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- Jan 21, 2000
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This is probably more in the way of a testimonial than a true review, but thought this was the best place to post it.
A little over two years ago, I saw this pop up for sale on the Exchange from custom maker Ban Tang:
“This one is 10 3/4" OAL with a 6 1/4" Blade. S35vn full convex grind with zero convex edge. Thickest part of the convex is .038" which is less than 1mm.
Handles are olive linen with yellow liners. It can easily whittle hair and goes through hard potatoes like butter.
“This was my main kitchen slicer and the very first of the ultrathin santokus. I have since refinished it and added a prototype logo to it…”
I couldn’t resist, and it was soon sitting in its new home—the knife block on our kitchen counter. That knife block has kitchen knives from Master Smiths in 52100 and Cru-Forge V as well as custom blades in Elmax, M390, CPM 3V, CPM S90V, plus “semi-customs” in INFI and Fallkniven’s laminated VG10. Whenever I put another blade in the block, I just show it to my wife Cheryl and tell her it’s for her to use however she likes, and I say nothing else much about it. I thought about telling her to be more careful with this one, because it’s so thin, but decided to say only that it shouldn’t be used to chop hard objects like bones and let it go at that.
My wife never says anything about these knives, as a rule—probably worried that if she encourages me I might buy even MORE knives.
If I ask her about one she’ll say something like “Yeah, I use that one for such-and-such” or “It works just fine”, which I’m sure would non-plus most of the makers who’ve poured their all into making the finest custom cutlery they can produce. In short, she’s not easily impressed, which makes her kitchen the perfect laboratory to see how blades hold up under frequent use over time.
So this morning we were having coffee and reading the newspaper, and she says, unsolicited, the following:
“By the way, I meant to tell you, I don’t know what I would do without that one knife—you know, that thin one?”
I immediately thought of Ban’s santoku and asked if it was the one with “Prototype” on the blade.
“Oh, I don’t know what it says on the blade,” she says, “but it goes through everything sooo easily, and the handle feels sooo good in my hand--like it was made for me. I just love that knife. I don’t know what I would do without that one.”
I asked her if I could take her picture with the knife, and she said, “Sure” …
I then examined the blade, and other than a few scuffs it looked like it did when I first got it from Ban over two years ago, even though she uses it several times a day, almost every day. The edge was flawless, but had dulled a bit since I sharpened it last several weeks ago, so I passed it over a ceramic rod five or six times per side and it immediately popped hair once again.
Now THAT’S a knife…
THANKS, BAN!!!
A little over two years ago, I saw this pop up for sale on the Exchange from custom maker Ban Tang:
“This one is 10 3/4" OAL with a 6 1/4" Blade. S35vn full convex grind with zero convex edge. Thickest part of the convex is .038" which is less than 1mm.
Handles are olive linen with yellow liners. It can easily whittle hair and goes through hard potatoes like butter. “This was my main kitchen slicer and the very first of the ultrathin santokus. I have since refinished it and added a prototype logo to it…”
I couldn’t resist, and it was soon sitting in its new home—the knife block on our kitchen counter. That knife block has kitchen knives from Master Smiths in 52100 and Cru-Forge V as well as custom blades in Elmax, M390, CPM 3V, CPM S90V, plus “semi-customs” in INFI and Fallkniven’s laminated VG10. Whenever I put another blade in the block, I just show it to my wife Cheryl and tell her it’s for her to use however she likes, and I say nothing else much about it. I thought about telling her to be more careful with this one, because it’s so thin, but decided to say only that it shouldn’t be used to chop hard objects like bones and let it go at that.
My wife never says anything about these knives, as a rule—probably worried that if she encourages me I might buy even MORE knives.
If I ask her about one she’ll say something like “Yeah, I use that one for such-and-such” or “It works just fine”, which I’m sure would non-plus most of the makers who’ve poured their all into making the finest custom cutlery they can produce. In short, she’s not easily impressed, which makes her kitchen the perfect laboratory to see how blades hold up under frequent use over time.So this morning we were having coffee and reading the newspaper, and she says, unsolicited, the following:
“By the way, I meant to tell you, I don’t know what I would do without that one knife—you know, that thin one?”
I immediately thought of Ban’s santoku and asked if it was the one with “Prototype” on the blade.
“Oh, I don’t know what it says on the blade,” she says, “but it goes through everything sooo easily, and the handle feels sooo good in my hand--like it was made for me. I just love that knife. I don’t know what I would do without that one.”
I asked her if I could take her picture with the knife, and she said, “Sure” …
I then examined the blade, and other than a few scuffs it looked like it did when I first got it from Ban over two years ago, even though she uses it several times a day, almost every day. The edge was flawless, but had dulled a bit since I sharpened it last several weeks ago, so I passed it over a ceramic rod five or six times per side and it immediately popped hair once again.
Now THAT’S a knife…
THANKS, BAN!!!
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