Simon Maillet Gyuto Passaround

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My turn to write a brief review/impressions. Thanks to Dave for making this happen. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to cook since I have been busy with work. To make my time with the knife worth it I decided to cook "Sancocho" which is chicken soup on steroids. Basically you start with a sofrito and celerary and then add potatos, carrots, butternut squash, among other things which is the perfect test ground for knives.

To make thins interesting, I did an A/B test using the Maillet, a small Yanick, a small Radiona, and my small Bidinger. Long story short the best performer of the group was the Radiona, closely followed by the Yanick, then Bidinger and lastly the Maillet. I tried different ingredients and the Maillet just didn't perform as expected with onions (could not get a clean cut despite a fine tip and decent sharpness, the other 3 knives were great), carrots wedged a little bit and food release with more dense ingredients was ok (Radiona and bidinger were the best at this), at the end the Maillet just didn't cut it for me (pun intended). On the other hand the Radiona just took everything I threw at it, I have to say that Tomi's work is criminally underrated specially for the price.

Before I go any further, I want to say that I am not an expert cook, and probably some of the difficulties I faced were due to skills. I also don't have the knowledge of some of the guys in here to diagnose if something is wrong (if anything).

Anyway continuing with the knife, it arrived in good condition and sufficiently sharp; I was able to cut paper towel; however, not 100% clean cuts but there was no need for me to sharpen it, all the other knives where in a similar state. I did notice that the knife has been sharpened a few times and probably at different angles since the edge was not completely uniform. I wonder if the knife got thick behind the edge and that's what I experienced?

In terms of profile, I loved it, decently flat spot and felt really nice on the hand. The knife looks great and from an aesthetic POV is 10/10, a few areas of improvements could be the choil and spine have slight sharp edges which could use more rounding specially considering the price point.

I cannot completely write off Maillet yet as I didn't have enough time to fully tested out. I'll probably need to find another one and give it a go. The knife is now on it's way to the next participant.

*apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes - english is my second language
As an English snob, I can assure you that yours is beyond reproach.
 
My turn to write a brief review/impressions. Thanks to Dave for making this happen. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to cook since I have been busy with work. To make my time with the knife worth it I decided to cook "Sancocho" which is chicken soup on steroids. Basically you start with a sofrito, add celerry and then potatos, carrots, butternut squash, among other things which is the perfect test ground for knives.

To make thins interesting, I did an A/B test using the Maillet, a small Yanick, a small Radiona, and my small Bidinger. Long story short the best performer of the group was the Radiona, closely followed by the Yanick, then Bidinger and lastly the Maillet. I tried different ingredients and the Maillet just didn't perform as expected with onions (could not get a clean cut despite a fine tip and decent sharpness, the other 3 knives were great), carrots wedged a little bit and food release with more dense ingredients was ok (Radiona and bidinger were the best at this), at the end the Maillet just didn't cut it for me (pun intended). On the other hand the Radiona just took everything I threw at it, I have to say that Tomi's work is criminally underrated specially for the price.

Before I go any further, I want to say that I am not an expert cook, and probably some of the difficulties I faced were due to skills. I also don't have the knowledge of some of the guys in here to diagnose if something is wrong (if anything).

Anyway continuing with the knife, it arrived in good condition and sufficiently sharp; I was able to cut paper towel; however, not 100% clean cuts but there was no need for me to sharpen it, all the other knives where in a similar state. I did notice that the knife has been sharpened a few times and probably at different angles since the edge was not completely uniform. I wonder if the knife got thick behind the edge and that's what I experienced?

In terms of profile, I loved it, decently flat spot and felt really nice on the hand. The knife looks great and from an aesthetic POV is 10/10, a few areas of improvements could be the choil and spine. Both have slight sharp edges which could use more rounding specially considering the price point.

I cannot completely write off Maillet yet as I didn't have enough time to fully tested it out. I'll probably need to find another one and give it a go. The knife is now on it's way to the next participant.

*apologies for any grammar or spelling mistakes - english is my second language
Nice write up! Love my Radiona, probably my best cutting knife.
 
Knife recipes in good condition.

Initial thought is the handle is a little thin width wise but okay.
 

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Thanks Dave for the pass around.

still feel that the Handle is a bit small but very serviceable and not something I don’t like but not my preferred dimension.

Not much to say here. Knife is very good!!! Cuts smoothly, have reasonable food release. Takes a really sharp edge. I didn’t not sharpen but I did strop on diamond paste.

My only other minor complaint (other than the handle) is (again) a very minor complaint and another personal opinion, l like a little heavier weight in the knife. Cuts really well but I think a little extra junk in the trunk would make it go vroom .

Will keep using it for a few more days and have it out to sellable wednesdays. We are practically neighbors so it will be with him in 1 to 2 days
 
It arrived last evening, I was able to open it today. Packed very securely, no damage to the box. I've got some pictures and measurements to take on it before I check the apex and start putting it to use on the board, I'll get some basic proof of life shots add in today. It's at least as visually striking in person as it is in the photos, and I'm excited to see how it does on the board.
 
I apologize for not being able to put up anything more quickly, the knife arrived right after I got home from supporting a build and then I had a whole bunch of things to wrap up last week because of it.

The first thing I do when a new knife arrives is fondle it check it for bends, warps, edge deflections, and profile inconsistencies. I noticed right away that this knife had a multi-axis twist in it, resulting in the front 20% of the edge deflecting away from the line from the heel to the front 20% or so. These kinds of deflections are very common in clad constructions, but they're usually less complex than this one was. I think I recall that wrought cladding is more prone to these complex, multi-axis twists than a more homogeneous iron (or low carbon steel) cladding material. These kinds of things are relatively difficult for me to photograph clearly, but I think I have it shown decently on this one.

State as it arrived:
PXL_20250210_200738303.jpg


About mid-way through the time with the straightening stick:
PXL_20250210_205717806.jpg


This is as done as I'm going to get it, which is also as much as I'd do if it were my own knife:
PXL_20250210_220731534.jpg


Now that I've got the edge worked back to true, I'm going to give it a touch up on the stones to clean the apex up. Then I'll be able to run it through its paces the next few days, before sending it along to the next person.
 
A handful of minutes with the usual kitchen touch up stone, and a *ahem* nagura to force some slurry and it's back to being able to catch hairs. I've got a stew type thing planned for dinner tonight, so it'll get run through most of what I like to use for on the board comparison tonight, maybe I'll go grab some venison from the freezer to see how well it manages making jerky before I send it along.
PXL_20250211_164144828.MP.jpg
 
Uh oh! Could we skip me for the next two people (or just skip me altogether if that is too much trouble)? I have a couple of work trips and a vacation over the next few weeks.
 
@deltaplex - Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Also, to our friends in CA - feel free to alter the order you guys ship to each other within the state to save a few bucks on shipping costs.
I don’t think it makes any difference; they don’t charge by the mile. Also ime shipping fifty miles or eight hundred intrastate is same time and cost. 🤷
 
I don’t think it makes any difference; they don’t charge by the mile. Also ime shipping fifty miles or eight hundred intrastate is same time and cost. 🤷
Yeah, shipping price doesn't matter. Kind of matters for speed. Wouldn't want it going back and forth between Northern and Southern California.
 
also, since I’ve lost track, person ahead of me please dm for address.
 
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