Anyone try marks spoons?? Just curious how they compare?
Actually, when I said I have two spoons, I didn't mean I have two custom spoons (sorry for the confusion). Justin0505 though did bring his Devin Thomas spoon to my house one time so I have gotten to handle both of the custom/damascus spoons out there. The other spoon I have is Mark's.
How do they compare? Well, my Ealy spoon was a bit different shape than others because I wanted to make it a good all-rounder with a heftier handle for heavy duty scooping (less restaurant and more home cook duty). The handle-bowl profile is also flatter, which I like because it is super stiff. It works fabulously on hard ice cream and squashes. I don't think the Mark spoon would do as well for scooping the tough stuff. Mark's spoon and Devin's are more similar in shape and closer copies to the Kunz spoon I believe.
Devin's spoon was probably the most refined of them all -- it's a perfect spoon and very beautiful. Devin's damascus also has more contrast than the Ealy damascus. The Ealy spoon has a bit more rusticity to it and it is also very striking -- I love handling it, using it, and gazing at it for hours (just kidding). But by 'rusticity' I mean the lines are not 100% perfect, so it has a more handmade feel to it. I actually have grown to love that aspect of my spoon because you feel that someone has actually hammered it out.
The biggest differences between the custom spoons and mark's (other than price) are the damascus obviously, but what this ultimately gives them is a thickness and heft that have an amazing feel in the hand and make them more of a scooping tool too. A home cook has much more need to scoop things than plate things really pretty for customers, so I like that aspect. Both the Ealy and Devin spoons cradle in the hand nicely, and I constantly reach for my Ealy spoon for all scooping duties. Mark's spoon has a thinner, deeper bowl, and is lighter and will probably be closer in performance to a Kunz spoon. In terms of volume (keeping in mind my Ealy is a bit different), the Mark spoon holds 30g of liquid versus 23g for my Ealy (I just weighed). All in all, the overall bowl and handle shape on the Mark are probably better for dealing with sauces and plating, and it seems more balanced and shaped for that duty -- just as Eamon has described.
Of course, I can't comment on how the other Ealy versions or the Devin spoon compare in terms of handling sauces and plating. I would be interested to hear how a heftier Devin spoon would compare to a lighter Mark spoon. I think Justin has them both. It would also be interesting for a real Kunz versus Mark comparison. But for me the Mark spoon just lacks that custom/craftsman feel that makes it tactilely satisfying and demands that I use it, and I would imagine that for an average home cook it would get used more as a serving spoon than a food prep tool. That's just my opinion.
k.