Bob Kramer knives

Kaizen1

Kaizen1

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Jan 4, 2006
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I recently brought up my knife hobby on a philosophy forum and one of the regulars there posted a link to Mastersmith Bob Kramer along with an article about him. The performance of his blades seems pretty damn impressive. His name sounds familiar but I'm not sure if I've heard of him before.

Is this type of performance common from most or all Mastersmiths?

Here's a picture from his site:

richtigtests.jpg


Here's the article: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_oppenheimer

After Kramer returned to Seattle, the writer received a photo of a bolt and baby pork bone, both splayed open. Lying on top of them was a blade with a fat but unchipped edge. Kramer had cut a newspaper with it, too.
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Bob is the real deal, I asked Bob to teach a class at my shop 4 or 5 years ago when I was just starting out. He did and we had a good class. A good deal of time was spent on heat treating. With Bob, it's do it right or do not do it at all. If you know Bob you know what I am talking about. So thanks Bob, for taking the time to get me off to a good start.
 
Steven,

Not sure what this means. $400 for a knife Bob Kramer didn't make, but 150 Japanese people did?

I have no doubt Bob Kramer's knives are the real deal, but I'm not sure what the link means.
 
John Frankl said:
Steven,

Not sure what this means. $400 for a knife Bob Kramer didn't make, but 150 Japanese people did?

I have no doubt Bob Kramer's knives are the real deal, but I'm not sure what the link means.
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He has a factory deal, and there are links on the website that tells you what he does, and who he is.

The link was posted as support that Bob Kramer is " the real deal".

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Let's put it this way- Ken Onion, (arguably one of the most talented designers in the industry) has worked with Kershaw for years as their lead designer. Tim Galyean is also raising the bar at Kershaw, now.

It is a testament to Bob Kramer that he is working with Kershaw as a designer, especially in their prestigious Shun line:thumbup::cool:
 
Lorien said:
Let's put it this way- Ken Onion, (arguably one of the most talented designers in the industry) has worked with Kershaw for years as their lead designer. Tim Galyean is also raising the bar at Kershaw, now.

It is a testament to Bob Kramer that he is working with Kershaw as a designer, especially in their prestigious Shun line:thumbup::cool:
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Thanks for the support, Lorien, but Tim has been on his own for some time now.

http://galyeancustom.com/proSeries.html

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=837

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Is Kramer still with Shun? He's not on their site under makers. Maybe the site's not updated?
 
I'm not sure I know what you mean by support, Steven, (for Bob Kramer or for your position) but it's good you pointed out the Kershaw connection.

When I first checked out Bob Kramer's site, that's one of the things I noticed which elevated his profile to me immediately. I don't think Kershaw messes around with mediocre designers especially after employing Ken Onion to turn their company around.

Galyean isn't working with Kershaw anymore, eh? Sucks for them.
 
I'm a new member. Forgive me that I would distract your discussion a little bit. And I hope this topic about Bob Kramer's knives is still active.
I'm in the market for Bob Kramer's Shun knives. Can anyone tell me the real differences between these 2 lines. I've got a chance to see them and hold them at the store. They have different feel and the Damascus pattern look different. The Meiji has more Damascus lines and it has a more delicate look while Euro has a better balance in weight when you hold it. On Bob's website, he suggested that both lines made by the same materials and they are supposed to be equal except the appearance. But I think they have their own characters. I'm excited to see a good knife design and production got into the kitchen knife market, so I can use them every day and not just to look at them and admire them. But I couldn't make up my mind on which line I should invest in. Can anyone give me some help and insight on this issue? I'm looking forward to hear from you.

-aibc
 
Stumbled on this thread. One my two great regrets in life is not buying a Bob Kramer chef's knife before he moved out of Seattle. I was on the fence, finally decided to pull the trigger at $450, only to discover he had closed up his first ave shop. Of course now that same knife in Damascus is about $2000 more, assuming you can get on the list (orders are closed at this time). I'm going to take a look at the Shun line at Sur la Table. Personally the Euro line chef's knife is a thing of beauty. Either one is a work of art. They're both nickel stainless damascus around an SG-2 cutting core.
 
Bladeandbarrel said:
I wonder how thats going?
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Lets see, I work every day and pay the bills knife by knife..........Things couldn't be better though because I truly love what I do and I have the most beautiful Wife and Son with me every day.

I quit my day job with Kershaw to persue my own passions, but I still do design work for them. I have several designs debuting this year.:cool:
 
tom mayo said:
Actually, Ken and Tim both quit Kershaw at the same time!!!
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Hi Tom

Although I appreciate your input, your post is a bit off base with regards to accuracy.

Currently, Tim is still on our design team, and as he mentioned, we have some new patterns we will debuting at SHOT. We continue to work with Bob, and you can still find a gang of Ken's work as well.

Sorry for the drift, just thought I'd set our current status for everyone. Carry on.
 
There was a link to a television segment showing Bob Kramer at work and some bio information. NO DOUBT he is the real deal when it comes to skills.

Also, some of his knives are shown in "500 Knives". They look VERY good to me.

Peter
 
Two of his knives were on eBay last week. They went for mucho dinero.
 
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