26c3 mono steel chef knife passaround

[timos]

Hello,

I would like to offer this knife up for a pass around. I think this blade represents a new standard of performance (of my work).
The finish is nothing out of the ordinary, belt finish with a forced patina to keep reaction down. The bevels are neatly tapered, convexed, and hollow ground. The spine tapers from 3.5mm to .5mm ... its a cutting performance that has few peers ...

This is Bohler Uddeholm 26C3 steel , a very clean Swedish steel , similar specs to Japanese white steel with a little extra alloying.
It is hardened and tempered down to RC 63-64.

My edge progression was a 150 grit Nubatama to establish the secondary bevels, then a progression through Shapton stones and stropped on a 10K Imanishi. I don't measure my angles , it should be approx. 20 degrees inclusive.

You are welcome to join so long as we have worked together before or you have a couple good references. Please feel free to email or PM me if you would like to participate.

1-2 week long turns would be ideal, shipping USPS priority. You can sharpen as you like. This is open to CONUS only at this time. If you are international and a serious user/collector please contact me privately.

Photos and your thoughts are encouraged. You can email, PM or post here if you like. If you have any questions, ask away. Thank you for your interest!






fLWdJr3hidg

[timos]

this chef knife is making the rounds. if you are interested send me a pm.

[Bensbites]

Looks awesome!! Great job.

[stevem627]

I think this looks like a fabulous knife. I’d like to get in the pass around, but I won’t because…we’ll…I’m sure I’d love it.

[timos]

Yes Steve, you will love it! Theres no harm in trying it out just for fun!

The first person to test this out has posted some great videos on Instagram if anyone is curious. Check it out.

If you are not familiar with instagram just use the arrow on the right side of photo to scroll through.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CkPbpeir8CM/

[jacmac422]

I have had this pass round for a about a week now and wanted to share my thoughts before passing the knife on.

1. Looks. First off the knife looks awesome. The bevel work on the spine gives it such and aggressive unique look, I love it. The handle is really well done, no transitions anywhere and very well glued in. There is no chance of water getting in. I would prefer a little bit wider of a handle but that is total preference and I found it to be comfortable in any type of grip.

2. Comfort. This is my only (small) negative with this knife. The spine is nice and thick so you expect to hold a substantial knife and it felt strange to have my fingers hit the thin spot of the grind. Coupled with a fairly long neck and thin handle, it bothered me a little bit. In use I did not notice at all so this really doesn't matter. Everything was rounded enough that overall it is a very comfortable knife.

3. Performance. Tim let me know that this is best overall performance grind, I agree. I was expecting this to perform like an S-grind based on the pictures but this is ground thinner than any pure S-grind I have found. It's really the best of almost a laser but with really good food release. I tested this on a wide verity of products and it did well on everything. The profile works really well for me. I mainly push/pull cut so the nice low tip was perfect. This would do fine at some rocking but you cant go very high. One thing that was a particular standout for me was that in my normal cutting I went cleanly through green onions. Many times on a new knife I have a adjust my technique for a few times before I find the sweet spot. This was a knife I could just pick up and use. For food release, it really excelled with Potato and Cucumber, I found onions to clime up the knife a little but nothing stuck to it. The only wedging/cracking I experienced was cutting a large carrot in half. I did a large butternut squash and as long as I had a forward motion rather than straight up and down is slide right through. The tip was thin enough for garlic and onion. Again a really awesome performing knife.

4. Conclusion. This is a great knife, I am considering saving up and asking Tim to make me one. This would be a really perfect main use knife for anyone. I posted a few different videos/pictures of the knife is anyone is interested. Please let me know if you have any questions as well. I will be sending this one on this week.

Instagram @matjac33 https://www.instagram.com/p/CkPbpeir8CM ... _copy_link

[ronnie_suburban]

Wasn't planning on cooking anything this morning but the knife showed up last night and I couldn't wait to check it out, so I had to cut something . . .


Tim Johnson 26c3 Mono Steel Chef Knife, 210mm & Undesignated Mise En Place
Buncha' leftover sausages, red jalapenos, poblanos and yellow onion.

So far, nothing here not to love. The knife is comfortable, beautiful, very light and nimble for its size (178g, 210mm) and it cuts really well. There wasn't much here to challenge it but I will say that it went through the skin side of the peppers without issue, which isn't always the case, even with a well-sharpened knife. The edge seems perfectly prepped for such tasks. Per Tim's advice, I may give it a sharpening but either way, I'm looking forward to using it a lot more over the next several days.

[ronnie_suburban]

I've been documenting my time with this knife over on this other thread but wanted to also provide an update here. In short, it's really a badass all-arounder that seems to do everything quite well. Fine work, chopping peppers, dicing carrots and even smashing garlic are all in its wheelhouse. It's light, nimble and laser-like. But it's also substantial enough that you feel like you can do some stuff with it and that you don't have to baby it in the process.

Tonight, after nearly a week of using it -- and per Tim's suggestion -- I gave it a quick sharpening. I was kind of nervous to do it. I've only ever sharpened my knifes and my friends' factory knives. I've never sharpened a handmade knife that belonged to someone else. But I told myself -- as long as Tim was the one who suggested it in the first place -- that if it didn't breeze through newsprint, I'd give it a whirl. So, 1k, 3k, 5k, strop (bovine + 1-micron emulsion) and yowza! It took quite an edge, at least via my comparative newsprint test. Glide city. Too late tonight to get started on anything in the kitchen but I'm excited to put it to work again tomorrow and over the weekend.

[ronnie_suburban]

Well, this was a lot of fun . . .


Tim Johnson 26c3 Mono Steel Chef Knife, 210mm & Cubed Veggie Salad Mise En Place
Cut ingredients (right to left/clockwise): daikon radish, Persian cucumber, mini tomatoes, jicama, watermelon radish, honeycrisp apple and celery.

Fresh on the heels of last night's sharpening, I was excited to put the knife to work prepping for this salad. This time, there were some more challenging ingredients than I'd thrown at it earlier in the week. It did not flinch, hesitate or waver through the hard, fibrous jicama or radishes -- neither peeling their leathery skins (especially the jicama), parting, nor dicing them. Cucumbers, apples and celery were zero problem. I was cutting precise cubes at will. Rocking slowly from tip to heel to square them off and create even slabs, then dragging the tip lengthwise through those slabs to create batons and finally, rapid slicing (for me, anyway) precisely across the batons to complete the cubing. And I intentionally saved the tomatoes for last. Some where halved. Some were quartered. Didn't make a lick of difference. Tip, center or heel, they fell apart with ease. Just sensational performance.

I just wish I liked this salad better, lol. It's a work in progress and not really my style to begin with. But since I made it last month (when I ended up with some ingredients I wouldn't have chosen for myself), I've been thinking about ways to improve it. Hopefully, adding the apple and celery -- and reducing the amount of daikon -- will help in that regard. Tools like this make any kitchen task more enjoyable, converting them from 'work' to a fun game.

[ronnie_suburban]

Sent the knife off to the next participant yesterday but really enjoyed my time with it. Not much I can say here without repeating myself but it's a really nice piece.

• A very attractive piece all the way around: overall design, handle material and blade finish/patina.

• Comfortable - handle shape and size were great. Not necessarily universal but not restrictive in any way either. No hot spots

• Well-Balanced/Light for its size - knife was easy to use and easy to maneuver. Regardless of chosen grip style, it felt natural in my hand and didn't feel like it wanted to fall forward or backward.

• Nimble - as tall as it is, the knife was still capable of performing intricate tasks. The tip was well-conceived and well executed, which allowed for easy separation of cauliflower florets from the core and micro brunoise of garlic and shallots.

• Liked the height, which provided excellent knuckle clearance.

• Hollowed out/concave sides not only reduced the knife's weight but also served as convenient channels for holding/smashing garlic cloves.

• Edge profile was a very good match for my cutting style.

• Great all-arounder - I never felt like I couldn't use this knife for any task that came up. Soft items, hard items, large items and tiny items; no job was out of this knife's wheelhouse. Out of courtesy, I didn't even try to do any butchery or navigate around bones, etc.

• Took a very nice edge - sharpened it once and it came back screaming sharp.

Really glad I got to be a part of this pass-around. I have a set of steak knives by Tim that get regular use in my house. They're a joy to use, so it's no surprise that this knife was, too.

[timos]

Hi Ronnie,

Thanks again for taking part and sharing your experience. I never thought of the garlic clove aspect, Love it!

This knife is currently making the rounds with a handful of bladeforums users , if anyone else wants to try it out just let me know.

[ronnie_suburban]

Hi Ronnie,

Thanks again for taking part and sharing your experience. I never thought of the garlic clove aspect, Love it!

It was my pleasure. And yeah, those are some highly functional fullers!

[timos]

There is only 1 or 2 more stops on the list. If anyone wants to be added , just let me know! thanks.