Bensbites Gyuto

See what's happening with current or completed "Pass Arounds". Forum members occasionally send knives or sharpening stones around to a hand selected group of participants for short term use and feedback/reviews.
Post Reply
Bensbites
Posts: 2588
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 7:42 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Has thanked: 342 times
Been thanked: 247 times
Contact:

Bensbites Gyuto

Post by Bensbites »

Guidelines borrowed from other posts.

If you are interested... I made a gyuto.

Pass Around Criteria:
150 Post minimum
CONUS (to keep shipping costs down)
1 week per person, give or take
Ship with tracking and insurance for $250
5-8 people, I have a few others from Instagram and previous clients. Preference will be given to past clients and active forum members.
Reach out my email, Bensbites at Gmail subject line passaround. Please supply your username and address. (Following these instructions is critical).

Treat this knife like your own, do not abuse it. Feel free to sharpen. If you damage the knife you will be shipping it to me for repair and possibly ending the passaround.

I am looking for feedback, public or private on my knife making skills.

stats...
144 g
193 mm (7 5/8 in) long by 39 mm (1 9/16th) inch heigh at the heel.
AEB-L ~62 hrc outsourced heat treatment by Jarod Todd Knives.
Handle- ringed gidee with maple and black pakkawood.
E4B68C4B-95BD-4AD9-878C-04E2918FFD2A.jpeg
E4B68C4B-95BD-4AD9-878C-04E2918FFD2A.jpeg (34.1 KiB) Viewed 5144 times
04F38685-7007-4D7E-8FDA-6FFB782C1A01.jpeg
14FA0D83-6ED4-4A8B-8C17-96C8C0EDEFE5.jpeg
223068BF-A42B-4B49-A0D1-94EFD0A4E707.jpeg
RonAZ
Posts: 287
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 9:44 pm
Has thanked: 30 times
Been thanked: 20 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by RonAZ »

Good looking knife, if possible I'd very much like to be part of the pass around.
Thanks....Ron
User avatar
Altadan
Posts: 1837
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 9:15 pm
Has thanked: 441 times
Been thanked: 286 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by Altadan »

Very nice! Wish I could take part. Good luck with the passaround, and happy journeys in the knife-making world! I'm totally jelly! Both wood AND steel!
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld
gastro gnome
Posts: 328
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2017 10:47 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 37 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by gastro gnome »

It's very exciting to see someone turn an interest and talent into a blade like this!
Bensbites
Posts: 2588
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 7:42 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Has thanked: 342 times
Been thanked: 247 times
Contact:

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by Bensbites »

Hi All,

I had thought this would be more popular. Is there something different this crowd would like to see?
User avatar
XexoX
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:02 pm
Location: Salem Oregon USA
Has thanked: 2947 times
Been thanked: 1027 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by XexoX »

Bensbites wrote: Sun Sep 06, 2020 3:40 pm Hi All,

I had thought this would be more popular. Is there something different this crowd would like to see?
Don't know about that, but might the Labor Day Weekend be having an inpack on this?
You can blame Mr. Suburban for my being here. :lol:
The thing about quotes on the internet is you can not confirm their validity. -- Abraham Lincoln
All steels are equal if you can't keep them sharp. -- Jeff B.
User avatar
Altadan
Posts: 1837
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2017 9:15 pm
Has thanked: 441 times
Been thanked: 286 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by Altadan »

I'd also assume the ol' 240 wheelhouse has to do with it, but I do recall timos sending out 190's for passarounds, and the pros were never shy of taking up the offer :roll:
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
― François de La Rochefoucauld
Cutuu
Posts: 3533
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 9:00 pm
Has thanked: 285 times
Been thanked: 105 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by Cutuu »

Ill give it a go Ben.
Bob Z
Posts: 1341
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 8:49 pm
Has thanked: 156 times
Been thanked: 887 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by Bob Z »

Me too! its my favorite length!
Chefspence
Posts: 2504
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 11:03 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 32 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by Chefspence »

I've just been busy. I thought of starting a pass around too, but with shipping problems and this scare that everyone has. I doubted anyone would want to
User avatar
ronnie_suburban
Posts: 2921
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 11:43 am
Location: Chicago
Has thanked: 2061 times
Been thanked: 3402 times
Contact:

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by ronnie_suburban »

I had a fun and productive week with this knife. Honestly, it feels a bit strange providing feedback about a knife made by someone who's probably forgotten more about the craft than I'll ever even know. And if I'd made this knife, I could pretty much die happy. So please, take the following comments in the appropriate context. I'm a home cook who, until about 18 months ago, hadn't used many kitchen knives that weren't mass-produced by either Henckels, Wusthoff, Global or Shun. And until that time, I'd never sharpened any knives at all. That said, the bottom line is that this knife was an effective, versatile and nimble tool that was a pleasure to use.

The Unboxing
Image
Customized, Padded Pouch
Okay, this is impressive.

Image
Inside The Padded Pouch
A very nice presentation, with vci paper and a felt-lined, hard-shell sheath from some place I think I remember hearing about ;). I tried to re-create this exact set-up for the next user in the pass-around when I sent it out.

Image
Maker's Mark Side

Image
The Flipside
I'm really a neophyte when it comes to knife photography, so please forgive the lack of additional angles/shots.

Using The Knife Throughout The Week
Image
Shallots
The knife's tip allowed me to handle this finer mince without issue.

Image
Serranos
The knife also easily dropped through the exterior skins of the serranos, which can sometimes be problematic.

Image
Bensbites Gyuto w/Kohetsu Addict
This was prep for Pad Ka-Prao. The combination of the two fine knives took me through it. I used the Addict for smashing and the Bensbites for the fine-tuning.

Image
Cabbage
Naturally, there had to be cabbage and this was one dense, big-ass head of it. Yes, a larger knife would have made the task easier but I wanted to see how the more compact knife would fare. With a bit of care, the Bensbites took it down.

Image
Shredded Cabbage
In this phase of the cabbage breakdown, this knife was just a perfect match.

Image
Cremini Mushrooms & Onions
Pretty much no issues here. The knife fell through most of this with ease. I did encounter a wee bit of mid-blade resistance when making horizontal pre-cuts across the onion. That can probably be attributed to some degree of user error on my part. :oops:

Image
Prep For Cauliflower Fried Rice
I think this is where the Bensbites knife really excelled. Moving through a pretty diverse set of ingredients, with varied textures and densities, I never felt the need to grab another blade. This one did it all quite well.

Image
Onions & Carrots
Prep for Mexican-style rice. I really enjoyed the way I was able to navigate the carrots with this blade. Because they started out irregularly shaped and smaller in size, I needed some precision here and the Bensbites provided it.

Image
Baby Onion Mix
White, yellow and red.

Image
Baby Onion Rough Mince
This was the last task for which I used the knife and by this time, it probably could have used some sharpening. I did strop it once about halfway through the week (bovine, 2.0 micron Ken Schwartz CBN emulsion) but didn't feel it was appropriate to subject this fine blade to my inexperienced hand as a sharpener. By the end of my week, the center and heel of the blade were still in pretty good shape but the tip, which I'd used heavily, needed a touch up.

All in all, this was a great and interesting experience. Relying on the same blade for pretty much everything over the course of a week was enlightening exercise because it taught me not only about the knife and its capabilities but also about my own default preferences and personal style, neither of which I tend to examine too closely. The only place where this knife didn't match up extraordinarily well with my natural motion was on some tip-oriented cutting. I'm using a particularly tall cutting board right now. Because of that, combined with the curve of the blade at the tip, there were times -- when, in order to access the cutting power of the tip of the knife -- I had to chicken wing my arm a bit. A shorter board and/or a taller cook would have certainly mitigated this. And again, since I probably have some pretty bad habits to begin with, please take this comment for what it's worth. Thanks again Ben, for including me in the pass-around! :)
=R=
Half of cooking is thinking about cooking.
stevem627
Posts: 633
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:30 am
Location: Dallas
Has thanked: 869 times
Been thanked: 290 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by stevem627 »

Nice write up Ronnie. It certainly looks like a nice versatile knife and is undoubtedly well crafted.
TheLegalRazor
Posts: 266
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2020 5:06 pm
Has thanked: 42 times
Been thanked: 156 times

Re: Bensbites Gyuto

Post by TheLegalRazor »

Ronnie, that's a thorough review of a fine gyuto.
Ricardo
Post Reply