Official Pen Knife Review Thread
- Thread starter Daniel Koster
- Start date
wildmanh
Part time Leather Bender/Sheath maker
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Steven, those dings are my falt. Was using the knife in the kitchen right before packing it. It accidentally slipped out of my wet hands
and landed on my new tile floor.. Luckily all that happened were those dings and a few dings in the tile.
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Steven: Only the area around the center of percussion is tempered up to around 60 rockwell. The rest of the blade is left relatively soft for shock absorbtion.
"The designs on the sides of the blade were a very nice touch. How are those put on there?"--Steven Roos
Uh, that was my special addition, with Pen's permission.
That is a Ferric Chloride etch. I've been etching blades with various chemicals for 5 years, and this stuff works the best. I use boxing tape and Staedler Red Permanent art markers as a resist. The etch itself took five or ten minutes.
Ferric Chloride is commonly found at Radio Shack, and is used in the computer hardware industry to etch the copper layers of breadboards into circuits.
It will etch iron, hi carbon steel, copper, all copper alloys. I mix 1 part distilled water to 1 part Ferric Chloride. It is a relatively safe etchant designed to cut fast and straight.
Keith
"The designs on the sides of the blade were a very nice touch. How are those put on there?"--Steven Roos
Uh, that was my special addition, with Pen's permission.
That is a Ferric Chloride etch. I've been etching blades with various chemicals for 5 years, and this stuff works the best. I use boxing tape and Staedler Red Permanent art markers as a resist. The etch itself took five or ten minutes.
Ferric Chloride is commonly found at Radio Shack, and is used in the computer hardware industry to etch the copper layers of breadboards into circuits.
It will etch iron, hi carbon steel, copper, all copper alloys. I mix 1 part distilled water to 1 part Ferric Chloride. It is a relatively safe etchant designed to cut fast and straight.
Keith
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by the time this gets back, the box will be more valuable as a collectors item than the knife itself...
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Originally posted by pendentive
by the time this gets back, the box will be more valuable as a collectors item than the knife itself...
By the time it gets to me I will have to email you for the instructions on opening it since I've long forgotten the original.
Seems as if there was a box inside a box?
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Pretty much. Two long triangle shapes, one slides inside the other.
Keith
Keith
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Pics sent to heber. I think I got them smaller than the "box" pic. I hope I didn't send him too many. He can pick and chose which to post if that is the case and I'll come behind and give a description and report.
It got some professional kitchen use last night. The boss saw it in use last night and just shook his head and kept walking.
It got some professional kitchen use last night. The boss saw it in use last night and just shook his head and kept walking.
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I hope you washed it before shipping.
Did you cut through the ribs on that chunk of meat?
Did you cut through the ribs on that chunk of meat?
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That looks like a kumar boning knife. It's huge!
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Cool, shappa! You have some good taste in kitchen knives. But hey, you're a pro!
Love the pix, expecially the skull (what was on the menu that night) and the one with the huge side o beef.
Keith
Love the pix, expecially the skull (what was on the menu that night
) and the one with the huge side o beef.Keith
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Are HI products dishwasher safe?
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O.K. here we go! First off these pics were just taken on the fly. If i had the time they would be much better.
First round...
Pic #1 Just an overall shot, trying to show the etching. The etching is deep and isn't going to come out unless a concentrated effort is made to do so. The knife is starting to develop some "character". A few scratches a few blemishes. There is a hairline crack in the horn handle just behind the bolster. I don't think it will go anywhere.
pic 2 a close up of the etching...nice work.
pic three Pen knife on a bear skull. I like the way it looks like it's floating. These khuks have so many curves and surfaces it is almost impossible not to have a flash spot.
Oh and the first three were taken in my living room in front of a window in the late afternoon.
Round two...
First pic
This is one of my cutting boards at work. After 20 years of use it does have a bit of a dip in it. And I've sanded it flat once already.
The knives are the Pen knife, a santuko.This one is light and quick.
Two Sushi/sashimi knives. The are great for trimming filets and the new york steaks after the long scimitar type slicer has portioned them out. I think the slicer is a forchner but I'm not positive.
pic two This is a filet mignon I"m working on. Each steak weights 3/4 pound. I don't weigh them anymore ...after this long they will be with-in 1 ounce of each other.
The pen knife did the best on this meat. It cut on the push and the pull. Actually better on the pull stroke. The karda did great on taking off the "silver" on the filets and trimming of bit's of fat. I laid my finger along the top of the blade and used it that way.
Pic 3 N.Y. strip
It started off weighting about 13 pounds or so. The pen knife did an o.k. job on this but it's edge geomtry isn't the best for slicing thick objects. The middle ring was a little sharp in my hands.
The ribs were off of some veal I trimmed up earlier. No bones were cut.
O.K.!! That's it for now. I'll be taking it back to work tonight to see what it can do on some veggies!
Thanks to Heber for posting the pics for me. Any questions I'll try to answer..
First round...
Pic #1 Just an overall shot, trying to show the etching. The etching is deep and isn't going to come out unless a concentrated effort is made to do so. The knife is starting to develop some "character". A few scratches a few blemishes. There is a hairline crack in the horn handle just behind the bolster. I don't think it will go anywhere.
pic 2 a close up of the etching...nice work.
pic three Pen knife on a bear skull. I like the way it looks like it's floating. These khuks have so many curves and surfaces it is almost impossible not to have a flash spot.
Oh and the first three were taken in my living room in front of a window in the late afternoon.
Round two...
First pic
This is one of my cutting boards at work. After 20 years of use it does have a bit of a dip in it. And I've sanded it flat once already.
The knives are the Pen knife, a santuko.This one is light and quick.
Two Sushi/sashimi knives. The are great for trimming filets and the new york steaks after the long scimitar type slicer has portioned them out. I think the slicer is a forchner but I'm not positive.
pic two This is a filet mignon I"m working on. Each steak weights 3/4 pound. I don't weigh them anymore ...after this long they will be with-in 1 ounce of each other.
The pen knife did the best on this meat. It cut on the push and the pull. Actually better on the pull stroke. The karda did great on taking off the "silver" on the filets and trimming of bit's of fat. I laid my finger along the top of the blade and used it that way.
Pic 3 N.Y. strip
It started off weighting about 13 pounds or so. The pen knife did an o.k. job on this but it's edge geomtry isn't the best for slicing thick objects. The middle ring was a little sharp in my hands.
The ribs were off of some veal I trimmed up earlier. No bones were cut.
O.K.!! That's it for now. I'll be taking it back to work tonight to see what it can do on some veggies!
Thanks to Heber for posting the pics for me. Any questions I'll try to answer..
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Just sent two more pics to Heber. I hope I'm not overloading him.
One of the pen knife and onions. It didn't do so good on cutting up veggies. The blade design just isn't for detailed chopping. In a pinch it would get the job done. It did surprise me on the onions and stalks of celery tho. It cut really well on the pull stroke. The recurve really stood out here. But the thickness of the spine that gives it it's advantage in brush cutting was a hinderence here. I just couldn't easily see exactly where the edge was.
Next pic is of the pen knife and a 15" A.K. for comparison. Both are by Bura.
I have just one more pic I want to take/post but it will have to wait till I can get some time on Fri or before I ship on Sat. Fingers crossed.
Thanks again to Heber for helping me out with this.
Now where am I supposed to send this?
One of the pen knife and onions. It didn't do so good on cutting up veggies.
The blade design just isn't for detailed chopping. In a pinch it would get the job done. It did surprise me on the onions and stalks of celery tho. It cut really well on the pull stroke. The recurve really stood out here. But the thickness of the spine that gives it it's advantage in brush cutting was a hinderence here. I just couldn't easily see exactly where the edge was.Next pic is of the pen knife and a 15" A.K. for comparison. Both are by Bura.
I have just one more pic I want to take/post but it will have to wait till I can get some time on Fri or before I ship on Sat. Fingers crossed.
Thanks again to Heber for helping me out with this.
Now where am I supposed to send this?
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page 6 of this thread is correct, then it appreas to go next to Tohatchi NM (Eric?) and then to Yvsa, then home to Pendentive. This khuk may have seen more of the US than Pen himself! That blade is a traveller now, and won't be happy sittinn arouund inn a sheath doing nuthin! I'm sure Pen'll put her to good use and has been missing her.
Keith
Keith
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Email sent!
Yep! The pen knife has visited 1 state out of a handful that I have yet to visit = Maine.
p.s. trip planned soon - the Bay of Fundy has been calling me for about 4 years now...
Right you are, my friend.
However, by the time it's back in my hands, there will be some tough competition for attention with the seax...
Maybe an opportunity for a side-by-side comparison...?!?!?
Dan