Rockstead knives

Maprik

Maprik

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May 17, 2012
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I just wanted to put a good word out for Rockstead knives. I met the Rockstead rep (Mr. Haneda?) at the NYCCKS in JC on Friday, a very nice Japanese fellow who spoke little English but was happy to give me a demonstration of the Rockstead blade. He showed me a small folder, with a 3 inch blade. Gorgeous mirror finish. The price was around $1100. He said that the HRc was around 66-67 and the blade was titanium coated (I have no idea what that means). He then proceeded to hack up a large piece of extremely hard dried bamboo. He chopped it up really well hacking out a good chunk with opposing angles like he was trying to cut down a tree, with about 20 strong hacks. He then stropped it 2-3 passes per side on a denim strop with some kind of compound on it and proceeded to carve wavy lines through a thin magazine page, slice through a thick phone book stack of paper like it was butter, and chop up a thick multi-strand hemp rope like it was a carrot. The final trick was dropping a piece of the magazine page on it's edge against the blade being held edge up. The page was sliced easily a few inches to where the page had no more velocity to keep moving down over the blade. It was simply amazing. I almost bought the knife on the spot and I now regret that I did not. I hope he is at the next show because I am saving up my money to buy one of these incredible blades.
 
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Last year:

[video=youtube;6-UdyFHV3dA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-UdyFHV3dA&feature=fvst[/video]

The blade steel is ZDP-189, stropped on a piece of denim stretched over a wood backer with car wax as a compound.
 
I know I love mine.... I have a Tei S with yxr7 and a Shin with the ZDP189 clad in ATS 34.

IMG_20120602_200536.jpg


Both beyond sharp and with precision and fit like no other I have ever owned.

I've had both for about a year, and they stay sharp through unbelievable amounts of use. The other thing I've noticed is that the edge geometry is so good it cuts through some materials (plastic most notably) better than anything....
 
I'd be kinda disappointed if any quality knife couldn't do the same thing.
 
I have to admit, when I saw them in person I was very impressed with the demo and blade finishes but I can't wrap my head around why they cost so much. Maybe the cost for the steel and machining of it is very high because the hanldes are just CNC'd aluminum. The blades also look to be CNC'd as well but I can't be sure. There are a couple I woldnt mind owning though. :D
 
My Old Hickory butcher knife will go through a 2x4 twice and still shave my arm easily, let alone slice paper. If a quality blade from a respectable company can't make a few whacks on bamboo, and still make those cuts on paper, that's pretty disappointing. Unfortunately, I think you're right, and I am disappointed often. Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I'll try the same test with my Cold Steel Kudu, except I'll have to substitute pressure treated deck boards for bamboo. I'm not knocking Rockstead. I'm sure they are fine knives. The demonstration is just not that impressive.
 
Cool knives I think.
When I read the first post I misread the line: "The final trick was dropping a piece...."
and instead was reading "The final trick was dropping the price..."; wishfull thinking, i guess. :)
Maybe one day.
red mag
 
They are great knives, it's a shame they aren't more well known or collected here in the US. They also have something which they have very little if any of left is the clad steel. Sweet knives!
 
I think any knife maker that tests their knives in public has to be given some credit becasue most will not do that. This is why I have been very disappointed with a lot of new in the box custom and midtech knives that were dull.
 
I too saw his demo at blade and had I had a pocket full of $ I certainly would of bought one of his knives.
 
gooeytek said:
Last year:

[video=youtube;6-UdyFHV3dA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-UdyFHV3dA&feature=fvst[/video]

The blade steel is ZDP-189, stropped on a piece of denim stretched over a wood backer with car wax as a compound.
Click to expand...

Looks like a different guy demonstrating at this show then at blade. The guy I saw do it (older) was a pro at taking chunks out of the bamboo come that part of the demo. Was awesome.
 
me2 said:
My Old Hickory butcher knife will go through a 2x4 twice and still shave my arm easily, let alone slice paper. If a quality blade from a respectable company can't make a few whacks on bamboo, and still make those cuts on paper, that's pretty disappointing. Unfortunately, I think you're right, and I am disappointed often. Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I'll try the same test with my Cold Steel Kudu, except I'll have to substitute pressure treated deck boards for bamboo. I'm not knocking Rockstead. I'm sure they are fine knives. The demonstration is just not that impressive.
Click to expand...

For anyone who has done any kind of real testing it's not impressive.
 
me2 said:
My Old Hickory butcher knife will go through a 2x4 twice and still shave my arm easily, let alone slice paper. If a quality blade from a respectable company can't make a few whacks on bamboo, and still make those cuts on paper, that's pretty disappointing. Unfortunately, I think you're right, and I am disappointed often. Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I'll try the same test with my Cold Steel Kudu, except I'll have to substitute pressure treated deck boards for bamboo. I'm not knocking Rockstead. I'm sure they are fine knives. The demonstration is just not that impressive.
Click to expand...

I haven't done any testing like this, and frankly, I'm afraid to try it on my knives, but I'd really like to see more vids of various knives tested. I saw one VERY popular and expensive knife tested (YouTube) by cutting thick manila rope and it did NOT hold it's edge like this.
 
Buy yourself a Buck 110 from Walmart or something similar. Whenever you see a knife do something you find impressive, try it with the Buck 110. IIRC, you have a Wicked Edge? If so, sharpen that 110 at about 15-20 degrees per side, give it a good polish as high as you can go, then try whatever feat you want to replicate. High polish isn't necessary, but for chopping like in this thread it helps. Be sure to make a couple of passes into the edge of your test knife to remove any damaged and weakened metal, then sharpen it. It won't hold an edge like your other knives, but it will give a reference point. I think I know the knife you're talking about, and I've never seen any reason to own one, even before that test came out. Just remember, a bad/good sharpening job on any given knife can half/double the performance at the edge, and that's the same steel/knife/etc. Comparisons get tricky just switching cutting material from cardboard to rope, let alone steel, geometry, handle design, etc.

You saw my video of my trapper still whittling hair after cutting 300+ inches of aluminum sheet. That was with a 7-10 degree per side edge angle on Japanese mystery stainless. If a knife company wants to impress me, it will take more than will fit into a 15 minute youtube video.

As a final point about the sharpening, that Old Hickory will not pass that 2x4 test after sharpening on my belt sander, but it will after sharpening on my waterstone and Sharpmaker. I suspect heat is the culprit, but again, all I did was change the way I sharpened it, and it was treetopping sharp after both methods.
 
Maprik said:
So could a knife at 60 HRc perform the same with the same test?
Click to expand...

I have machetes certainly less than 60 HRc that will still shave after going through a 4x4. It's just wood/bamboo compared to hardened steel. I tried with my Delica this morning. I've been carrying it a while, but after 30 chops into treated deck board, it showed no sign of degredation, and would still shave and slice paper easily. I need to do a full resharpening and try again, but that will take more time than I have right now.
 
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