F&F: Everyone’s been in agreement that the F&F (aside from the hexagonal bolster) is pretty good. The knife is nicely finished, as is the handle. This is an attractive knife up close. Like others mentioned, the bolster wasn’t the most comfortable for me either. I noticed it digging in a little bit on the inside of my ring finger. If you used the knife a lot, I’d expect a new callus. I did not think the handle was uncomfortable in and of itself.
Steel: I sharpened this on a Gesshin 1200 and Gesshin Synth Natural. I can’t really comment on edge holding—seems to be about on par with white steels I’ve used— but I didn’t really have the knife that long or cut that many acidic ingredients.
As for sharpenability, it wasn’t bad at all. Not as easy as White steel to raise a burr, but it certainly didn’t take long.
Feel: While the knife is not the thinnest I’ve come across, I’m pretty sure it’s the thinnest clad knife I’ve ever used. Despite its thinness, it didn’t feel dainty. I actually think it’s a pretty tough blade. Only time I noticed that I might have to be a bit careful is when using the face of the knife to make a garlic paste on the cutting board. I didn’t try the knife on any hard squash, though. It certainly wouldn’t be my first choice for items like that, but I wouldn’t say it’s undoable or reckless.
I like the length, but would like the tip to be a little lower for detailed work. Maybe that height of the tip is best for guillotine and glide, I’m not sure. Definitely didn’t feel like a pull cutter, but I did enjoy push cutting a lot with this. I could really get going on an onion and reminded me of a Chinese cleaver a bit. I believe the height gave it that nice feeling for the rapid push cuts.
Food release was OK. Not the best, not the worst. Certainly an improvement on any flat-ground knife, but nothing special. I don’t cut waterlogged potatoes, but did put it through a decent variety of foods.
Final Thoughts: This is a nice knife that performs well. If Milan is forging these billets himself, I get the price. As we all know, custom makers run the gamut on price. They’ve got to make a living, and that means he might charge $400 for a knife that doesn’t necessarily tick all the boxes of the KKF enthusiast, or quite stand up to some other makers in that price point, Bottom line is if somebody told me they had a Milan Gravier, I’d know they had a very nice knife that was well-made. If the bolster weren’t an issue, I think most commenters would say they liked the knife despite the fact that food release was “meh.”
Thanks to @soigne_west for letting me try the knife out. I reached out to the next member in line and the knife should be on its way in the next couple of days.
Good review, good writing. This review is written by an adult, mine by a tweenager.