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Knives!
- Thread starter TOOL460002
- Start date
Looks like you've been to the trough a few times! Nice collection.
This is a long discontinued Bob Lum tanto made in Seki City for Spyderco. A very cool design, with a long smooth curved blade, and a more gentle transition to the tip than we see on so many bastardized western corruptions of the tanto. AUS-8.
Next is a Benchmade fixed blade, made in collaboration with McHenry and Williams. The handle is not going to feel good if you have too much heavy work to do, but it is light and very comfortable to use. 440C.
A couple of fine designs, with good execution by the factories. I just wonder why, if they are going to do something like this, they wouldn't spend another $0.50 and use a better grade of steel?
Both of them are older, so maybe it was a sign of the times. It doesn't bother me because I enjoy sharpening things as much as I enjoy cutting things up. Give me a good stone and a dull knife and I'm happy!
The tapered tang. "Balance in your knife, balance in your life." I think I just made that up. Tough to be sure about that sometimes!
My newest acquisition, a Toor Suitor w/ ebony handle.
I'm really liking Toor knives. Here's another.. the Chasm Widow.
This is a cheap Chinese flipper from China via eBay. I bought it to use as a beater, and because I love to sharpen things!
The blade is branded D2. I have heard rumors of Chinese manufacturers branding steels that are not quite what the marking says, but they are also importing higher end steels and even handle materials to compete in the mid-priced market, so absent a lab we are not going to know for sure.
The knife is big and heavy, with a solid but clunky liner lock. It flips open, a feature I dislike on big, heavy blades. It kind of feels like you are throwing open the lid on a rusty old dumpster!
I use it for harsh tasks around the shop and home, including cutting up a few acres of cardboard from all the mid-fi gear I just bought. Cardboard is a great test of a knifes edge-holding ability.
It had gotten too dull to pop hairs or cut paper reliably, so I broke out a flat, well conditioned hard Arkansas stone. That right there is one fine Sunday morning. A dull knife, a good stone, and a few little doo-dads to keep the process fine-tuned!
This one was popping hairs and cutting receipt paper across the grain after about ten or twelve strokes per side. This is a very effective stone, but I was expecting a little more of a struggle with the D2. Maybe now it is alleged D2!
But it does cut like a demon. It is popping hairs with the right technique, but not like a razor. Not a problem as it is intended for cutting cardboard and prying things open! I need some tooth on the edge so I am definitely going to resist the temptation to see how sharp I can get it.
It glides through the thick cardboard good manufacturers use to ship their gear very smoothly, without dragging or catching. If the blade were thinner it would cut better but like many knives in this class from China I get the impression it was built to not break!
A decent tool at the price, which was well under $50, maybe $30-35? I might take it apart and de-horn it and polish the guts to smooth up the action, but this knife is perfectly suited to work in the garden or on demolition duty, so it makes no sense to put lipstick on it!
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Are good quality kitchen knives included here, or are we just doing a “Goodbye Earl” maneuver?
