Lamson-Goodnow? LamsonSharp?

H

HoosierQ

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Feb 9, 2010
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These seem very nice and priced well. They seem kind of soft at 52-56 but they're presumably made to work with a steel...a steel steel.

How do you all feel about Lamson? I kind of like the no-nonsense pro-series and the Rosewood are nice too.
 
Forged knives in general are made from fairly soft steel. I don't think the harder steels forge very well. L/G has been forging knives in the U.S. for a long time. They are similar to the German knives like Wusthof but, frankly, a little softer still than those. The best kitchen cutlery is made in Japan. That's the way to go.
 
Knife Outlet said:
Forged knives in general are made from fairly soft steel. I don't think the harder steels forge very well. L/G has been forging knives in the U.S. for a long time. They are similar to the German knives like Wusthof but, frankly, a little softer still than those. The best kitchen cutlery is made in Japan. That's the way to go.
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I'm a little confused by your statement that forged knives are generally made from soft steel or that harder steels don't forge very well.


Some of the best Japanese kitchen cutlery is forged and hardened to low to mid 60's.
 
Hi,

I wonder if he means drop-forged vs. hammer forged. Drop forging makes the entire piece at once. I've not had a lot of experience with it, but I think there is a bit more porosity to a drop forging. Where as hammer forging allows for many concentrated blows resulting in a denser, more compacted end product.

On the other hand, I might very well not understand the two techniques well enough either.:D

dalee
 
I'm sorry but you don't understand the techniques. Steel is a crystal structure that cannot be compacted. Grain size can be affected, but by many different means. Proper heat cycling is generally more effective than late stage hand forging for reducing grain size.
 
I have an 8" chef and a 6" utility/sandwich knife. There ok I keep them around but now prefer Japanese gyutos or Shun's chef knives, now.
 
morrowj_98 said:
I'm a little confused by your statement that forged knives are generally made from soft steel or that harder steels don't forge very well.


Some of the best Japanese kitchen cutlery is forged and hardened to low to mid 60's.
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Quite right, but Lamson doesn't do one off hand made knives. I was referring to drop forging or pressure forging. The steels that harden up like Japanese knives aren't good choices for this type of use. The Japanese themselves get around forging hard steel with most of the Western style guytos. The blades are blocked and the bolsters are forge welded to the blades. Those steels are fine for one off hammer forging but not for mass production.
 
Dan Pierson said:
I'm sorry but you don't understand the techniques. Steel is a crystal structure that cannot be compacted. Grain size can be affected, but by many different means. Proper heat cycling is generally more effective than late stage hand forging for reducing grain size.
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I may not understand the techniques but I have witnessed them and manufacturers have told me that the steels with an alloy that harden to a high state are not a good choice for their forging process and none of them use them - NONE. I don't know what compacting steel has to do with anything I said but I'm sure you're right whatever it is.
 
I was responding to dalee: "resulting in a denser, more compacted end product."

It's certain true that forging high-end stainless steels is a lot harder, with more
critical temperature limits. Most hand made knives from these steels are stock removal,
not forged.
 
Sorry, you were referring to something said by someone else. I wish I knew what percentage of traditionally patterned kitchen knives are hand forged in Japan but I don't. I'll try to find out. My guess is that, if you remove factory made, mass produced knives, and western pattern knives, most of them are hand forged.
 
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