TOPS style kitchen knives

M

materagai

Joined
May 8, 2014
Messages
3
I'm looking for some knives that are a similar style to the TOPS Dicer series. I bought a set of these about 5 months ago, and they were perfect for me in every way but the coating was terrible. There were rust spots in less than a week on some, and the others showed signs of wear. The customer service was less than ideal, so I don't want to just order another set (and they don't even seem to be available at the moment).

So I started looking for something with a similar style, which isn't particularly unique for knives - just more similar to what you'd find on ESEE, TOPS, Busse type knives, not kitchen knives.

Does anyone know of any good knives that follow this style?
 
I don't know about the rust resistance. I don't have any experience with s35vn though, but even some of the cheap low end stainless knives from my kitchen don't have any problem with rust. Maybe something like X50CrMoV15 or Thyssenkrupp 4116 could be for you.

As for the design. I also really like the design of tops dicer knives, but I haven't found anything similar so far. You can get most similarities out of Wusthof or Böker knives. I would also try to explore catalogs of other kitchen knives brands.
 
I didn't even consider rust when buying them, just assumed if TOPs were using S35VN for kitchen knives, then it would be suitable... I also haven't even seen it on a kitchen knife even at a 10th of the price!

I've done a lot of searching; no brands seem to make knives like these. Closest I found was on https://smokingknives.co.uk/products/ but with I can't find any info on the company and just say "high carbon steel" :/

Boker seems to be my best bet so far, thanks :)
 
materagai said:
I didn't even consider rust when buying them, just assumed if TOPs were using S35VN for kitchen knives, then it would be suitable... I also haven't even seen it on a kitchen knife even at a 10th of the price!

I've done a lot of searching; no brands seem to make knives like these. Closest I found was on https://smokingknives.co.uk/products/ but with I can't find any info on the company and just say "high carbon steel" :/

Boker seems to be my best bet so far, thanks :)
Click to expand...
I wonder if Tops does something to their steel which makes it rust more easily. It's the same with their 1095. It rusts way more easily than 1095 on Glock knife. You can cut oranges and spread mustard all day long with Glock knife, but Tops's 1095 rust even when you cut wet branches. And when you spread mustard, then you have a lot of sharpening to do because of how it eats the steel. I've read the same thing somewhere on this forum when I was searching about corrosion resistance of 1095.

Some Japanese knife style brands could also have some similar designs. I remember Kanetsune having similar style on paring knife.
 
Last edited:
damib said:
I wonder if Tops does something to their steel which makes it rust more easily. It's the same with their 1095. It rusts way more easily than 1095 on Glock knife. You can cut oranges and spread mustard all day long with Glock knife, but Tops's 1095 rust even when you cut wet branches. And when you spread mustard, then you have a lot of sharpening to do because of how it eats the steel. I've read the same thing somewhere on this forum when I was searching about corrosion resistance of 1095.

Some Japanese knife style brands could also have some similar designs. I remember Kanetsune having similar style on paring knife.
Click to expand...

It will be how it is finished. Surface finish can have a big effect on how quickly a knife corrodes. There isn't a huge amount you can do AFAIK with a simple carbon knife in heat treat that will effect its corrosion resistance.

However even with a rough blasted or tumbled finish s45vn should be still relatively stain resistant. If washed and dried it shouldn't be rusting.

If you like the knife but want it to rust less then hand wash and hand dry it after use like you would a carbon. If you want to improve its corrosion resistance you can sand off the tumbled finish and replace with a hand rubbed high grit finish which should help
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top