Alex M.S.
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2018
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 6
I’ve been using this knife heavily in a professional kitchen and it’s really grown on me. I use it mostly as a mini slicer for raw seafood, pates and terrines, radishes, chocolate cremeux and anything else that needs a sharp edge without the length of a sujihiki or yanagiba. At home I really like the profile of the tip, perfect for coring tomatoes.
Make no mistake my knives get a lot of usage but I do not abuse them. For me my knives are functional tools to make my cooking better, faster and more efficient. In short my knives need to do THEIR job so I can do MY job better. That being said fit and finish, handles, aesthetics and “coolness” don’t apply to me. What’s important for me is function, ease of use and sharpening, price and durability. I think this knife fits that criteria well.
It’s quite thin behind the edge and can be a bit delicate if I’m using certain cutting motions. Weight is 100g so decently light but not feather-light. It’s ground very asymmetrical probably something like a 90/10 or even more. The front bevel is pretty big and almost zero on the back side. The steel is kind of a mystery like Sugimoto’s more well known Chinese cleaver line. Having never used one of their cleavers I can’t tell if this petty utilizes the same steel or not. I emailed Sugimoto directly and they were very prompt and polite but would not divulge the steel other than it being “very pure”. What I can tell you is sharpening is a breeze. One of the fastest if not the fastest steel I’ve taken to a stone even compared with some softer ones like SK and Swedish. On my stones it feels similar to white #2 but with less bite and more finesse if that makes sense. Edge retention has been great because I use it for pulling motions on a hi-soft board mostly. If it was used more as an all-around petty I couldn’t expect the same retention obviously.
I hate to comment on out of the box sharpness since it’s not a true indicator BUT this petty came hair shaving sharp fresh out the box. Sharpness has gotten even better as I’ve taken it to my stones 3 times now (I am far from a sharpening expert or knife expert in general). I did a forced mustard patina out of the box as well. Took a lot of nice blue hues to start and with subsequent use and washing mostly gray and black patina exists. Finish is not super but isn’t awful either. Fit feels fine to me.
All in all this knife fits all of my needs. For $120 it was money well spent on a knife I’m not looking for greatness from. Please excuse the hastily taken pictures but you get the idea of what it looks like
.
Make no mistake my knives get a lot of usage but I do not abuse them. For me my knives are functional tools to make my cooking better, faster and more efficient. In short my knives need to do THEIR job so I can do MY job better. That being said fit and finish, handles, aesthetics and “coolness” don’t apply to me. What’s important for me is function, ease of use and sharpening, price and durability. I think this knife fits that criteria well.
It’s quite thin behind the edge and can be a bit delicate if I’m using certain cutting motions. Weight is 100g so decently light but not feather-light. It’s ground very asymmetrical probably something like a 90/10 or even more. The front bevel is pretty big and almost zero on the back side. The steel is kind of a mystery like Sugimoto’s more well known Chinese cleaver line. Having never used one of their cleavers I can’t tell if this petty utilizes the same steel or not. I emailed Sugimoto directly and they were very prompt and polite but would not divulge the steel other than it being “very pure”. What I can tell you is sharpening is a breeze. One of the fastest if not the fastest steel I’ve taken to a stone even compared with some softer ones like SK and Swedish. On my stones it feels similar to white #2 but with less bite and more finesse if that makes sense. Edge retention has been great because I use it for pulling motions on a hi-soft board mostly. If it was used more as an all-around petty I couldn’t expect the same retention obviously.
I hate to comment on out of the box sharpness since it’s not a true indicator BUT this petty came hair shaving sharp fresh out the box. Sharpness has gotten even better as I’ve taken it to my stones 3 times now (I am far from a sharpening expert or knife expert in general). I did a forced mustard patina out of the box as well. Took a lot of nice blue hues to start and with subsequent use and washing mostly gray and black patina exists. Finish is not super but isn’t awful either. Fit feels fine to me.
All in all this knife fits all of my needs. For $120 it was money well spent on a knife I’m not looking for greatness from. Please excuse the hastily taken pictures but you get the idea of what it looks like
.
