Fällkniven Kitchen Knives

Sergiusz Mitin

Sergiusz Mitin

Joined
Nov 25, 1999
Messages
1,499
<center><font size=4>Fällkniven Kitchen Knives.</font></center>
<center><small>Patr 1 of 2</small></center>

<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852302&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852303&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>The history how I came to review kitchen knives is somewhat funny. My wife Anna is so patient and understanding to my fascinations that so far she didn't make me a harm with one of my knives I'm continuously writing about, talking about and brandishing. More, sometimes she even takes a short look onto my "babies" or press materials my "working bench" is overloaded with. When Fällkniven press release with their new brochure arrived she looked through this brochure quite superficially, she have never be too much fascinated with Fällkniven knives considering them too utilitarian and not pretty.
<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852304&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=left SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852305&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>And unexpected wonder occurred!
My wife asked me why I never test and review kitchen knives?
But you know well - I said - that I'm not expert in kitchen, when you ask me to help you to cut or chop something I take one of my utility knives and it is enough for me. How could I test and review reliably something I'm hardly orientating in?
I could do it in your place - my wife said - just do your job, photos and description.
But, Friends, I must say my loved wife is true expert in such matters, it is real challenge for me to keep my weight within my 78-kg limit!
So this writing is the fruit of our cooperation.

<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852308&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852309&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a><a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852306&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852307&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>Well, here they are! Each knife is packed into its own wooden box what initially causes noble appearance and sense of respect to them. K1 Blue Whale is slightly larger and is designed with continuously curved edge very nice for meat, fish, bacon, sausage slicing. It has also very pointy tip.
K2 White Whale is designed in oriental santoku style with not too pointy tip and almost straight edge quite suitable for vegetable and fruit chopping. I do not know was this intended but I discovered that the cheese can be cut with K2 into nice thin slices with straight push cuts. In both cases wide flat ground blades stabilize knife movement in cut material allowing to get thin, consistent and pretty looking slices.
<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852311&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852313&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>With my close to zero kitchen skills I was able to chop onions without breaking slices into parts. More, I did it with ease!
The blades made of premium grade VG-10 steel are very strong and hardly flexible despite their thinness. Thin, wide and stiff, non-flexible blade - here is the secret to make nice slices, especially if you are preparing something for special meal!

My first action with K1 in my hand occurred closely before Christmas. I should fight four quite decent carps for Christmas Eve Supper. Wow, they were strong like hell! I have chopped them initially with Fällkniven A1 and then sliced with K1. It was quite messy job, my hands were so dirty that it was out of the question to make any photos.
When I finished I discovered than K1 lost its hair popping out of the box sharpness. I was curious how far it lost sharpness and I treated it with smooth steel. About dozen strokes on both sides restored shaving sharpness!
The secret of nice edge hold is in premium steel and characteristic for all Fällkniven knives convex edge. Though it is hardly visible on such thin edge searching it with 5-times magnification I have noticed that it is true convex edge, just with quite long radius of curvature to match thin blade.

<center><small>to be continued...</small></center>
 
<center><small>Patr 2 of 2</small></center>

<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852317&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852318&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a><a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852314&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852315&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>Wide blades have one advantage more. Please look carefully onto these photos. When you are cutting or chopping something thin like for ex. chives with narrow slicing knife your fingers hit table far before edge hits cutting board. This causes to turn your wrist forwards lowering blade tip but then you can't use entire edge. If you have to do a lot in this manner it can be somewhat tiring. Wide blade allows you to use entire edge and to do not hit the table with your fingers.

<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852319&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852320&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>Both knives have the same kind of ergonomically shaped handle which provides great handling comfort. Like all (excepting H1) Fällkniven knives K1 and K2 handles are made of Thermorun Elastomer. I like one-piece handles especially on kitchen knives. They are far more hygienic that handles with attached scales which you can wash as long as you want but you can't remove completely old fat deposits sticking between scales and blade tang.
<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852321&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=left SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852322&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>Both knives fit my hand really very comfortably making even hard work not tiring, I have opportunity to become convinced cutting Christmas carps. Occasionally it was a great opportunity to check how good or bad is grip if your hand is messy and slippery as far as possible. My impression was that not too much kitchen knives could come up to Fällknivens in this matter. I hardly could hold fishes but I haven't any problems to hold knife. This is really hard training, some years ago my mother-in-law was a close shave to cut away her finger in such action!
<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852323&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852324&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>Since we are talking about hygiene it's worth to say that black teflon coating provides very easy knife washing. Just put them under water stream and wipe slightly with washcloth and they are clear. In fact you can do it even without any dishwashing liquid. If you will leave knife unwashed for some hours and food deposits will dry up - even it this case you will be able to wash this knife without any difficulties.
So far I have had no opportunity to check how durable this coating is. During about 1,5 months of normal kitchen use no one scratch appeared.
However as normal kitchen use I consider just cutting without any knife throwing into sink or cutlery drawer.
<a href="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852326&Sequence=0&res=high" target="_blank"><IMG align=right SRC="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=222944&a=1651092&p=39852327&Sequence=0&res=high" border="2"></a>So far I didn't need to resharpen K1 and K2 thoroughly, all I have need to restore shaving sharpness was only steeling with smooth steel or at least very slight touch up with my SPYDERCO Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. I treat very edge with 40-degree sharpening angle and then back bevel with 30-degree one to do not allow very edge to grow in wideness. These angles cover practically entire sharpening area. Tip: do not keep blade's vertical position too firmly when grinding back bevel. This is all you need to keep the edge convex.

Conclusions: kitchen knives are the most frequently and mostly hard used knives each of us have, right? But in my honest opinion kitchen knives are the most neglected knives in household. Not enough that sometimes we are buying kitchen knives taking into consideration minimal price only. We are throwing them into sinks and cutlery drawers, we are sharpening them so-so, etc. Finally we have to work with cheap, scratched, blunt or hardly sharpened kitchen knife and we are surprised can this work be pleasant?
Great part of us buy $100 plus tactical, hunting or outdoor knives without batting an eye, some of us buy $300 plus handmades for collection only. No problem, everyone can do with hard earned money what he or she wants.
But don't overlook our modest kitchen knives! Buy the set of decent ones and you will be surprised how pleasant can be work in kitchen and how tasty can be result.

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Sergiusz Mitin
gunwriter
Lodz, Poland

[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 02-02-2001).]
 
Thanks for another interesting review Sergiusz. Do you have a Kyocera ceramic knife you could compare these to? I'm sure the edge is less fragile on these, but it would be interesting to hear how the two compare when slicing softer materials.
 
Burke,
Sorry for delay, I have waited for some questions more to answer them all at a time.
No, I have not any ceramic blade for comparison and no experience with them. Maybe I'm some kind of conservative but I like knife blades made of steel. I guess ceramic could be somewhat onto brittle side in such thin thing as knife blade.
However I would be curious to know more in this matter. It would be nice if someone could make comparison, for ex. steel vs. ceramic in kitchen knife blades, pros and conts.
 
Thanks for this nice review. Allways nice to see kitchen knife reviews. I'll have to see if these are available here.



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"Good tools to sustain life, or at least make life more convenient"
-James Mattis
 
Sergiusz Mitin

Glad to see your review of the K1 and K2.

How does edge retention compare to your other kitchen knives?

Will
 
Thanks, Sergiusz. I ask because my uncle got my both my cousins Kyocera knives for Christmas, and they seemed very sharp, but nobody cut anything with them that night, so I was curious how a good quality steel kitchen knife would compare. As I understand it, some of the pros of the ceramic knives are that they stay sharp practically forever, they never discolor or rust, and because they're completely non-reactive they don't leave any metallic taste when cutting acidic foods. Cons are that they are relatively fragile, and when they do eventually dull, they're difficult to resharpen. I understand it's possible to do them with a diamond stone, but it's probably easier to just send them back to the factory.
 
Uhh
smile.gif
Mega thanks Sergiusz, I was contemplating which one was I gonna buy, now I see I'll need them both
wink.gif



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zvis.com
Have Fun,
Alligator

[This message has been edited by Gator97 (edited 02-07-2001).]
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Burke:
Do you have a Kyocera ceramic knife you could compare these to? </font>
Click to expand...
I do. Not exactly with Fallkniven but compared to Wustoff and Henckels. I got one keyocera for experimenting mostly. In short
it was used only for vegetables & fruits.
Never dishwashed, however there's a good chip on the blade & I honestly have no idea where did that came from.
For approx 3 months Keyocera held up nicely,
which means it was as sharp as other, steel knives that I sharpen myself. After that it lost the edge gradually & that's where it is now. After steeling any of the steel knives are quite sharper than the Keyocera.
Overall IMHO it's not worth it if bought for the durability, if something else is the issue, such as weight, "no metalic taste" or you just want a ceramic knife that's different, but other than that I don't see any advantage over the steel knives long term, if 3-4 month can be considered as a long term for the kitchen knife. Too much hassle
smile.gif
& I like sharpening my knives after all, which is impossible with kayocera & I am too lazy to send it to the factory for recsharpening either.
FInally I think one day I'll try to resharpen Keyocera myself using DMTs. chances are I'll destroy the edge, though who knows
smile.gif
Either way, I'll post the results.



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zvis.com
Have Fun,
Alligator
 
Finaly Sergiusz stopped using Spyderco Military as a carrot killer ;-)

Good review (as usually) and some VERY NICE pictures (what's your new camera?)!

BTW, have you noticed that pictures in Sergiusz's reviews are always sooo coooool? The "boy" has a gift (IMHO)!
 
Piter, thanks for compliments
smile.gif

These pictures are among my first trials with new Minolta 505 Dynax. Do you see this dark trail at the bottom of some pics? It was clearly written in the camera's manual that this can occur if pictures are made from close distance with high zoom magnification but I didn't believe
frown.gif

I promise next pictures will be better
wink.gif

 
Wonderful Review as always!! The pics really help illustrate your point. Thanks for taking the time to show us these great blades.



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Marine Sniper Motto:
There's no use Running, you'll only Die Tired!
 
Thanks for the wonderful review. I have been contemplating getting a new knife, preferably one with a higher quality steel. I use my Wustofs every day at work, and even though they're nicely made, they don't hold an edge for a very long time. I was looking at Global, supposedly they use VG 10 also. Anyone confirm this?

And who sells the fallkniven K series in the US? I've seen other companies sell Fallkniven, but not the kitchen series. Maybe it's a special order only?

cheers,
Aabeen
 
This is not a review. It is an ad. None the less, I liked it.
I have some experiance with MD`s ceramics. They are thick, so you have to cut at an off angle, just like a hunting knife.
They will cut a long time on boxes, chicken breasts and gutting a hog with grit on his belly.
I did have to,well wanted too, sharpen one with a diamond hone. It came up smoother than Kevin made it, but it cut agressivly. They don`t feel sharp to the thumb.
I used an EZ Lap. A better choice is out there.
I dread dropping one, but Kevin says that they will survive that.
They are pricy, but will keep doing things that would send you to the stone with a steel knife.
 
Thank you Friends!

Will,
Excuse me please, I just considered that I didn't answer your question about edge retention. It is really great! Another my kitchen knives are mostly Polish GERLACH ones, certainly not the worst knives in the world. But slicing large fishes with pretty thick fishbone and hard scales I should resharpen my standard slicing knife (shown at second photo at part two) after two fishes. VG-10 is really awesome cutlery steel, I like it a lot.

Aabeen,
Please visit them at www.fallkniven.com and follow "Distributors" link, there are displayed all their distributors worldwide. Check also Canadian distributor.

FNG,
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">This is not a review. It is an ad.</font>
Click to expand...
Hmmm, could you point the clear line between positive opinion expressed in publics and advertising? Actually the only border I can see is that everyone have to pay for advertising. If so this writing is not the ad because it is not paid.

Is this review positive or in another words, do I like these knives? Yes, I do but this is my right to like or to dislike certain knives and other things. I'm repeating continually - I'm writer but not judge. Nobody have to agree with my evaluations, please discuss with them - this is this Forum exists for.
Please flick through my writings and you will see clearly that I do not like each knife and at each point. Why should I hide if I do like something?
 
Excellent review, Sergiusz! I appreciate you taking the time and trouble to thoroughly evaluate these knives for the rest of us!

Now I know what to buy my wife for her birthday!
 
Great review! Now I need to get some for my kitchen! I always liked Spyderco's Santoku and other Spyderco kitchen stuff. I will need to look at Fallkniven's stuff too!

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copfish@aol.com
 
Well, I just ordered them both. It was embarrassing for me to be using those knives we got a million years ago when we were married, you know the wooden block full of plastic handled, serrated edge stuff and the odd Chicgo Cutlery pieces when I have a George W. Bush tax cut size collection of knives unused under glass. For flair I used a Fallkniven S1 at Thanksgiving after the brother in law pulled out AN ELECTRIC KNIFE to carve the bird. How embarrassing. Well, he is a lawyer after all
rolleyes.gif


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