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- May 25, 2013
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So I received my second Phil Wilson custom a couple of months ago and this one is a new model which he is calling the Punta Gringo. Im not sure if Phil is planning to make this model one of his regular offerings but he liked it enough that he made one for himself, so I imagine he would be willing to make more. The design came about as a result of me asking him for a knife made specifically for certain fish cleaning duties. I'm a bit of an oddball in that I don't always just use a fillet knife on my fish. This model is kind of like a larger drop point Southfork. Now that I've had the knife for a couple of months and used it extensively at the cleaning table, I thought I would leave some thoughts here.
Purpose of the design
All I'm talking about here is what I was looking for when we planned this knife. I clean a lot of fish and I have a lot of knives so I probably put way too much thought into what knife and what edge I use for different fish cleaning tasks. Oh well, I guess there are worse obsessions. I love the southfork for this kind of work but one thing I have discovered in use is that I like a slightly wider tip for cleaning fish like mackerel and wahoo. On these types of fish I slice flat to the rib bones from the top and then the bottom and then "unzip" the spine. A typical cut looks something like this.
I find that a blade with a wider profile and tip will track flatter along the rib bones and it's easier for me to get very tight with my work and leave a very clean carcass. Another advantage of the drop point is it works well for scoring fish like barracuda, snapper, corvina. Thats where you cut through the skin with the edge facing out and let the knife cut a line through the skin. A drop point or flat spine will glide along the meat where a trailing point will tend to want to dig in. Also, at 5 1/4", this knife is a bit longer than the average southfork. This was intended to give just a bit more reach for working on larger fish. So anyway, the end result has proven to be an outstanding knife for my fish work but there's definitely nothing radical about the design. I could see it making an outstanding general purpose utility knife, kitchen knife or even a large hunter.
Steel
This is the second knife that Phil has made for me using cpm-m4. This particular knife is at 64rc. I have been extremely pleased with both knives. As I said earlier, I tend to use different knives and edges on different fish. Anything with heavy skin and scales requires a more coarse finish or your edge won't have enough bite and will be sliding all over the place. Mackerel though, which comprise a lot of my cleaning work, are a different story. They have a very soft skin and the meat itself is quite soft. A lot of the cuts that I make are more like push cuts than slices. I find I like working with a bit more refined and extremely sharp edge on these fish and this is where the m4 shines for me. I typically microbevel this steel on the sharpmaker medium rods. M4 will hold a very high level of sharpness longer than any other steel I have worked with. Not only that, the edge has proven to be extremely resistant to chipping and deformation. I have done very high pressure (two handed) push cuts through large 1/8"+ spine and rib bones and have seen no chipping, rolling or flattening even on the thinly ground belly (.005) of the Punta Gringo. To put this into perspective, I have chipped the edge of s30v (I steel I happen to hold in high regard) on production knives with a much thicker grind. I don't get the same level of "working edge" retention with the more refined finish but the beauty of this steel is that if my work requirements change I can finish this one off at 400-600 and have a knife that challenges some of the high carbide stainless steels on overall edge retention. I won't go into detail because I don't tend to test my edge retention as systematically as folks like Ankerson. Fwiw, I'm planning to send one of these to him is month so hopefully we will get to hear his thoughts too.
Corrosion resistance
Nothing comes for free and the cost of some of the great characteristics of this steel is a loss of corrosion resistance. For me though this isn't a huge deal. Yes, it requires a bit more care but I live in the tropics and use this knife around salt and blood every day and mine is holding up just fine. You can't leave it out wet and filthy like you can a stainless knife, (and it probably wouldn't make a good boat knife) but it doesn't take anything extreme to maintain it either. Rinse it and wipe it down after use and you should be just fine. The only time I have had any rust issue was when I accidentally put it away in the sheath for a couple of days without properly drying it. The moisture got trapped in there and there were some light orange streaks when I pulled it out. 30 seconds with a sponge took care of it but it was definitely a reminder that you have to pay a bit more attention with this grade.
Overall, I am elated with the design as I am with all of Phil's knives. This one does a superb job at what it was designed for as well as proving to be an excellent all purpose knife around the house and kitchen. If there were one thing I would change, it would be to go with the "birds head" type handle that Phil uses on his fillet knives. It was considered but the southfork style handle won out. There is certainly nothing wrong with the southfork handle, which is exceedingly comfortable and ergonomic, but I believe the birds head design could improve the grip for pull cuts and slices when the knife is covered in blood.
Ok, that's all I can think of for now. Feel free to add your thoughts or questions.
Here's a pic of the Punta Gringo, Spyderco Southfork and Smoke Creek. My apologies for the lack of pics and the very poor quality level of the few I have provided. When I am using this one I am usually covered in blood and goo so photos ops are rare. If i get anything better I will try to update the post.
Purpose of the design
All I'm talking about here is what I was looking for when we planned this knife. I clean a lot of fish and I have a lot of knives so I probably put way too much thought into what knife and what edge I use for different fish cleaning tasks. Oh well, I guess there are worse obsessions. I love the southfork for this kind of work but one thing I have discovered in use is that I like a slightly wider tip for cleaning fish like mackerel and wahoo. On these types of fish I slice flat to the rib bones from the top and then the bottom and then "unzip" the spine. A typical cut looks something like this.
I find that a blade with a wider profile and tip will track flatter along the rib bones and it's easier for me to get very tight with my work and leave a very clean carcass. Another advantage of the drop point is it works well for scoring fish like barracuda, snapper, corvina. Thats where you cut through the skin with the edge facing out and let the knife cut a line through the skin. A drop point or flat spine will glide along the meat where a trailing point will tend to want to dig in. Also, at 5 1/4", this knife is a bit longer than the average southfork. This was intended to give just a bit more reach for working on larger fish. So anyway, the end result has proven to be an outstanding knife for my fish work but there's definitely nothing radical about the design. I could see it making an outstanding general purpose utility knife, kitchen knife or even a large hunter.
Steel
This is the second knife that Phil has made for me using cpm-m4. This particular knife is at 64rc. I have been extremely pleased with both knives. As I said earlier, I tend to use different knives and edges on different fish. Anything with heavy skin and scales requires a more coarse finish or your edge won't have enough bite and will be sliding all over the place. Mackerel though, which comprise a lot of my cleaning work, are a different story. They have a very soft skin and the meat itself is quite soft. A lot of the cuts that I make are more like push cuts than slices. I find I like working with a bit more refined and extremely sharp edge on these fish and this is where the m4 shines for me. I typically microbevel this steel on the sharpmaker medium rods. M4 will hold a very high level of sharpness longer than any other steel I have worked with. Not only that, the edge has proven to be extremely resistant to chipping and deformation. I have done very high pressure (two handed) push cuts through large 1/8"+ spine and rib bones and have seen no chipping, rolling or flattening even on the thinly ground belly (.005) of the Punta Gringo. To put this into perspective, I have chipped the edge of s30v (I steel I happen to hold in high regard) on production knives with a much thicker grind. I don't get the same level of "working edge" retention with the more refined finish but the beauty of this steel is that if my work requirements change I can finish this one off at 400-600 and have a knife that challenges some of the high carbide stainless steels on overall edge retention. I won't go into detail because I don't tend to test my edge retention as systematically as folks like Ankerson. Fwiw, I'm planning to send one of these to him is month so hopefully we will get to hear his thoughts too.
Corrosion resistance
Nothing comes for free and the cost of some of the great characteristics of this steel is a loss of corrosion resistance. For me though this isn't a huge deal. Yes, it requires a bit more care but I live in the tropics and use this knife around salt and blood every day and mine is holding up just fine. You can't leave it out wet and filthy like you can a stainless knife, (and it probably wouldn't make a good boat knife) but it doesn't take anything extreme to maintain it either. Rinse it and wipe it down after use and you should be just fine. The only time I have had any rust issue was when I accidentally put it away in the sheath for a couple of days without properly drying it. The moisture got trapped in there and there were some light orange streaks when I pulled it out. 30 seconds with a sponge took care of it but it was definitely a reminder that you have to pay a bit more attention with this grade.
Overall, I am elated with the design as I am with all of Phil's knives. This one does a superb job at what it was designed for as well as proving to be an excellent all purpose knife around the house and kitchen. If there were one thing I would change, it would be to go with the "birds head" type handle that Phil uses on his fillet knives. It was considered but the southfork style handle won out. There is certainly nothing wrong with the southfork handle, which is exceedingly comfortable and ergonomic, but I believe the birds head design could improve the grip for pull cuts and slices when the knife is covered in blood.
Ok, that's all I can think of for now. Feel free to add your thoughts or questions.
Here's a pic of the Punta Gringo, Spyderco Southfork and Smoke Creek. My apologies for the lack of pics and the very poor quality level of the few I have provided. When I am using this one I am usually covered in blood and goo so photos ops are rare. If i get anything better I will try to update the post.
