scdub
Basic Member
- Joined
- May 29, 2004
- Messages
- 2,945
Hi All,
If you haven’t heard, there’s a new material on the planet called elastic or flexible or high-impact ceramic made by Rahven knives of Switzerland. What exactly it’s composed of and how it’s made are still secrets, but it performed AMAZINGLY in edge retention on rope on the YouTube channel Cedric and Ada. (Search elastic ceramic knife on YT and you’ll find a few videos).
Anyway I was intrigued so I ordered a “Barracuda” model, which is in the shape of a “kitchen utility” knife (a design which I’d never had in my kitchen actually).
Here it is:
It came nicely boxed with a re-useable edge guard.
When I first handled the knife I’ll admit I was underwhelmed. It’s EXTREMELY lightweight. 1.65oz on my scale. In combination with the light weight, the finish on the handle gave the knife a cheap feeling initially. It was only “average-sharp” for a factory knife and it had a fairly thick geometry behind the edge - both worrisome as I wasn’t sure how sharpenable this material would be. Also it’s non-magnetic so I wasn’t going to be able to store it with my other knives on magnetic strips...
All these factors together made me initially consider just selling it off without using it. My wife actually talked me out of that (in part because I’d actually forced her to watch the Cedric and Ada video).
Started off with a sharpening. I had some sintered diamond films ready to go, and had heard that WD-40 was a good lubricant. I was going to start with 60 micron and work my way down, perhaps starting by thinning the shoulders of the edge, but first I took a look at the edge through my microscope and saw that the grind was pretty smooth and polished (compared to factory edges that I’m used to). I also found that the grind angle was more acute than I’m used to finding (around 20 dps). Also the tip is very well ground and pointed.
So, I changed my plans and instead decided to use my finest film - 0.5 microns - and just gave it a light strop on a marble slab backing. I matched the sharpening angle more cafefully/closely than I generally do by using a piece of paper next to my sharpening station to find the angle where the blade would start to bite, then matching that angle on the strop.
I only did about 15 very light (maybe 2 oz pressure total) per side, and this brought the edge from hair-scraping to actual arm-hair-shaving sharp, (not hair popping). Awesome - I can sharpen it!
Next pic is the edge as delivered. Very clean overall - this was the least crisp section:
I had to find a spot for a non-magnetic knife holder and decided that inside the liquor cabinet would work. Another ding - the knife doesn’t hang quite vertically from this type of holder due to the handle shape.
Now that it was closer to my other kitchen knives in sharpness, I tried it out, and compared it directly to other knives:
It performed well. Exactly as I’d expect a steel knife with similar geometry to perform.
Not surprisingly, it required more effort to cut with than my “kitchen lasers”.
But it’s middle of the pack among my daily kitchen “beater” knives. These are arranged left to right from least to most cutting effort:
So really pretty good. The blade is very thin and does have some flex, so I won’t be pushing it through an acorn squash anytime soon, but it does feel very durable and is definitely going to be treated like a “beater” and not a “laser” - I’m not going to baby this knife at all (still won’t put it through the dishwasher but I wouldn’t do that with any knife.)
The fact that it’s non-magnetic suggests that it should be impervious to corrosion, so that’s a great bonus. The extreme light weight can also be a feature - I’d consider taking this backpacking with a group as a designated kitchen knife for instance...
Overall a nice piece. Comfortable to use and for the price I’m pleased - glad I kept it.
If you haven’t heard, there’s a new material on the planet called elastic or flexible or high-impact ceramic made by Rahven knives of Switzerland. What exactly it’s composed of and how it’s made are still secrets, but it performed AMAZINGLY in edge retention on rope on the YouTube channel Cedric and Ada. (Search elastic ceramic knife on YT and you’ll find a few videos).
Anyway I was intrigued so I ordered a “Barracuda” model, which is in the shape of a “kitchen utility” knife (a design which I’d never had in my kitchen actually).
Here it is:
It came nicely boxed with a re-useable edge guard.
When I first handled the knife I’ll admit I was underwhelmed. It’s EXTREMELY lightweight. 1.65oz on my scale. In combination with the light weight, the finish on the handle gave the knife a cheap feeling initially. It was only “average-sharp” for a factory knife and it had a fairly thick geometry behind the edge - both worrisome as I wasn’t sure how sharpenable this material would be. Also it’s non-magnetic so I wasn’t going to be able to store it with my other knives on magnetic strips...
All these factors together made me initially consider just selling it off without using it. My wife actually talked me out of that (in part because I’d actually forced her to watch the Cedric and Ada video).
Started off with a sharpening. I had some sintered diamond films ready to go, and had heard that WD-40 was a good lubricant. I was going to start with 60 micron and work my way down, perhaps starting by thinning the shoulders of the edge, but first I took a look at the edge through my microscope and saw that the grind was pretty smooth and polished (compared to factory edges that I’m used to). I also found that the grind angle was more acute than I’m used to finding (around 20 dps). Also the tip is very well ground and pointed.
So, I changed my plans and instead decided to use my finest film - 0.5 microns - and just gave it a light strop on a marble slab backing. I matched the sharpening angle more cafefully/closely than I generally do by using a piece of paper next to my sharpening station to find the angle where the blade would start to bite, then matching that angle on the strop.
I only did about 15 very light (maybe 2 oz pressure total) per side, and this brought the edge from hair-scraping to actual arm-hair-shaving sharp, (not hair popping). Awesome - I can sharpen it!
Next pic is the edge as delivered. Very clean overall - this was the least crisp section:
I had to find a spot for a non-magnetic knife holder and decided that inside the liquor cabinet would work. Another ding - the knife doesn’t hang quite vertically from this type of holder due to the handle shape.
Now that it was closer to my other kitchen knives in sharpness, I tried it out, and compared it directly to other knives:
It performed well. Exactly as I’d expect a steel knife with similar geometry to perform.
Not surprisingly, it required more effort to cut with than my “kitchen lasers”.
But it’s middle of the pack among my daily kitchen “beater” knives. These are arranged left to right from least to most cutting effort:
So really pretty good. The blade is very thin and does have some flex, so I won’t be pushing it through an acorn squash anytime soon, but it does feel very durable and is definitely going to be treated like a “beater” and not a “laser” - I’m not going to baby this knife at all (still won’t put it through the dishwasher but I wouldn’t do that with any knife.)The fact that it’s non-magnetic suggests that it should be impervious to corrosion, so that’s a great bonus. The extreme light weight can also be a feature - I’d consider taking this backpacking with a group as a designated kitchen knife for instance...
Overall a nice piece. Comfortable to use and for the price I’m pleased - glad I kept it.
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