Settle an argument for us about edge retention.

[james terrio]

Are the majority of your sales to the educated knife buyer/enthusiast or to the person that doesn't necessarily know the intricacies of steel?

Speaking only for myself, by far most of my knives go to people with more than a passing interest in quality steel and high performance. Nearly all of my clients are pretty well-informed about what they want, and why.

There's no way I could compete for the knife-buying dollar of the 90% of folks who just buy a $100 set of 15 kitchen knives or a $30 hunter and use/abuse them till they're butter-dull... and keep on trying to use them. Nor do I have any desire to do so.

 

[Willie71]

When you are discussing edges, sharper vs. longer lasting, you also need to keep the user in mind. At the risk of having all the ladies boo me, in my experience, most of the ladies I know will use a knife until it won't cut butter before they get it sharpened. For them, S35VN will be much better than AEB-L or 52100. OK, ladies, you can all boo now.

Tim

I use S35VN for anyone who I suspect won't look after the knife. My mother in law, for example. Most people will look after their knife, once they make the first dishwasher or sink mistake. I always fix the first one for free, as a customer service bonus. I have never had a second one back from anyone. On the other extreme of S35VN, I use a lot of 15n20 for kitchen knives, and I send a leather strop to touch it up frequently. It's like a gateway steel. Once they know they can maintain it a bit, and quite a few have bought the Lee valley knife sharpening kit, a cheap version of an edge pro, they have no problem keeping the edges in decent shape. The 15N20 is vey tough, so the fine edge is quite forgiving, and it's super easy to sharpen. Quite a few hunters prefer this for skinners too, as they can touch it up in the field easily. I find giving the customer some information, and being willing to make suggestions when they are unsure builds the relationship.

 

[Cardinal Knife]

When you are discussing edges, sharper vs. longer lasting, you also need to keep the user in mind. At the risk of having all the ladies boo me, in my experience, most of the ladies I know will use a knife until it won't cut butter before they get it sharpened. For them, S35VN will be much better than AEB-L or 52100. OK, ladies, you can all boo now.

Tim

Excellent point!

Mcintosh- best flavor

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Question.

Are the majority of your sales to the educated knife buyer/enthusiast or to the person that doesn't necessarily know the intricacies of steel?

Chuck, Honey Crisp. Ftw.

On the other hand I live in central Cali, I'm literally looking at my orange tree as I type this so...

I live in Orange country S. cal as well but I'm real fond of Tangerines if I'm going Citrus'

Most of my clients are home cooks are are the kind of folks that know quality when they see it in a culinary knife and fairly well educated in general though they may not know the intricacies of steel like is being discussed here, they can be educated in a short course of the difference of carbon vs stainless steels and they have the bucks to buy what they like.

I also live right by the ocean and so do many of my clients and that can bring the maintenance factor on carbon up by quite a bit.

 

[Willie71]

I live in Orange country S. cal as well but I'm real fond of Tangerines if I'm going Citrus'

Most of my clients are home cooks are are the kind of folks that know quality when they see it in a culinary knife and fairly well educated in general though they may not know the intricacies of steel like is being discussed here, they can be educated in a short course of the difference of carbon vs stainless steels and they have the bucks to buy what they like.

I also live right by the ocean and so do many of my clients and that can bring the maintenance factor on carbon up by quite a bit.

That's about right with my clientele. They know enough to know they want something better than mass produced, and won't necessarily remember the names of the steels, but they know they get a good match for what they want from a knife. :thumbup: They also like to get the 10+ progress shots along the way explaining the steps. Quite a few have reported that is their favorite part of the process.

 

[Frotier76]

In my opinion when I hear the word 'stainless' two thoughts come to mind...

1.You can put as much carbon in a stainless as you want but carbon doesn't play as big of a part in edge retention as people think.For example comparing 440C to 1095 Carbon Steel(I'd favor the 1095 cheaper,sharpens nicer,holds an edge longer).

2.Molybdenum-the key element to making a extremely wear resistant stainless steel.In 4.00% quantities? I'm very sold on BG-42,ATS-34/154CM.They're very ball-bearing/high friction grade steels as I'm surprised they aren't used in tooling applications.In my opinion a rust resistant steel should be drastically higher in moly versus carbon content to be the ideal in edge retention.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Tangelo, Valencia, Tangerine... Even Naval.

Doesn't matter because there's Watermelon.

They should name a fruit Vanadium. That would be one tasty apple/orange/melon.