Collection Updates

The images are the same. just 2 rotations for convenience

This is not my entire collection. i have a number of nice things back in NZ that i can't touch. but this was just to get a frame of reference of what i have purchased since i came to the phillipines on Jul 2019

lets break it down left to right (sort of)

Karesuando Kniven Unna Aksu Hunting Axe Curly Birch (9" Satin)
8" Victorinox Fibrox chef
Mercer Culinary M23210 Millennia Wide Wavy Edge Bread Knife, 10-Inch, Black
Victorinox Boning knife semi stiff
Mercer Culinary M22907 Millennia 7-Inch Nakiri Knife, Black

Chris Reeve IMPINDA Plain Drop Point
Spyderco Z-Cut Kitchen Knife with 4.4" Pointed Tip CTS BD1N Stainless Steel Blade and Durable Red Polypropylene Handle - SpyderEdge - K14SRD

Opinel No8 Stainless Steel Folding Knife with Walnut Handle
new victorinox folding tomato/sandwich knife
victorinox adventure and tiny vicnox

cKc 2.0 Hiker i bought back from someone
Marttiini Wild Boar MN546013
the Mystery Steel Passaround knife i got back

Wenger Swibo 7-Inch Skinning Knife, Rigid Blade, Large Handle
Return window closed on Jun 17, 2020

Whustof Classic Paring knife
Opinel table Steak knife, paring knife, serrated paring knife, and curved paring knife



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2021 06:23PM by cKc (Kyley Harris).

Most of these dont really get a lot of use.

The Boning knife is used a few times a week as we eat a lot of chicken here being one of the cheapest proteins. i get whole or body without wings and legs, and then break them down from there. these boning knives are simply excellent for this kind of work.

i play around with all the different knives to see how they do with this type of thing, but the boning knife is always the best.

Chef knife doesn't get a whole lot of use. i use it if we get pumpkin or coconut that needs more power. most meals the nakiri does fine. its a basic steel. this knife gets trashed. tossed in the sink, whatever so the thin edge dulls a lot. very easy to restore though. the bread knife is used rarely, just cake periods like Bday, xmas were i want the long thin slicer.

the impinda hardly gets used. i like it, but i regret not getting a small sebenza for the same money or less.

the opinel is just a handy knife to have to tear open boxes and packages etc. the walnut handle was a nice variety.

the folding sandwich knife is great. i dont use it a lot. i got it so it can go in my back if we eat out and buy meat or bread needing cutting. covid has reduced the opportunity. its basically the same performance as the standard tomato knife.
the adventure is just a nice large size swiss army. a little heavy though so often i put the farmer (not shown) in my bag (even that feels a little heavy) I sounds stupid i know.. but a small pack over my neck by the time its loaded up with medicine, testers, and alchohol and other stuff it actually starts getting weighty, and then more sweaty. days like this i wish i had one of my ultralight friction folders.

i bought back my hiker from the person who had the test knife from the passaround. was originally Colins.. its nice just to have something of mine back. dont really use it. i just wanted something Ashley can have of mine. same goes with the passaround knife. was in great condition and had been zero ground by the last person and blistering sharp. lent it to an installer to hammer through gib board.. no sweat even as thin as the edge is.

the swibo is a meat knife.. really, this is almost an ideal camp knife to me. thin, but still plenty of durability.

the spyderco knife is an interesting one. i cant see the benefits of the steel choice at all because of the serrated nature. i use this basically as a bagel knife and such. its really not sharp at all anymore because of the way it was thrown in sinks etc etc. but still slices bread just fine. i think i prefer the standard blade/handle though like the vnox or opinel.

the whustof is an awesome design blade. perfect paring knife, and makes a perfect boot knife with a sheath imo. a great necker or whatever. well work the money for the balance and design. the steel works just fine.

the long opinal steak knife gets used a lot. great on onions and veges and boning chicken. used a lot..

Kyley,
Those knives all look very practical and also good users. I have a set of the Silverpoint Whustof paring knives: hawkbill, Wharncliffe, and spear point. Nice handles, heard the steel is junk.

Emphasis below is mine:

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jasonstone20
I have a set of the Silverpoint Whustof paring knives: hawkbill, Wharncliffe, and spear point. Nice handles, heard the steel is junk.

Rumors about knife performance - whether positive or negative - do nothing to create or spread actual knowledge about knives, and can easily be misleading.

One of the things that drew me to T0.1M was Cliff Stamp's obvious effort to avoid misinformation. I recommend that we maintain that standard here.

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alkali
Emphasis below is mine:


I have a set of the Silverpoint Whustof paring knives: hawkbill, Wharncliffe, and spear point. Nice handles, heard the steel is junk.


Rumors about knife performance - whether positive or negative - do nothing to create or spread actual knowledge about knives, and can easily be misleading.

One of the things that drew me to T0.1M was Cliff Stamp's obvious effort to avoid misinformation. I recommend that we maintain that standard here.

Agreed. Hearing it is junk is annecdotal, and worthwhile only as a piece of information relative to new information that actually describes a personal experience.

I will add a small note here, even though this could be it's own topic.

I've been using Whustof for 20+ years regularly. they are my go to chef knife typically when buying chef knives.

I tend to always buy the classic or ikon series. never the grand prix or otherwise. the reason isn't just the handle designs, but the fact that i have noticed a great lack of care on their part in the cheaper ranges of knives. the steel might be identical (no idea) but the geometry of the blades is definitely much thicker and with less quality from my personal experience.

i bought one of the injection molded 6" knives here in the philippines.. i use it as my "junk" knife. because the experience was poor to say the least compared to every other whusthof i've owned in the icon and classic (french line). this is all down to the geometry, and a part down to the feel of the handle and balance. i spent some time thinning the edge and it works fine now. still dulls a lot because its used roughly like the nakiri

i believe whusthof performs pretty much exactly as i'd expect from the grade of steel and hardness rating of that steel, which is in the 57/58 range on most models.

if you take a whusthof knife and do a barrage of cutting on wood and cardboard etc, i think for many, this might create a downplay of experience where they say the steel is "junk steel" but this information has been negated tenfold by demonstrations from people like Cliff who know how to set geometry and edge correctly for a steel.

what i can say from personal experience using whusthof as designed by them..
a chef knife of the ikon series or french line in 8-10 inch in 5 solid years of use cooking the primary meal's 5 times a week using only a fine grade whusthof steel, and never mistreating the knife.. This means, each use 5 seconds of light hone before use. wash, dry, hone, after use (also 5 seconds or so, using a feather like approach). never dropping in a sink or using on the wrong type of surface. in this application i always had cutting performance of a high level in meat and veges. I was always able to clean draw cut paper. and i never had to sharpen them over the hone because i never damaged one.
with careful use, i'd have performance cutting for hundreds of years using steeling. this works exactly because of the nature of the steel and heat-treat geared to this design and use.

I think none of us will have the time or dedication of Cliff in this fashion, and so more of what we say may end up sounding anecdotal, but we should avoid this at all costs and only offer information from personal experience if possible when it comes to discussing performance related attributes vs talking about cosmetic or preference based attributes.


This makes me think of another experience in how people related knives and treat knives and how subjective performance might be relative to how dainty people are in treating knives.

in NZ i have a nice plastic handle Murray Carter Nakiri that is 1.5mm thickness tri layered steel with carbon core that rusts on a dime. worth $300+ usd i believe. performance attributes would be considered the high hardness (circa 62rc i believe, but unsure as he doesn't measure) and the thinness. with 1.5mm blade, 1"+ bevel ground to near zero it is a true laser beam.
its the sort of knife that people would treat like a baby and treasure.. Ironically, i prob treated it the same way as a $2 knife. it got left out with food contaminates all the time. dripping in water, sometimes not used for a week (lazy slob out fishing mode). where this exemplifed it self is that id just grab a scotch brite and srub it clean, hone it a few times on a dmt 1200 and it was good to go. not rust chipping in the edge because of the fine grade of the carbon steel. it was a work horse knife that would cut through aluminium cans no issue and just performed great.

on the other side of the coin, i had a 6" Victorinox that i had zero ground myself, even thinner than Carters knife. it also performed like a lazer and did lots of rough jobs. but this is only 56rc or so, maybe 58?

in real use treating them both like rubbish, they both worked exceptionally well. they both ended up needing very similar level of maintenance. the thinner softer Victorinox would roll more often in cutting fish bones and stuff, but the softer steel restored on the 1200dmt faster and easier.

so is one better than the other? subjectively we'd all like to say that the carter is a better knife, better steel, better heat-treat. most definitely better grind out of the box without someone who can grind that themselves. but when equalized, and in real use, one would be considered "junk steel" by many and one would be "steel superior" by an elite group.

the carter is definitely the better, but not enough that any normal users in this world could really say a lot in general misuse. but then there is the staining and taste coming off tomatoes etc. its all a trade off. there are no junk steels. but there are junk grinds, junk heat treats etc that can all effect performance. most of the time i would say its the grind and design that has the greatest effect on thinking a knife is awesome.

I have a heavy bias myself towards what most are calling cheap junk steels.. the reason being that i don't like sharpening knives. i don't want an arsenal of Waterstones or diamond stones as essential to just get some steel off a knife. i love a knife that i can reprofile fast and easy. that alone is worth 10 times more to me, than a slight longevity of sharpness in real use. i don't mind 5 seconds honing before use each use.

Sorry guys, I didn't think about spreading misinformation. I haven't used those knives, and was hoping I was wrong, as they seemed nice.

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cKc (Kyley Harris)
the opinel is just a handy knife to have to tear open boxes and packages etc. the walnut handle was a nice variety.

I only recently discovered that there is an active community of Opinel fans. Many of whom modify theirs. Like alter blade shape, decorate / reshape handle. Was re-freshening to see.

A wharny blade style + straight handle would make it even nicer for packages.

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cKc (Kyley Harris)
the whustof is an awesome design blade. perfect paring knife, and makes a perfect boot knife with a sheath imo. a great necker or whatever. well work the money for the balance and design. the steel works just fine.

the long opinal steak knife gets used a lot. great on onions and veges and boning chicken. used a lot..

The handle on the wüsthof looks very nice, how is the balance?

I use the same Opinel pairing knives at home, great knife with the narrow blade. I only wish they would have spend some more money on the handle design. I sometimes get food stuck between the open handle and blade tang.