I recieved a catalog in the mail yesterday with " Boker's "Titanum" Knives" on the cover. Has anyone seen or used these knives, if so what do you think of them? I'm inclined to stay with the steel knives I've been using for years but anything new always peaks my curiosity. Thanks in advance. Jerry
BOKER Titanium Kitchen Knives
- Thread starter YAKE
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Here's a very quick and dirty rundown on the ceramic bladed knives available today. First off, ceramic blades are very hard, far harder than any steel. Consequently the material is also very brittle (again, in comparison to cutlery steel). In order to compensate for this brittleness, the edge grind on a ceramic blade has to be left fairly obtuse so that there can be more material to support the edge. The bottom line that emerges from all of this is that you end up sacrificing cutting efficiency in an attempt to increase wear resistance. In other words, you have a knife that won't cut as well as a comparable steel knife, but will maintain this level of cutting efficiency for a long time. The ceramic kitchen knives are usually ground thinner than their ceramic sporting knife counterparts, which makes for cutting performance in soft materials that's not too bad, but obviously they are less durable as a result (i.e., be careful about tossing them in a drawer full of other utensils).
Some benefits of ceramics include the fact that they are impervious to staining or corrosion and they are completely non magnetic. Another downside to ceramic blades is that they are a b!tch to sharpen. I'd suggest using DMT diamond hones. Check out the search function and you should be able to find some fairly recent threads that go into this subject in greater detail.
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Semper Fi
-Bill
Some benefits of ceramics include the fact that they are impervious to staining or corrosion and they are completely non magnetic. Another downside to ceramic blades is that they are a b!tch to sharpen. I'd suggest using DMT diamond hones. Check out the search function and you should be able to find some fairly recent threads that go into this subject in greater detail.
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Semper Fi
-Bill
Bill: Thanks for the reply, but I'm not posting about Boker's ceramic blades I'm curious about there Titanium Kitchen knives see www.bokerusa.com then click on there menu item "Titanum". They state the blades are a titanium alloy made with powder metalurgy.
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yeah I was wondering about them too. To me Boker always seems to come across like Cold Steel when it comes to bade materials. Apparently their 440C out performs ATS34 by a huge margin, they were the first to introduce ceramic blade materials to the cutlery industry, and now they have developed a new titanium that holds it's edge 6 times longer than steel knives. I've never used one, so I can't say anything about how good they are. If their claims are true, then Mission knives should be in trouble. But it sounds like a gimick to me. They also advertise their knives are 58 percent lighter than conventional steel knives--has anyone ever honestly found their kitchen knives too heavy? And they boast their knives were designed by someone who worked on Porche designs. I don't really see how a car designer has anything to do with knives.
Well, many kitchen knives do have soft steel.
In fact, today at one of the larger upscale stores in Stockholm, soft steel was mentioned as a <strong>benefit</strong> when they were pushing the brand they probably have the best margins on. "It sharpens easily."
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Urban Fredriksson www.canit.se/%7Egriffon/
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YAKE,
If you're interested in trying out a titanium knife I recommend the one by Solo knives. It is a 6" Santoku style blade. It is extremely thin and light with a blue anodized blade and black poly handle. I have only used mine on steak and veggies so I cannot attest to its durability other than normal kitchen use on a wooden cutting board.
The blade's cross section is extremely thin, (I haven't miked it) at what appears to be just under 1/16th". The blade is plenty stiff for my kitchen chores and since the blade is fully flat ground, with only a slight secondary bevel, the blade chops and slices very well. I cannot compare it with ceramic until I bite the bullet and get one of them new-fangled knives.
I normally use Wusthof Trident knives in my kitchen. The Solo Titanium knife has performed well for its blade style. The last I checked (months ago) you could get one on the Spyderco site after you scroll to the Solo knife section. At that time it listed at $29.95. Not a bad way to to add a Ti knife to the kitchen block.
If you're interested in trying out a titanium knife I recommend the one by Solo knives. It is a 6" Santoku style blade. It is extremely thin and light with a blue anodized blade and black poly handle. I have only used mine on steak and veggies so I cannot attest to its durability other than normal kitchen use on a wooden cutting board.
The blade's cross section is extremely thin, (I haven't miked it) at what appears to be just under 1/16th". The blade is plenty stiff for my kitchen chores and since the blade is fully flat ground, with only a slight secondary bevel, the blade chops and slices very well. I cannot compare it with ceramic until I bite the bullet and get one of them new-fangled knives.
I normally use Wusthof Trident knives in my kitchen. The Solo Titanium knife has performed well for its blade style. The last I checked (months ago) you could get one on the Spyderco site after you scroll to the Solo knife section. At that time it listed at $29.95. Not a bad way to to add a Ti knife to the kitchen block.
I have a Titanium knife from Boker, though it's not their kitchen range. The KIQ (Knife-In-Question) is a Boker Orion. I'm not sure if they used the same variety of Ti, but I'm inclined to believe that they do. If that is true, then I'm sorry to say that the claim of holding an edge 6 times longer is most likely hype, unless they are comparing against those really soft kitchen knives that are "easy to sharpen". I know that when I was carrying the Orion daily, it seemed to lose its "bite" a faster than my SAK. I'll say that I've not done proper comparison testing though.
However, there was one particular case that finally made me put away my Orion. I used the Orion to pry apart the claws of a crab that was very reluctant to join his breathren in the catch bag and was grimly hanging on to the scoop net. Though successful in prying apart the claws, the excercise left a couple of dents in the edge. Note: dents, not chips. Seeing that, I switched back to my SAK (Adventurer). The blade never showed signs of chipping or denting 5 crabs later.
Hope this info has been of some use.
However, there was one particular case that finally made me put away my Orion. I used the Orion to pry apart the claws of a crab that was very reluctant to join his breathren in the catch bag and was grimly hanging on to the scoop net. Though successful in prying apart the claws, the excercise left a couple of dents in the edge. Note: dents, not chips. Seeing that, I switched back to my SAK (Adventurer). The blade never showed signs of chipping or denting 5 crabs later.
Hope this info has been of some use.
I am confused. From what i understand, titanium are fairly soft. Mission's Ti blade RC at 40 range, if RC is that low, how could the edge last longer than a RC 60 stainless steel?? I know there are different grades of Ti, anyone knows the RC on Boker's?? Thanks.