Hunter Valley Blades 52100 KU Monosteel by Mert Tansu
258x60 mm
328 g
5-6 mm at handle and above the heel, 2.9 mm at the midpoint, 0.8 mm 1 cm before the tip.
Bought this a few weeks ago, but forgot to post it.
@xxxclx , my monstrosity also weighs in at 328 grams
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My workhorsiest workhorse to date. With generous heel height, it has a wide bevel grind with high shoulders and a gentle convex on both sides with a slight righty bias. There’s an expertly done continuous distal taper from about 5-6 mm out of the handle to a whisper thin tip, but with no flex to the spine.
Took me a few days to get used to it because it’s a bit longer than my normal 240 mm range, but after that, the HVB feels very natural in hand. Absolutely plows through soft product with its weight. The tip flies through onions and the front half is a silent carrot killer. It’s only when you get to super tall carrots, squash and sweet potatoes that you can feel the shoulders when cutting, but food separation is good enough that you slow down, but you don’t get stuck. The fine belt finish is a bit sticky at first, but after a patina sets in, the food release gets better.
The 52100 is heat treated to about 64 HRC and feels a bit glassy/smooth on the stones, but in a clean, crisp way as opposed to being gummy. After extended use, I would rate the edge retention as similar to Blue 2, but with more toughness. After a few days on the original 6000 grit edge, I sharpened it on a SP1k + Kitayama 8000. Aggressive bite, but with plenty of push-cutting refinement. Cut up a couple pounds of mirepoix and then diced up a couple boxes of squishy cherry tomatoes for pasta sauce without trouble. The steel has very low reactivity and is even lower maintenance after the patina stabilizes.
The profile flows very nicely with a flat back third followed by a slow curve until the belly really kicks in up towards the tip. Excellent push/pull cutter that rock chops smoothly. The handle is a single piece of D shaped bocote. Very comfortable and on the long side, I think to balance out what would otherwise be a very blade heavy knife. The extra handle length and drastic distal taper brings the balance back to the “B” of the HVB logo. The spine and choil are almost aggressively rounded and exceedingly comfortable.
Overall, the HVB is a surprisingly nimble workhorse, feeling much lighter than its substantial 328 grams. It has a thick heel with distal taper reminiscent of an old school Sabatier and like a Sabatier, you can use it to break down a butternut squash, brunoise a shallot and then abuse it a hundred other ways and it can take the hits and keep on ticking. Clearly made for high volume prep work, I just wish I had more produce available to cut up.
