications. He wasn't quite finished with the knife yet but was done with it when he said he would be, two days I think it was. He then sent me a nice video of the knife and we sealed the deal. The transaction was super smooth and Michael had the knife in my hands all the way over on the west coast of the US from England in five days. He even messaged me to ignore the UPS update that showed it would be here on Wednesday to make sure I knew it would take until at least Friday.
Fortunately Michael packed the knife well as someone at UPS clearly sliced open the exterior packaging and the entire end was almost completely open.
My regular UPS driver is super cool though and waited for me to check to be sure everything was okay, which it was.
Inside was a nice personalized letter:
Michael fashions a cardboard saya that is quite sturdy:
So how's the knife?
Excellent.
Even though it's 165mm and mono AEB-L, it is actually one gram heavier than my 180 Wat Pro but most of that is in the gorgeous, I'd call it thimble shaped handle:
But even so, the balance point is right at the choil. The spine is nicely rounded and while the choil could've used just a touch more, it's far from uncomfortable in use.
The knife was wonderfully sharpened and slices just as well. This particular design does have a flatter heel. It isn't Yoshikane flat but still distinct. For reference, I don't care for the Yoshikane flat spot but don't mind this one.
It has just enough tip curve to allow for rocking and is substantial enough to power through squash but still able to fine dice garlic.
I used it almost exclusively for all meal prep for three or four days, with Michael's edge and it held up extremely well. There were thunks on the board doing the squash, scraping moving ingredients around and a lot of board contact both rocking and chopping and Michael's edge had no rolling or chipping and still smoothly can swirl cut receipt paper.
All in all I'm very happy with the knife and the experience. Michael is very friendly and very much interested in feedback on his products. Check him out on IG and see what you think.
https://www.instagram.com/knot.handcrafted/
Michael is a former chef with ~20yrs of fine dining experience who has been a full-time knife maker for the past five years. He does stock removal only but seems to work with a good variety of both carbon and stainless as well as mono and san mai.
He does have a website: Knot Handcrafted. That will give an idea of his pricing but it is very limited in what it displays. Michael's Instagram page has a ton more variety to look at and you can see that he does everything from cleavers to "traditional" style gyuto's to more modern angular designs. He's got a wide range of handle materials and styles and different blade finishes too.
His communication is outstanding! I messaged him about the specs and price on the nakiri and even with the time difference, I got a prompt response. This would be the case for all additional communications. He wasn't quite finished with the knife yet but was done with it when he said he would be, two days I think it was. He then sent me a nice video of the knife and we sealed the deal. The transaction was super smooth and Michael had the knife in my hands all the way over on the west coast of the US from England in five days. He even messaged me to ignore the UPS update that showed it would be here on Wednesday to make sure I knew it would take until at least Friday.
Fortunately Michael packed the knife well as someone at UPS clearly sliced open the exterior packaging and the entire end was almost completely open.
My regular UPS driver is super cool though and waited for me to check to be sure everything was okay, which it was.
Inside was a nice personalized letter:
Michael fashions a cardboard saya that is quite sturdy:
So how's the knife?
Excellent.
Even though it's 165mm and mono AEB-L, it is actually one gram heavier than my 180 Wat Pro but most of that is in the gorgeous, I'd call it thimble shaped handle:
But even so, the balance point is right at the choil. The spine is nicely rounded and while the choil could've used just a touch more, it's far from uncomfortable in use.
The knife was wonderfully sharpened and slices just as well. This particular design does have a flatter heel. It isn't Yoshikane flat but still distinct. For reference, I don't care for the Yoshikane flat spot but don't mind this one.
It has just enough tip curve to allow for rocking and is substantial enough to power through squash but still able to fine dice garlic.
I used it almost exclusively for all meal prep for three or four days, with Michael's edge and it held up extremely well. There were thunks on the board doing the squash, scraping moving ingredients around and a lot of board contact both rocking and chopping and Michael's edge had no rolling or chipping and still smoothly can swirl cut receipt paper.
All in all I'm very happy with the knife and the experience. Michael is very friendly and very much interested in feedback on his products. Check him out on IG and see what you think.
https://www.instagram.com/knot.handcrafted/
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