- Joined
- May 21, 2001
- Messages
- 2,871
I while ago I ordered one of Bill Siegle's Purple Tantos (Bill's a custom knife maker who sells here on Bladeforums). Here's a link to the knife: http://www.geocities.com/siegleknives/purple_1.JPG. I modified his standard pattern a bit by lengthening the blade to six inches. I also requested he wrap the handle in brown cord instead of purple. He agreed to the changes and a couple of weeks ago I received the knife in the mail. As is usual with one of Bill's products, I was immediatly impressed with his fine work. The grinds were perfect, the edge razor sharp, and he had executed the cord wrap handle in such a manner that it came out as both aesthetically pleasing and extremely functional. More on that in a minute.
Bill normally uses 5160 steel for his tantos and I found no reason to change that specification. 5160 is a very good, high carbon steel with a reputation for toughness and the capacity to hold an edge. While a bit thick at 3/8 of an inch or so, Bill used a full, flat grind and then finished it off with a convex edge. Bill does his own heat treat, and according to him the RC is set at 59. As I said, Bill produces very sharp edges and this tanto was no exception. It easily shaved hair off my forearm, push cut copier paper in both directions, and would not slip off my thumbnail even at low angles.
The handle wrap is made of cotton cord soaked in 2 ton epoxy. Once this combination is wrapped around the steel handle it sets up to become a very robust and tacky surface. In fact, out of the box it almost felt too grippy and I was afraid it would abraid my hand in use. However, I envisioned the knife as a fighter, not a utilitarian blade for general use, so the abrasive nature of the cord wrap did not concern me all that much. That goes to show you how wrong preconceived notions can be. As it turns out, the knife is an excellent all arounder, and the cord wrap handle is perfect for some of the messiest of knife chores.
Last weekend, I decided to use the tanto to fillet a bunch of sockeye salmon, just to see how it worked in the "real" world of knife usage. Wow! Did it ever work. Sockeye or Red salmon average about 10 pounds each. The idea is to head the fish first and then starting at that cut follow the backbone down toward the tail. This takes off one fillet. You then flip the fish over and do the same thing on the other side. When you are finished you have two nice fillets and a carcass with very little meat left on the backbone. The carcass is thrown back into the river for fish and bird food, and the fillets are further processed down for packaging and freezing, or sent to the barbecue for immediate consumption.
Altogether, I filleted 12 Sockeye and then cut the fillets into thirds for packaging. This process covers everything, especially the knife, in fish blood and slime. After one fish, a normal knife with a smooth or textured handle becomes difficult to hold and must be washed off periodically. Not so with the tanto. The cord wrap retained its hand gripping ability despite the blood and slime. It never needed to be washed off and my hand did not slip off the handle once. The six inch blade made quick work of slicing through the pin bones along the backbone of each fish and as a result I finished my filleting chore in record time. This so-called fighter was the best salmon processing knife I had ever used. Several of my friends agreed as they watched me slice through one fish after another with the apparent ease of slicing through butter with a warm knife. After I finished my fish, I gave the knife to a couple of my friends for them to use on their fish. Now they want to order one from Bill.
By the end of the evening the Brown Tanto had been used to fillet and quarter about 20 fish. We used hard, white plastic cutting boards for our cutting surface, and with all that the tanto still shaved hair at the finish.
No one complained of scuffed palms or fingers from the tanto's cord wrap.
As in most things, not all is perfect. First, 5160 is not a stainless steel, so care must be taken to clean the knife thoroughly after using it to process fish or it will rust. Washing the knife with Dawn followed by a generous dose of WD40 took care of that for me. Also, the tanto design is geometrically symmetrical at the bottom of the handle with two fairly sharp corners on either side of the exposed full tang. This is not a problem for a fighter design, but for general purposes, I would have Bill round off the spine side corner of the exposed tang to keep it from biting into my palm while making some cuts. In fact, I intend to order another from him with this slight modification and with a change of steel to something stainless, like S30V or BG-42. Don't get me wrong. 5160 is a fine steel, probably better than any stainless steel for most uses. But for fish cutting chores I believe a six inch Purple Tanto in a good stainless steel would be the perfect salmon knife.
In closing I would add that Bill also makes very good Kydex sheaths that he sends with his knives. If anyone is looking for well made, custom knives that just beg to be used they should give Bill Siegle's products a try.
Bill normally uses 5160 steel for his tantos and I found no reason to change that specification. 5160 is a very good, high carbon steel with a reputation for toughness and the capacity to hold an edge. While a bit thick at 3/8 of an inch or so, Bill used a full, flat grind and then finished it off with a convex edge. Bill does his own heat treat, and according to him the RC is set at 59. As I said, Bill produces very sharp edges and this tanto was no exception. It easily shaved hair off my forearm, push cut copier paper in both directions, and would not slip off my thumbnail even at low angles.
The handle wrap is made of cotton cord soaked in 2 ton epoxy. Once this combination is wrapped around the steel handle it sets up to become a very robust and tacky surface. In fact, out of the box it almost felt too grippy and I was afraid it would abraid my hand in use. However, I envisioned the knife as a fighter, not a utilitarian blade for general use, so the abrasive nature of the cord wrap did not concern me all that much. That goes to show you how wrong preconceived notions can be. As it turns out, the knife is an excellent all arounder, and the cord wrap handle is perfect for some of the messiest of knife chores.
Last weekend, I decided to use the tanto to fillet a bunch of sockeye salmon, just to see how it worked in the "real" world of knife usage. Wow! Did it ever work. Sockeye or Red salmon average about 10 pounds each. The idea is to head the fish first and then starting at that cut follow the backbone down toward the tail. This takes off one fillet. You then flip the fish over and do the same thing on the other side. When you are finished you have two nice fillets and a carcass with very little meat left on the backbone. The carcass is thrown back into the river for fish and bird food, and the fillets are further processed down for packaging and freezing, or sent to the barbecue for immediate consumption.
Altogether, I filleted 12 Sockeye and then cut the fillets into thirds for packaging. This process covers everything, especially the knife, in fish blood and slime. After one fish, a normal knife with a smooth or textured handle becomes difficult to hold and must be washed off periodically. Not so with the tanto. The cord wrap retained its hand gripping ability despite the blood and slime. It never needed to be washed off and my hand did not slip off the handle once. The six inch blade made quick work of slicing through the pin bones along the backbone of each fish and as a result I finished my filleting chore in record time. This so-called fighter was the best salmon processing knife I had ever used. Several of my friends agreed as they watched me slice through one fish after another with the apparent ease of slicing through butter with a warm knife. After I finished my fish, I gave the knife to a couple of my friends for them to use on their fish. Now they want to order one from Bill.
By the end of the evening the Brown Tanto had been used to fillet and quarter about 20 fish. We used hard, white plastic cutting boards for our cutting surface, and with all that the tanto still shaved hair at the finish.
No one complained of scuffed palms or fingers from the tanto's cord wrap.
As in most things, not all is perfect. First, 5160 is not a stainless steel, so care must be taken to clean the knife thoroughly after using it to process fish or it will rust. Washing the knife with Dawn followed by a generous dose of WD40 took care of that for me. Also, the tanto design is geometrically symmetrical at the bottom of the handle with two fairly sharp corners on either side of the exposed full tang. This is not a problem for a fighter design, but for general purposes, I would have Bill round off the spine side corner of the exposed tang to keep it from biting into my palm while making some cuts. In fact, I intend to order another from him with this slight modification and with a change of steel to something stainless, like S30V or BG-42. Don't get me wrong. 5160 is a fine steel, probably better than any stainless steel for most uses. But for fish cutting chores I believe a six inch Purple Tanto in a good stainless steel would be the perfect salmon knife.
In closing I would add that Bill also makes very good Kydex sheaths that he sends with his knives. If anyone is looking for well made, custom knives that just beg to be used they should give Bill Siegle's products a try.
Pictures buddy we need pictures 
It hasn't been used extensively yet, but I could do a review down the line. 
