TLA
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2002
- Messages
- 705
To all,
I wanted to do a little review on the Osprey Knife & Tool: Butchers Chef Knife that I purchased on 12-10-17, now that I have had some time to use it.
I would like to begin with the stats of this knife as taken from the original sales post.
Photo from the original sales thread.
Butchers Chef Knife
1/8" 1095 (Measures .116" directly in front of the scales)
Full Skeletonized Tang, Distal Taper to the Blade with Hamon (Hand Rubbed Finish)
OD Green Canvas Micarta over Black Carbon Fiber Pin out and Lanyard Tube
Blade 6 3/4", OAL 11 ¾", 7.04 oz
My initial impression was, this knife is one bad mother (I think you all know what completes this statement) and I was right.
I spoke with Christopher on messenger the other day and he asked “what stands out about this blade to you”? The one thing that stands out the most to me is the blade shape. As you can see from the photo above and in the rest of the photos, this Butchers Chef Knife does not look like what most people would call a chef’s or butchers knife. I only have one kitchen knife at home that remotely has a similar shape and that one has an Asian influence to it.
Blade Shape: This knife has a deep belly, distal taper with the tip coming up ever so slightly kind of like a trail point. The heel is plenty tall for my hands so it’s not a knuckle buster like some kitchen knives I own. The spine on this knife is squared versus rounded.
Performance: Due to its’ blade shape this knife allows the user to chop really good using a push cut or with a rocking motion as you can get some height when rocking the blade using a two handed motion.
Prepping cabbage for red slaw and the final results of a table side Caesar salad from scratch for Christmas dinner (the knife was used to cut the day old bread for croutons and the romaine lettuce.
Prepping Cabbage for Red Slaw
Red Slaw
This knife has a very acute tip due to the distal taper which allow me to make very precise cuts when dicing an onion for my Alaska sized hushpuppies for our Christmas dinner.
The blade shape also allows the user to make long slicing type cuts. It excelled at trimming some of the excess fat on the ribs that I smoked for Christmas dinner especially the fat on the underside of the ribs along the bones.
Ribs, red slaw and Alaska sized hushpuppies.
Now I would like to address a couple of things that some people might complain about. First is the tip on how it comes up. As for me, I love the way the tip comes up on this blade. Now I did notice that when I tried using the spine of the knife to scrape the diced onions into my mixing bowl the tip had a tendency to get caught up on my cutting board. However this is not a big issue to me as I can always use my hands to scrape food off the cutting board. A person can use the edge of the knife to scrape food off the cutting board but I personally don't recommend this as you can dull or damage the edge.
Second is the squared spine. In my observations most people prefer a rounded spine on a kitchen knife for comfort when choking up on the blade in the pinch grip especially if they end up using the knife for extended periods of time. Now I am not a professional chef I just pretend to be one at home when no one is looking so the squared spine didn’t really bother me at all even when I used it for an extended period. Besides a nice squared spine is great for removing fish scales and with the thin tip of this knife a person can get into the small nooks and crannies.
Overall Performance: The Osprey Knife & Tool: Butchers Chef Knife has met and exceeded my expectations. It performed all tasks I put in front of it flawlessly and at no time did I ever re-sharpen or strop the edge during a week and a half of testing. The edge remained very sharp. Like all Osprey Knives the fit and finish is excellent and the handle is very ergonomic.
As far as I’m concerned Christopher knocked this one out of the universe. If there is one thing that I would ask Christopher to do with this design that would be to make one in stainless steel with the squared spine. I would carry a stainless version with me during salmon season as I know in my heart this knife is meant for processing fish.
Thank you all for your time.
Tony
I wanted to do a little review on the Osprey Knife & Tool: Butchers Chef Knife that I purchased on 12-10-17, now that I have had some time to use it.
I would like to begin with the stats of this knife as taken from the original sales post.
Photo from the original sales thread.
Butchers Chef Knife
1/8" 1095 (Measures .116" directly in front of the scales)
Full Skeletonized Tang, Distal Taper to the Blade with Hamon (Hand Rubbed Finish)
OD Green Canvas Micarta over Black Carbon Fiber Pin out and Lanyard Tube
Blade 6 3/4", OAL 11 ¾", 7.04 oz
My initial impression was, this knife is one bad mother (I think you all know what completes this statement) and I was right.
I spoke with Christopher on messenger the other day and he asked “what stands out about this blade to you”? The one thing that stands out the most to me is the blade shape. As you can see from the photo above and in the rest of the photos, this Butchers Chef Knife does not look like what most people would call a chef’s or butchers knife. I only have one kitchen knife at home that remotely has a similar shape and that one has an Asian influence to it.
Blade Shape: This knife has a deep belly, distal taper with the tip coming up ever so slightly kind of like a trail point. The heel is plenty tall for my hands so it’s not a knuckle buster like some kitchen knives I own. The spine on this knife is squared versus rounded.
Performance: Due to its’ blade shape this knife allows the user to chop really good using a push cut or with a rocking motion as you can get some height when rocking the blade using a two handed motion.
Prepping cabbage for red slaw and the final results of a table side Caesar salad from scratch for Christmas dinner (the knife was used to cut the day old bread for croutons and the romaine lettuce.
Prepping Cabbage for Red Slaw
Red Slaw
This knife has a very acute tip due to the distal taper which allow me to make very precise cuts when dicing an onion for my Alaska sized hushpuppies for our Christmas dinner.
The blade shape also allows the user to make long slicing type cuts. It excelled at trimming some of the excess fat on the ribs that I smoked for Christmas dinner especially the fat on the underside of the ribs along the bones.
Ribs, red slaw and Alaska sized hushpuppies.
Now I would like to address a couple of things that some people might complain about. First is the tip on how it comes up. As for me, I love the way the tip comes up on this blade. Now I did notice that when I tried using the spine of the knife to scrape the diced onions into my mixing bowl the tip had a tendency to get caught up on my cutting board. However this is not a big issue to me as I can always use my hands to scrape food off the cutting board. A person can use the edge of the knife to scrape food off the cutting board but I personally don't recommend this as you can dull or damage the edge.
Second is the squared spine. In my observations most people prefer a rounded spine on a kitchen knife for comfort when choking up on the blade in the pinch grip especially if they end up using the knife for extended periods of time. Now I am not a professional chef I just pretend to be one at home when no one is looking so the squared spine didn’t really bother me at all even when I used it for an extended period. Besides a nice squared spine is great for removing fish scales and with the thin tip of this knife a person can get into the small nooks and crannies.
Overall Performance: The Osprey Knife & Tool: Butchers Chef Knife has met and exceeded my expectations. It performed all tasks I put in front of it flawlessly and at no time did I ever re-sharpen or strop the edge during a week and a half of testing. The edge remained very sharp. Like all Osprey Knives the fit and finish is excellent and the handle is very ergonomic.
As far as I’m concerned Christopher knocked this one out of the universe. If there is one thing that I would ask Christopher to do with this design that would be to make one in stainless steel with the squared spine. I would carry a stainless version with me during salmon season as I know in my heart this knife is meant for processing fish.
Thank you all for your time.
Tony
What are the other knives in your top five? Even I want to know. 