I let the 5.1 try its hand at kitchen duty tonight while I was throwing together a quick pizza.
First up, cutting some mushrooms. Slicing went better than expected, with no splitting or tearing. Took extra effort to line up cuts and get the slices thin enough, but very respectable. Didn't have any issues with blade drag either.
I diced the garlic next, and had no problems. The belly of the blade, while small, is still well suited to rocking back and forth to dice smaller items. I find I have to pull the handle higher than a typical kitchen knife to make more use of the curved tip when walking the blade. Side note - every time I cut garlic I think of the movie Goodfellas.
I was using leftover vegetables from the night before, and my Spyderco santoku had done an excellent job slicing. I used the 5.1 to chop the peppers into smaller pieces, but the cutting board was getting pretty crowded at this point. This is one of the only downsides to using a utility knife in the kitchen, the edge doesn't extend far enough below the handle axis to give my hands enough clearance on the cutting board. Luckily the board is two inches thick so I positioned most of my work along the edges when using the 5.1.
I had a can opener handy but couldn't resist making the first cut on the olives with the GSO. No noticeable damage to the edge after this, still shaved hair off my arm.
Lacking the drive to reach in the drawer and pull out a spoon, I used the knife to spread pizza sauce. I found the spine of the blade worked better for this task, because it tended to leave a thicker layer than the edge. I was glad I had a first-gen 5.1 as I don't know how the sharper spine of the second-gen would have worked in this critical situation.
After that, more assembly, into the oven, out of the oven.
And a quick photo op at the end of the night. Conclusion - an overbuilt knife that behaved surprisingly well in the kitchen.
First up, cutting some mushrooms. Slicing went better than expected, with no splitting or tearing. Took extra effort to line up cuts and get the slices thin enough, but very respectable. Didn't have any issues with blade drag either.
I diced the garlic next, and had no problems. The belly of the blade, while small, is still well suited to rocking back and forth to dice smaller items. I find I have to pull the handle higher than a typical kitchen knife to make more use of the curved tip when walking the blade. Side note - every time I cut garlic I think of the movie Goodfellas.
I was using leftover vegetables from the night before, and my Spyderco santoku had done an excellent job slicing. I used the 5.1 to chop the peppers into smaller pieces, but the cutting board was getting pretty crowded at this point. This is one of the only downsides to using a utility knife in the kitchen, the edge doesn't extend far enough below the handle axis to give my hands enough clearance on the cutting board. Luckily the board is two inches thick so I positioned most of my work along the edges when using the 5.1.
I had a can opener handy but couldn't resist making the first cut on the olives with the GSO. No noticeable damage to the edge after this, still shaved hair off my arm.
Lacking the drive to reach in the drawer and pull out a spoon, I used the knife to spread pizza sauce. I found the spine of the blade worked better for this task, because it tended to leave a thicker layer than the edge. I was glad I had a first-gen 5.1 as I don't know how the sharper spine of the second-gen would have worked in this critical situation.
After that, more assembly, into the oven, out of the oven.
And a quick photo op at the end of the night. Conclusion - an overbuilt knife that behaved surprisingly well in the kitchen.
