The complete story and discussion about knife blade hardness. That is the details and history of two Benchmade 710 folders, that I've used for years without knowing the actual hardness of each, assuming they were identical As it turned out one was 1HRC less than the other. What's more interesting is that during this blind testing I ended up with thicker edge on the softer blade. So, in the end, yes hardness matters, even 1 point of it. Hardness isn't the only thing that determines knife edge performance, but sure it is very important.
Friday, April 10, 2009 21:34:09
Just got Gude cheese knife. 6" serrated blade. Nice design, fit and finish is very good too, but I was really susprised by it. When I got my first 320mm Gude Bread knife it was a real monster, compared to Gude Global G-9 bread knife I had, looked like a toy. Now it's exactly the opposite. Compared to Global GS-10 cheese knife this one is like a toy. Mainly the handle, feels more like a pencil in my hands than a knife handle. Very strange. I'll test it soon, but somehow I have my doubts about its performance. The edge is thick and not that sharp.
Thursday, April 9, 2009 21:37:29
If you ever wondered what does freshly heat treated blades look like, well there is the picture. I'll write more detailed article about this whole ordeal later, but short story is that Phil Wilson heat treated factory folding knife blades for me. Results in my opinion are magnificent. Kershaw Shallot CPM S110V blade went from 59HRC to 64HRC, first Benchmade 710 blade went from 60HRC to 64HRC and second 710 blade went from 58.8HRC to 64.5HRC! Two of them are going to Tom Krein for regrind and the third one I will polish and clean up myself. It will be quite time consuming working on 64.5HRC M2 steel knife blade, but whatever, it was my EDC for years.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 21:38:10
First draft of the review is up. At this point I don't have enough use experience to fill in the usage section, but the rest is there :) Very nice, little, but Busse nuclear tough fixed blade.
Monday, April 6, 2009 20:59:02
Images of the new Busse HG55 LE are up. Very nice knife. See it for yourself. Also added a few
pictures of Tadatsuna Shirogami 270mm Gyuto and Tadatsuna Kamagata Usuba, also Shirogami(White Steel) to the kitchen knives
gallery.
Monday, April 6, 2009 18:21:36
Just received the news from Phil Wilson :) All of the blades I have sent to him for rehardening are ready. All three came out 64HRC. Just as we targeted. Compared to their original 59HRC and 60HRC hardness this is a huge jump in hardness, and consequently in edge holding ability.
I figure this is one way to make factory knives perform as they should. Sure it is harder to sharpen blade that hard, but given proper sharpening equipment that's no biggie.
Sunday, April 5, 2009 21:25:29
Saturday, April 4, 2009 17:38:42
After having it a little over a month, I have managed to put up an initial review. This knife has been in intensive use, and not only by me, so far so good, only positive results to report and I am very glad it worked out so well. Usage section is still empty in the review. Hopefully sometimes soon I will post the actual use reports. CPM154 steel with Phil's heat treatment works out very good.
Monday, March 30, 2009 19:35:32
Ok, it tooke me a while to put this one up, but I have an excuse :) I don't use it that often. It is rather different waterstone, has its pros and cons.Check out review and you will get the idea.
Monday, March 30, 2009 16:01:37
Just picked up two Kershaw Shallots. One is ZDP-189 steel, 63-64HRC, another in CPM-110V. First inspection was surprising. Very good fit and finish, plus top materials and for a bargain price compared to other brands. Very nice knives too. Just the speed safe thing is still dubious with some zealous CA anti-knife crowds. Have to disable it for now. 110V is going straight for re-hardening. 58-61HRC isn't where this steel should be, 63-64HRC is more like it.
Monday, March 30, 2009 13:19:15