zknives.com news blog

Calphalon KNSR0102C Slicer kitchen knife review posted

2009-11-10T12:35:33-08:00

It was yet another loaner, which I had to fix and sharpen. Well, plus I got to play with it for a couple weeks or so. Can't compare with high end knives, 440A Steel or similar, so not much of the performance to expect, but it's not a complete junk, at least for its price. Budget knife, so so performer. Not worse than mainstream Henckels or Wusthofs.

3 new steels added to the Interactive Knife Steel Chart

2009-11-09T14:01:28-08:00

Todays entries are 1.2008, W75 and UHC. Sadly not much of the info on the last 2. Even though W75 is Krup's steel there is no information on their site, and second is Roselli proprietary steel. UHC stands for Ultra High Carbon, and reportedly achieves 64-66HRC, with very good edge holding ability at that hardness. Roselli proprietary.

Added new knife types to Japanese Knife Type Database

2009-11-09T13:11:16-08:00

This was an Unagi day ;) 3 more Unagi types with schematics. Sorry for the crappy drawings, but I am no painter. Still, you will get the idea about the overall shape. Includes Kanji, thanks to Bishamon.

New steel in Knife Steel Chart

2009-11-08T20:20:48-08:00

While researching Miyabi knives data found that one of their lines is based on CVM60 steel. Nothing on the internet regarding its composition. Eventually, thanks to foodie and bladeforums forums the mystery was solved. Turns out it's our good old VG-10 steel :) For some reason Henckels likes to rename the steels they use to some cryptic names, IMHO for no good reason whatsoever.

Usability improvements in Japanese Kitchen knife Reviews

2009-11-07T14:24:59-08:00

Added local index files for pretty much all of the makers. That should more or less fix the issue with bread crumbs jumping few levels up when descending into particular review. I still need to come up with a normal fix for the dynamically generated indeces and review pages.

Regrinds progress report

2009-11-06T12:07:34-08:00

Just spoke to Tom Krein, he's the one doing regrinds on the top two rehardened blades shown on the attached photo and discussed in the article linked in the title. Unfortunately, the whole regrind project took a lot longer than anticipated, even with my anticipation of the delays :) Well, the good news is he's said they'd be done today ans sent to me, so in theory I should get them next week. Both were thinned down considerably and given how well Phil Wilson's regrind worked I have very high expectations for both of those.

Watanabe Kuro-Uchi Sakekiri deba knife review published

2009-11-05T22:09:32-08:00

I got it a while back, used couple times by now. Hey, that's an achievement for the guy with 50is kitchen knives ok ;) Anyway, very nice, medium knife. On its own it's pretty tough, but as a deba it's a delicate one :) Designed for Salmon specifically. As you can guess Sake is Salmon and kiri is a cutter in Japanese. Check out the review for the details.

New photos added to the Japanese Knife Type Database

2009-11-04T22:09:46-08:00

This time it's a better and larger photo of the Katsuo Hocho and new photo for the Meuchi. Special thanks to KF's Bishamon for both and for Kanji.

Added image gallery links to all WatanabeKnife reviews

2009-11-04T18:46:00-08:00

I guess I should do that for all the knives I have large amounts of photos for. Well, have to start somewhere. So, Watanabe it is.

First use of Tadatsuna Shirogami Gyuto after a very long break

2009-11-04T10:17:12-08:00

Last night had to cut salad. A lot of it as usual. First I've picked up 270mm Aritsugu A-Type Gyuto, but then rehandled Tadatsuna gyuto caught my attention. It's been soooo long since I have used it, in 04/09 its handle became a bit loose and I was both, disappointed and frustrated with that. So, it was banished from the kitchen, until the final decision was made. The decision was made to replace the handle which was completed in 10/09. The knife clearly needed sharpening, even if it could shave hair in either direction, the level wasn't satisfactory. I still decided to use it. It's the thinnest gyuto I have, and it's been a long time. New handle is much better than the old one, and gives the knife whole new feeling. Overall, it's a very good performer as far as cutting goes, but lacking a bit in the edge holding department, compared to Arigsutu or Watanabes...I'll update review soon.