The Herder K lack the Jugendstil / Art nouveau character, and are made of 1.2519 instead of C75. Good stuff for sure, but not that easy sharpening. And far too expensive.
Yeah it definitly has a different look and profile. But in the end of the day it probably fits better to my pecularities - as individual as they may be.
Didn't know about the difference in steel. I always thought C75 was what they used on the cheap carbons? Do they simply give it a different heat treatment on the higher HRC models? For me it's mostly been clouded in mystery what most of their stuff is made from, only encountering the occasional tidbit of hearsay.
I do agree it's rather pricey - and that's also why I don't have it yet. No idea why they are so much more expensive than the 1922; you'd think with the simple stamped construction and the cheap wooden scales they'd be easier (and thus cheaper) to make?
If that thing was a 100 euros cheaper, it would be a great deal. We could recommend them to anyone in Europe who's simply looking for a simple knife that cuts well, and they'd be flying out of the shops.
You can get new carbons from k-sab, but I wouldn't call them a safe bet -- the QA is downright terrible. Out of the four that I've handled, only one blade was straight. The others had a very pronounced bend to the left, which apparently is quite common with the carbon line.
The steel is stupid soft (~54), so you'll need to keep a honing rod nearby at all times. Sharpens up quick though, and it takes a nice patina.
Wow, didn't expect that. So far, whatever else you may say of them, my usual experience was that all the factory made European stuff was at least... straight. Boring, soft and built much too thick, but at least straight and 'clean'. Didn't know they had such issues.
I do agree they are incredibly soft, but I think that's part of the rationale; it also makes them so easy to steel. Can imagine that makes it work well for stuff like boning, or for people who are used to that kind of routine. Less well for people who don't use it enough to get proficient at steeling, or who hate using a steel all the time.
Which brings me on the next discussion point: for good reasons, people dislike fingerguards. With narrow ones, all you have to do is cutting off a few millimetres, or make a diagonal cut which is even easier.
Some get excellent results by removing it entirely. Very effective, but quite disfiguring.
I feel a bit uneasy about changing so drastically the appearance of a historic design. Any thoughts?
I kinda see your point there, and to some extent I agree with you. Maybe thats why I haven't bought that 1922 yet and ground it down? I could imagine it would look a lot less good. It's also somewhat pricey for a project knife requiring a lot of work. At that point you might as well get something that's good out of the box. If it was a 100 euro's cheaper I'd give it a go, but it isn't... and trying to remove the entire fingerguard isn't as trivial as cutting off a corner of the handle from a 10 Herder peeling knife.
It also doesn't inspire any confidence that last time I brought a knife with a bolster to some 'professional sharpener' in hopes of taming that bolster, he effectively ruined the knife... Thank god it was cheap!
