other memory
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- Joined
- Jul 15, 2012
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- 1,881
Several months ago I ordered a knife from Chris and asked him to recommend a steel based off of my user preferences. One of the steels he suggested was PSF 27. Little was known about the steel at the time. From what I can tell, little is still known by a wider user base. Ive worked with Chris before so I approached him about possibly doing some testing in order to get an idea what PSF 27 was all about. He liked the idea and this knife is the end result of that idea.
The knife was razor sharp out of the box, it was able to cut S curves through copy paper. While testing, the knife was used to cut through various commonly found household materials. Would hard use affect edge stability? Since wood working is hard on knives, I wanted to know how well the knife would slice food after a lot of wood work. If a steel can slice well after wood working, its worth paying attention to. At one point, I ended up shaving away, cutting chunks away, awling through, and notching an entire 8 section of a 2x2 before moving onto kitchen tasks.
The first time I used the knife for around 40 minutes on carpet, cardboard, and a 2x2. I did different stuff on the 2x2 like see how deep a penetration I could get (I did this several times), then made a lot of shavings, and then rounded off the end of the board on one side. After that I went back to the notebook paper, it still cut straight lines with minimal catching, but no S curves. I went back at it for another 15 minutes doing the same stuff. I went back to the notebook paper. That's when catching started to occur. At that point I very lightly ran the edge over my DMT extra fine plate, 23 passes. I was back to S curves.
Here are some notches:
I wanted to see how well it could handle lateral stress without placing too much stress on the bevel. One of the boxes was two layers of cardboard. I poked the knife through and cut through the two layer cardboard several times and rotated it:
Post rotation, the bevel was fine. For a tip test, I awled twenty ¼ deep holes into the 2x2. No issues. Next, I cleared a knot. At this point the knife had seen a lot of use so I examined the apex for micro chipping using my 40x jewelers loupe. I didnt see any micro chipping. Here are some shots:
I made a lot of shavings. This shot was the beginning. When I was done there was a pile of shavings. My basement floor was a mess:
At this point I had my first takeaway about PSF 27 steel. It holds an edge well. Woodworking is hard on bevels. I routinely used the knife on hard, dense, and abrasive materials for about an hour before the edge began to wane. My second takeaway was how easy it was to bring the edge back. Like above, it routinely took me about 23 passes on my DMT EF plate before I regained a keen edge, not just an edge mind you, a keen edge.
A lot of users on BF ask the same question in order to form a basis point of comparison How does steel X compare to steel Y? In order to form a basis point of measurement I did the same kind of tasks using two of my O1 knives. O1 is a common and popular steel amongst makers and users; seemed like a logical basis point to compare to. One knife had a thinner bevel profile and one was thicker. I can say with certainty that PSF 27 held an edge longer under the same circumstances. It's difficult to say with certainty how much longer, but it was clearly longer. It also takes less time and effort to bring the edge back. PSF 27 stands up to wood working, which is the most abusive of common usage circumstances as far as I am concerned.
It was time to move onto the kitchen and examine slicing. To be upfront, I'm not a meat processing expert. I don't know how to properly test a knife in these circumstances. This knife isnt a santoku or a paring knife (my go to kitchen duty combo), but it got the job done. I never had to "saw" at the meat (These days, knowing what I know about knives I cringe when I see coffee shop attendants "saw" while prepping food). Most of the time I was able to make it through 1" cuts of beef and chicken without having to go back for a second or third slice to make it through fascia, ligaments, and tendons.
Here are two specific tests. First I cut up 6 kielbasas. While slicing I tried to use as little downward pressure as possible on the knife while drawing backwards through the sausage. About 75% of the time I was able to make it straight through without having to reposition the knife for a final cut. The edge tended to grab immediately. Most slices yielded clean straight lines through the sausage, see the close-up.
Next I wanted to see how the tip performed working with something playable/elastic like muscle tissue. Lets trim some fat off that muscle without cutting away the muscle. Before and after:
I saved the best pic for last, lots of color. I cut up some vegetables. Easy. Notice how straight and clean the cuts through the carrots are:
.
Final thoughts about the knife. The handle ergonomics worked out. After doing all of that physical wood working, I didnt have any pain in my hand. There are no gaps where the scales are glued to the tang. The overall symmetry of the knife is near perfect. Considering a human did this rather than a programmed CNC cutting machine with tight tolerances, thats something to be proud of. I like the flared tubes as fasteners. Nice look. In closing, this knife is a well-crafted work horse with a fab look.
The knife was razor sharp out of the box, it was able to cut S curves through copy paper. While testing, the knife was used to cut through various commonly found household materials. Would hard use affect edge stability? Since wood working is hard on knives, I wanted to know how well the knife would slice food after a lot of wood work. If a steel can slice well after wood working, its worth paying attention to. At one point, I ended up shaving away, cutting chunks away, awling through, and notching an entire 8 section of a 2x2 before moving onto kitchen tasks.
The first time I used the knife for around 40 minutes on carpet, cardboard, and a 2x2. I did different stuff on the 2x2 like see how deep a penetration I could get (I did this several times), then made a lot of shavings, and then rounded off the end of the board on one side. After that I went back to the notebook paper, it still cut straight lines with minimal catching, but no S curves. I went back at it for another 15 minutes doing the same stuff. I went back to the notebook paper. That's when catching started to occur. At that point I very lightly ran the edge over my DMT extra fine plate, 23 passes. I was back to S curves.
Here are some notches:
I wanted to see how well it could handle lateral stress without placing too much stress on the bevel. One of the boxes was two layers of cardboard. I poked the knife through and cut through the two layer cardboard several times and rotated it:
Post rotation, the bevel was fine. For a tip test, I awled twenty ¼ deep holes into the 2x2. No issues. Next, I cleared a knot. At this point the knife had seen a lot of use so I examined the apex for micro chipping using my 40x jewelers loupe. I didnt see any micro chipping. Here are some shots:
I made a lot of shavings. This shot was the beginning. When I was done there was a pile of shavings. My basement floor was a mess:
At this point I had my first takeaway about PSF 27 steel. It holds an edge well. Woodworking is hard on bevels. I routinely used the knife on hard, dense, and abrasive materials for about an hour before the edge began to wane. My second takeaway was how easy it was to bring the edge back. Like above, it routinely took me about 23 passes on my DMT EF plate before I regained a keen edge, not just an edge mind you, a keen edge.
A lot of users on BF ask the same question in order to form a basis point of comparison How does steel X compare to steel Y? In order to form a basis point of measurement I did the same kind of tasks using two of my O1 knives. O1 is a common and popular steel amongst makers and users; seemed like a logical basis point to compare to. One knife had a thinner bevel profile and one was thicker. I can say with certainty that PSF 27 held an edge longer under the same circumstances. It's difficult to say with certainty how much longer, but it was clearly longer. It also takes less time and effort to bring the edge back. PSF 27 stands up to wood working, which is the most abusive of common usage circumstances as far as I am concerned.
It was time to move onto the kitchen and examine slicing. To be upfront, I'm not a meat processing expert. I don't know how to properly test a knife in these circumstances. This knife isnt a santoku or a paring knife (my go to kitchen duty combo), but it got the job done. I never had to "saw" at the meat (These days, knowing what I know about knives I cringe when I see coffee shop attendants "saw" while prepping food). Most of the time I was able to make it through 1" cuts of beef and chicken without having to go back for a second or third slice to make it through fascia, ligaments, and tendons.
Here are two specific tests. First I cut up 6 kielbasas. While slicing I tried to use as little downward pressure as possible on the knife while drawing backwards through the sausage. About 75% of the time I was able to make it straight through without having to reposition the knife for a final cut. The edge tended to grab immediately. Most slices yielded clean straight lines through the sausage, see the close-up.
Next I wanted to see how the tip performed working with something playable/elastic like muscle tissue. Lets trim some fat off that muscle without cutting away the muscle. Before and after:
I saved the best pic for last, lots of color. I cut up some vegetables. Easy. Notice how straight and clean the cuts through the carrots are:
.
Final thoughts about the knife. The handle ergonomics worked out. After doing all of that physical wood working, I didnt have any pain in my hand. There are no gaps where the scales are glued to the tang. The overall symmetry of the knife is near perfect. Considering a human did this rather than a programmed CNC cutting machine with tight tolerances, thats something to be proud of. I like the flared tubes as fasteners. Nice look. In closing, this knife is a well-crafted work horse with a fab look.
