- Joined
- Mar 26, 2018
- Messages
- 36
Hi! This is Dave Olkovetsky, the founder of Artisan Revere. New-ish to the forums. Had a personal membership last year and I just bought my Dealer Membership. Almost exactly a year ago, I asked a few questions on the forums seeking feedback about handle materials. We chose Richlite for our scales and G10 for our liners for those who might be curious. That thread can be found here: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...ife-company-would-love-some-feedback.1565963/
About me: Here's what I'm not. I'm not a knifemaker. I'm not a metallurgist. I'm not a chef. I have studied all of those things though. Here's what I am. Obsessed. I'm obsessed with making you an incredible product. I'm a former steel investor who reached out to dozens of experts including knife makers, metallurgists, and chefs for help in making a stellar American-made kitchen knife. I made these knives the same way I invested: I asked a lot of experts a lot of questions, including asking who is the best person for ABC, or XYZ. People who know, always seem willing to help. It worked very well for me in my old life, and I firmly believe in crowd sourcing information from as many intelligent and knowledgeable people as I can. That's not terribly different from the way the forums work. We then went to work and iterated over and over and over and kept asking for help. Each iteration was tested in professional NYC kitchens, and by me. The penultimate version was tested by all the other folks you see on our website.
About Artisan Revere: We set out to do one thing: make the best kitchen knives we possibly could ever make, at a price point that lots of folks could afford. We have one North Star: Making the world's best kitchen knives. I dream big. We've been told countless times our goals (including volume goals) are incredibly aggressive, but we firmly believe American's should be able to choose incredible, American-made kitchen knives at fair prices. I'm a knife enthusiast who was frustrated about 1.5 years ago at the atrocious selection of knives available to me at: Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams Sonoma, and Sur La Table. That's how Artisan Revere was born: out of frustration. Sure, there are sites where I can buy Japanese knives from reputable makers, but I wanted to do better. I want to be THE midtech kitchen knife company. Much more info is available at artisanrevere.com
What Makes An Incredible Kitchen Knife: After many many conversations, prototypes, trips to visit numerous knifemakers, hundreds of hours of conversations, books read, a few knives forged (quite badly), a 2 day visit to Blade Show, and on and on, here's where I settled for the things that make the best kitchen knife. Best in class: 1- Cutting Ability, 2- Edge Retention, 3- Toughness, 4- Corrosion Resistance, 5- Balance, 6- Ergonomics. 7- Sustainability of materials. Again, these are my top 7. I'm open to adding or subtracting.
1- Cutting Ability. Our chef knife is thin, at .010" behind the cutting edge. We grind at 15 dps, and run on a slack platen for final sharpening. We're working on designing tests with CATRA to measure this better. We've got something in the works, so stay tuned.
2- Edge Retention. Our knife averaged 933.7 TCC at CATRA, that's 2.3x better than Wusthof, and 1.9x better than Shun and Global. [If Cliff Stamp is still on here, you should feel free to add that to your CATRA list.] Not to say those companies should be the benchmarks, but they're the companies in the U.S. with the biggest distribution in terms of "premium" kitchen knife offerings and what most people view as the benchmarks. We’ve also seen the test results for companies like Miyabi, Yaxell, and many others, however, those aren't for us to publish. I will tell you we beat out all of them, from an edge retention perspective despite some of the Japanese companies being even thinner behind the edge than we are. Elmax + Geometry + great heat treat. Big thanks to the good people at Peters' HT.
3- Toughness. You've all probably seen the charpy testing that folks like Crucible, CarTech, and Bohler-Uddeholm put out. I know it's not apples to apples given thinnness behind the edge, but Elmax is 60% tougher than S35VN and 240% tougher than 440C, based on standardized charpy testing (data from Uddeholm). Know this: we're working with CATRA on better, more realistic tests. We do know that Elmax is tougher than SG2, HAP40, ZDP189. Why? Because 3rd gen powder steel (like Elmax), has drastically more homogenous carbides, and far fewer non-metallic inclusions than any Japanese powder steel, and smaller carbide sizes. Again, best we can tell, the Japanese are still using a first generation PM process―technology that is over 40 years old.
4- Corrosion Resistance. Elmax = Stainless. We did 5% NaCl testing and passed. There is excess Chromium in Elmax which forms a passive Chromium layer that essentially coats the outside of the knife, making it stainless. Yes, it can patina if improperly cared for, so wash and dry your knives.
5- Balance. See images of me balancing right in front of the handle (on our site ― artisanrevere.com). After working with dozens of chefs and home cooks in NYC, we decided this was the perfect spot for precision, power, and control.
6- Ergonomics. I firmly believe there should be ONLY ONE sharp part of a kitchen knife, and that's the cutting edge. Not the spine, not the heel, and not parts of the handle. Few kitchen knife companies bother with finishes because there are no Chris Reeve's, or Spyderco's who focus on the kitchen knife. Yes, I'm aware that both companies I just mentioned make kitchen products, though it's clearly not a focus. The reality, is once you feel a chef knife that has a rounded spine, a rounded heel, you will NEVER go back. A handle should be firm, and comfortable. We iterated more times than I can remember on our handle with feedback from hundreds of people.
7- Sustainability. You all know, probably better than I do, that our knife steel, Elmax, is made in Sweden and starts out in an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). EAF's consume 9x less energy than Blast Furnaces (BF), the other primary steelmaking method. Sweden's energy grid is powered by 1% fossil fuels. Japan, on the other hand, is 100% blast furnace based, and is 82% fossil fuels. That means, our knives are 9 x 82 = 738x less CO2 intensive to make the raw steel. I would point out, that we do further processing beyond just the ingot steel ― that's the powder process. However, if we are comparing Apples to Apples, i.e. Japanese powder steels (ZPD-189, HAP40, SG-2, R2, etc) to Elmax, this holds true.
Our knife has been tested in professional kitchens in NYC and by hundreds of home users. We're still a very new company, and would love to get feedback from the BF community. My team and I are extremely open to your feedback and criticism. Finally, I'd also like to ask if anyone on here, who is a big cook, would be interested in doing a pass-around? If so, please feel free to reach out to my directly at david@artisanrevere.com. As I said earlier, we have One North Star: Making the world's best kitchen knives.
I hope you'll give us a chance to impress you!
Warmest Regards,
Dave Olkovetsky, Founder of Artisan Revere
P.S. we're now live on KICKSTARTER, so if you are interested in learning WAY more, I'd certainly appreciate you taking a look at our page, artisanrevere.com (and keeping in mind that this was largely written for non knife-experts).
P.P.S. And by the way, the reason we’re on Kickstarter, is to kickstart our company with some capital to grow. I mentioned earlier this has been my sole focus for the last 1.5 years. Well over a year ago, I quit my job to start this company and have been funding it with my savings. I don’t have unlimited funds, and that’s why we’re crowdfunding, in the hopes that folks will see our products, think they're worth investing in, and trust us to deliver on our promises.
About me: Here's what I'm not. I'm not a knifemaker. I'm not a metallurgist. I'm not a chef. I have studied all of those things though. Here's what I am. Obsessed. I'm obsessed with making you an incredible product. I'm a former steel investor who reached out to dozens of experts including knife makers, metallurgists, and chefs for help in making a stellar American-made kitchen knife. I made these knives the same way I invested: I asked a lot of experts a lot of questions, including asking who is the best person for ABC, or XYZ. People who know, always seem willing to help. It worked very well for me in my old life, and I firmly believe in crowd sourcing information from as many intelligent and knowledgeable people as I can. That's not terribly different from the way the forums work. We then went to work and iterated over and over and over and kept asking for help. Each iteration was tested in professional NYC kitchens, and by me. The penultimate version was tested by all the other folks you see on our website.
About Artisan Revere: We set out to do one thing: make the best kitchen knives we possibly could ever make, at a price point that lots of folks could afford. We have one North Star: Making the world's best kitchen knives. I dream big. We've been told countless times our goals (including volume goals) are incredibly aggressive, but we firmly believe American's should be able to choose incredible, American-made kitchen knives at fair prices. I'm a knife enthusiast who was frustrated about 1.5 years ago at the atrocious selection of knives available to me at: Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams Sonoma, and Sur La Table. That's how Artisan Revere was born: out of frustration. Sure, there are sites where I can buy Japanese knives from reputable makers, but I wanted to do better. I want to be THE midtech kitchen knife company. Much more info is available at artisanrevere.com
What Makes An Incredible Kitchen Knife: After many many conversations, prototypes, trips to visit numerous knifemakers, hundreds of hours of conversations, books read, a few knives forged (quite badly), a 2 day visit to Blade Show, and on and on, here's where I settled for the things that make the best kitchen knife. Best in class: 1- Cutting Ability, 2- Edge Retention, 3- Toughness, 4- Corrosion Resistance, 5- Balance, 6- Ergonomics. 7- Sustainability of materials. Again, these are my top 7. I'm open to adding or subtracting.
1- Cutting Ability. Our chef knife is thin, at .010" behind the cutting edge. We grind at 15 dps, and run on a slack platen for final sharpening. We're working on designing tests with CATRA to measure this better. We've got something in the works, so stay tuned.
2- Edge Retention. Our knife averaged 933.7 TCC at CATRA, that's 2.3x better than Wusthof, and 1.9x better than Shun and Global. [If Cliff Stamp is still on here, you should feel free to add that to your CATRA list.] Not to say those companies should be the benchmarks, but they're the companies in the U.S. with the biggest distribution in terms of "premium" kitchen knife offerings and what most people view as the benchmarks. We’ve also seen the test results for companies like Miyabi, Yaxell, and many others, however, those aren't for us to publish. I will tell you we beat out all of them, from an edge retention perspective despite some of the Japanese companies being even thinner behind the edge than we are. Elmax + Geometry + great heat treat. Big thanks to the good people at Peters' HT.
3- Toughness. You've all probably seen the charpy testing that folks like Crucible, CarTech, and Bohler-Uddeholm put out. I know it's not apples to apples given thinnness behind the edge, but Elmax is 60% tougher than S35VN and 240% tougher than 440C, based on standardized charpy testing (data from Uddeholm). Know this: we're working with CATRA on better, more realistic tests. We do know that Elmax is tougher than SG2, HAP40, ZDP189. Why? Because 3rd gen powder steel (like Elmax), has drastically more homogenous carbides, and far fewer non-metallic inclusions than any Japanese powder steel, and smaller carbide sizes. Again, best we can tell, the Japanese are still using a first generation PM process―technology that is over 40 years old.
4- Corrosion Resistance. Elmax = Stainless. We did 5% NaCl testing and passed. There is excess Chromium in Elmax which forms a passive Chromium layer that essentially coats the outside of the knife, making it stainless. Yes, it can patina if improperly cared for, so wash and dry your knives.
5- Balance. See images of me balancing right in front of the handle (on our site ― artisanrevere.com). After working with dozens of chefs and home cooks in NYC, we decided this was the perfect spot for precision, power, and control.
6- Ergonomics. I firmly believe there should be ONLY ONE sharp part of a kitchen knife, and that's the cutting edge. Not the spine, not the heel, and not parts of the handle. Few kitchen knife companies bother with finishes because there are no Chris Reeve's, or Spyderco's who focus on the kitchen knife. Yes, I'm aware that both companies I just mentioned make kitchen products, though it's clearly not a focus. The reality, is once you feel a chef knife that has a rounded spine, a rounded heel, you will NEVER go back. A handle should be firm, and comfortable. We iterated more times than I can remember on our handle with feedback from hundreds of people.
7- Sustainability. You all know, probably better than I do, that our knife steel, Elmax, is made in Sweden and starts out in an Electric Arc Furnace (EAF). EAF's consume 9x less energy than Blast Furnaces (BF), the other primary steelmaking method. Sweden's energy grid is powered by 1% fossil fuels. Japan, on the other hand, is 100% blast furnace based, and is 82% fossil fuels. That means, our knives are 9 x 82 = 738x less CO2 intensive to make the raw steel. I would point out, that we do further processing beyond just the ingot steel ― that's the powder process. However, if we are comparing Apples to Apples, i.e. Japanese powder steels (ZPD-189, HAP40, SG-2, R2, etc) to Elmax, this holds true.
Our knife has been tested in professional kitchens in NYC and by hundreds of home users. We're still a very new company, and would love to get feedback from the BF community. My team and I are extremely open to your feedback and criticism. Finally, I'd also like to ask if anyone on here, who is a big cook, would be interested in doing a pass-around? If so, please feel free to reach out to my directly at david@artisanrevere.com. As I said earlier, we have One North Star: Making the world's best kitchen knives.
I hope you'll give us a chance to impress you!
Warmest Regards,
Dave Olkovetsky, Founder of Artisan Revere
P.S. we're now live on KICKSTARTER, so if you are interested in learning WAY more, I'd certainly appreciate you taking a look at our page, artisanrevere.com (and keeping in mind that this was largely written for non knife-experts).
P.P.S. And by the way, the reason we’re on Kickstarter, is to kickstart our company with some capital to grow. I mentioned earlier this has been my sole focus for the last 1.5 years. Well over a year ago, I quit my job to start this company and have been funding it with my savings. I don’t have unlimited funds, and that’s why we’re crowdfunding, in the hopes that folks will see our products, think they're worth investing in, and trust us to deliver on our promises.
