Devin Thomas knives

[Larrin]

Until recently I'd never considered doing a review of on my dad's knives. I always thought it would just appear to be biased, which it probably will be (biased that is), but he's been making more knives lately so I figured I would. He is currently my favorite kitchen knife maker. For my wedding present I was able to receive one of his chef's knives, it's the one attached with the green handle. Unfortunately my father is a knifemaker/damuscus steel producer and not a photographer, so you'll have to use your imagination some, but hopefully not much.

I was quite happy and surprised to receive the knife for my wedding, though it wasn't entirely unexpected (what else is he supposed to get me?). As far as I know, this is the first wedding where the cake was cut with a damascus chef's knife, though I could be wrong.

Now to the review: I forget how long the blade is, in the 9-10" ballpark. The blade is made of 19C27/302 ladder pattern damascus with a convex grind and distal taper. It has an integral bolster, which is somewhat rare in custom knives. The handle is dyed, stabilized burl, and there is a mokume inlay in the butt which due to my nonexistent photography skills I could not get a picture of.

The blade is very thin, and the convex grind means it cuts through everything like a laser. It balances about 1-1/2 to 2" in front of the bolster, approximately where my knuckle rests in a pinch grip. The spine is nicely rounded. The damascus is quite beautiful, in my opinion. My father got famous on his precision ladder pattern stainless damascus. Those looking for a more organic look should look at other patterns. The mokume inlay in the butt is a nice touch. It's not too gawdy as most people wouldn't even see it if you didn't point it out to them. I love the burl handle, stabilized wood has a good balance of useability, easy maintenance as well as the natural feel. The handle is nicely shaped and very comfortable. The knife has a good heft to it. If you like really light knives it may not be the one for you. The 19C27 has offered excellent edge retention so far. I don't put my kitchen knives through a lot of rigorous cutting but I've only touched it up once in the six months I've had it. The etching of the damascus isn't deep but it does have a very slight texture to it. This doesn't seem to affect the smoothness of the cutting, and it helps a little to minimize sticking, though of course preventing sticking is impossible. The fit and finish is perfect.

I've been trying to come up with a couple negative points so this review appears to be more balanced, but I haven't come up with anything. I just wish I had a nice block to put it in. For comparison's sake other nice knives I have are one from Murray Carter and one from Daniel Koster. This knife from my father is both mine and my wife's favorite, though to be fair the Carter knife is a little small.

As a bonus, here are pictures of more of my dad's most recent knives, this one with a BG-42 core and mokume bolster, with AEB-L/302 bubble wrap damascus on the outsides of the san-mai.

This knife is a double high carbon stainless mix of AEB-L and ATS-34.

Another kitchen knife:

A head knife for leather saddlemaking:

A hunting knife:

 

[betzner]

Larrin - Let me just say I was once the VERY happy owner of a knife made by your father - a real Devin Thomas knife, not just a knife with his damascus, but one of his own knives.

He told me that most of the knives he made were for people who were neighbors, etc, and that many of the people around your area had no idea he had any fame associated with his damascus.

Well, this is an impartial review, so you have a good start here. His knives, years ago, were excellent to look at and the fit and finish were pretty much as good as any. So, there is your start with an impartial review by a non-relative. Please let me know how many brothers and sisters you have now, is it still eleven or so?

EDIT: I seem to recall that your family holds a world record for the number of Eagle scouts or something like that?

 

[John T Wylie Jr]

Larrin , I was not aware that your dad made knives. But it doesn't surprise me the level of fit & finish he can achieve in knifemaking , after seeing much of his damascus as well as knives made from it.

Hopefully he is doing well , and will making the trip down to the Vegas show this year.

Very nice knives indeed.

 

[shaldag]

Larrin, that's a beautiful knife.

And a beautiful bride, if I may say so.

Congratulations on both accounts.

 

[Larrin]

Larrin - Let me just say I was once the VERY happy owner of a knife made by your father - a real Devin Thomas knife, not just a knife with his damascus, but one of his own knives.

He told me that most of the knives he made were for people who were neighbors, etc, and that many of the people around your area had no idea he had any fame associated with his damascus.

Well, this is an impartial review, so you have a good start here. His knives, years ago, were excellent to look at and the fit and finish were pretty much as good as any. So, there is your start with an impartial review by a non-relative. Please let me know how many brothers and sisters you have now, is it still eleven or so?

EDIT: I seem to recall that your family holds a world record for the number of Eagle scouts or something like that?

My dad and his 10 brothers hold the record for eagle scouts in a family. It's true the locals don't understand exactly what it is my father does.

He's starting to make more knives and some are for sale online, with more coming soon. I'm looking forward to more reviews when more people get their hands on his knives. The kitchen knife market in particular is fairly bare when it comes to American custom knifemakers, so hopefully his will fill a void.

My dad says thanks to everybody for the comments, keep them coming.

 

[tom mayo]

As you know, I love Devins stuff........I use it exclusively on my damascus folders!!!!

And as for that record......its in the Guiness Book!!!!!!!

 

[joeshredd]

While I have several knives made from your father's steel, it's the one made by your uncle, Darren(?), with Devin's steel, that I carry every day!
And when I showed it to Hoss 1, he pulled his Hoss 2 out and we compared them... Those guys are a hoot when they get together!

 

[Win Heger]

I think it's great that you made this post, congratulations on your wedding. I've admired your Dad's Damascus for a long time and owned at least one knife with it.

I looked him up on line and see that he lives in Panaca, NV, we go there pretty often to hike at Cathedral Gorge.

Win

 

[Larrin]

I think it's great that you made this post, congratulations on your wedding. I've admired your Dad's Damascus for a long time and owned at least one knife with it.

I looked him up on line and see that he lives in Panaca, NV, we go there pretty often to hike at Cathedral Gorge.

Win

Cathedral Gorge is great! My brother and I used to ride our bikes out there on weekends occasionally. It was a couple miles but we didn't care.

 

[Jon Brand]

Those are very pretty. Are they mostly stainless or carbon? I am only familiar with his stainless steel.

 

[Larrin]

Those are very pretty. Are they mostly stainless or carbon? I am only familiar with his stainless steel.

I'm not sure of every mix. Most are stainless. He of course has made plenty of carbon steel damascus in the past. He has also made a few knives with a damascus san-mai and CPM-M4 in the core.

 

[Don Hanson III]

I have admired Devin's kitchen knives for a while now.

Thanks for posting this Larrin and congrats on the wedding.

 

[John R. Fraps]

Devin's knives are as awsome as his Damascus.
Larrin,
Congratulations, your Dad has a new pretty Daughter-In-Law!

Have you carried on the "Devin generation" tradition of Eagle Scout? No answer needed, I would bet that your Dad encouraged that tradition to continue.

 

[Larrin]

Have you carried on the "Devin generation" tradition of Eagle Scout? No answer needed, I would bet that your Dad encouraged that tradition to continue.

I am an Eagle Scout, my brother John isn't. We'll have to wait on the youngest. I'll let you know.

 

[Larrin]

Heel shot:

Also image of the mokume in the butt of the handle:

 

[Doug C]

Your dad makes some incredibly nice Damascus, Larrin.
So tight and controlled.
Thanks for the thread and congrats on your wedding.

Doug

 

[Lucky Bob]

I was just wondering, aren't the 300-series steels non-hardening/-martensitic? If that's right, I'd think having it in the mix would have a pretty noticeable effect on the performance of the end blade compared to a AEB-L monosteel.

Not that I'm saying I know better, just wondering what steps/information I'm missing.

Oh, and both the knife and the wife are beautiful, but that's already been said!

 

[paua]

Nice blades and good review.
Please forgive my ignorance about your father's work, but it would be great to know the length, thinkness, and HRC of those knives.

 

[Larrin]

I was just wondering, aren't the 300-series steels non-hardening/-martensitic? If that's right, I'd think having it in the mix would have a pretty noticeable effect on the performance of the end blade compared to a AEB-L monosteel.

Not that I'm saying I know better, just wondering what steps/information I'm missing.

If you'll notice not all of the damascus has a 300-series steel in it. In some cases, it can be argued that having a softer steel along with the harder one can create a serration effect. In others, a combination of a large carbide steel and a small carbide steel may offer performance benefits, such as the ATS-34/AEB-L knives above. The common 1084/15N20 mix offers a good combination of toughness and edge retention with its combo of a very tough steel with a little higher wear resistance steel. As you'll also notice, my father makes some san-mai knives, where the damascus doesn't effect the edge, only the mono-steel in the core does, in this case the damascus on the outsides can help with food sticking and create a damping effect to increase toughness. There are a variety of options to select from, depending on the characteristics you are looking for. The "damascus cutting effect" is something my father is currently exploring, trying to get some hard data instead of theories. It should be interesting. However, I believe that the current opinion that damascus is only for looks is wrong, there are different characteristics that the damascus will have that you must account for when producing it for performance knives.

Edit: Also, the 300 series steel used is 301, which work hardens, even just sharpening it can increase hardness. It is less than 8% of the mix (on the level of soft retained austenite in some heat treatments). There is some carbon migration that happens which means that martensite is formed rather than austenite.

 

[Larrin]

Nice blades and good review.
Please forgive my ignorance about your father's work, but it would be great to know the length, thinkness, and HRC of those knives.

Most of the knives are 61-62 Rc, sometimes the 19C27 and CPM-M4 is heat treated harder. Most of the knives are 1/8" at the thickest point, with a distal taper. The BG-42 kitchen knife near the top has a 9.5" blade, the ATS-34/AEB-L knife has a 10" blade. The next san-mai kichen knife down has a 6" blade with a BG-42 core. The hunting knife is 50100/nickel with a 4" blade. 50100 is a cousin of 52100 with less chromium, some vanadium, and more manganese.