THK Custom Kitchen Knife

cbwoods67

cbwoods67

Joined
Oct 12, 2010
Messages
8,189
A while ago, I sent James this photo of a kitchen knife I drew up (the bottom one), asking if he would be interested in making it for me.

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No problemo, says he. So the anxious wait began.

Well last week it finally arrived, I couldn't be happier.

After having nothing more than a photo of a drawing and a couple ballpark measurements, he hit it out of park.:thumbup:

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After a little bit of experience with the steel in other knives, I asked him to make it out of Elmax.

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mmmmm......Elmax :D

James rounded the spine on this one. Pretty tricky to photograph, but is is a very nice touch.

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I decided on black canvas micarta for the handle material. The contouring on it is simple yet sublime, and extremely conducive to the pinch grip that I find myself using on basically every kitchen I use. Can't find a single hotspot on the entire knife. Extremely comfortable handle.

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This picture shows a couple things. The obvious one is that this knife has a beautiful hand sanded satin finish. Hopefully that wasn't too much of PITA to do, it is a small detail that really reminds me that this blade is hand made.:thumbup:

Secondly, it shows the subtle belly that is so important and helpful with cutting those vicious vegetables.:D

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This is the first cut I ever made with this knife. Thin grind and a great edge left an extremely clean cut on the paper. I use printer paper to see how clean my edges are and listen to the change in crispness as I progress through the various grits, up to stropping. I can honestly say that this was as clean a cut as any of the ones I have made. Very sharp.
James, did you mic behind the edge before you sent it out? I am curious to know just how thin you ground this. This feels like the thinnest knife I own.

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I took one swipe at a patch of arm air, and it left me with a bald spot.:D

Great job on this edge and the entire knife, James.

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One day James told me about an idea to make a protective leather sleeve for my knife. Rather than try to remember what he said, I will just quote him from another thread..

... one thing I started doing differently on this project was to line/coat the inside of the leather cover with clear poly after dying it, to help it shed water (along with the drain hole) if it's ever put away wet. The sheath overall is finished normally with neetsfoot oil and gum tragacanth so it can still breathe.
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Great job on the sheath as well, James or Mrs. Terrio as the case may be. Nice even stitching, and good retention.:thumbup:

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This is just my first THK of many to come.

For anybody considering putting in an order with James, do not hesitate, they are well worth the wait.


Thank you for a great knife, James!
 
I'm very pleased that you like it!

Pinch grip is where it's at for a lot of kitchen task :thumbup: I try to make kitchen knife handles so they're mostly just not in the way, but you can hold them comfortably in the "normal" position as well.

I won't swear to it but as I recall, the edge was a tad under .010" before sharpening. Thin grinds help the blade cut easier, and it really only requires a microbevel to get sharp... that makes touch-up sharpening easier, too.
 
Sweet blade man, congrats. Nice work James. :thumbup:
 
Thanks guys!

James, I agree. Thin grinds are a breeze to sharpen/ touch up. I doubt I will have to do that very often on this knife, though.:D
 
Very nice. I better show this one to SWMBO. I'm betting she needs something similar.
 
Just thought I would update this thread with a few pictures documenting a meal made easy with my THK.

First, start with bacon.:D

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Try not to eat all of the bacon.

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Toss a couple chicken breasts in the bacon grease.

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While the chicken is cooking, it is time to turn these veggies into smaller pieces. I used a couple roma tomatoes, half a green pepper, and cucumbers all from my grandparent's garden, in addition I cut up about a quarter of a red onion.

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If I had more time and less drink, I could easily peel all of these cucumbers like this...

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But, I took the way of less coordination and elected to use a peeler.:D

However, before peeling them, I like to hold them with one hand and pop off the ends with a good knife to check for bitterness. This knife is ground so thin, that if a person catches the correct angle and sufficient speed, in hand cuts make a satisfying "ping". May seem minor, but I like a lot.

Anyway, it did a fine job of chopping up the produce. I didn't feel like wiping my hands off after every veggie to take pictures, so my apologies for that.

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As it turns out, with a good knife, a half drunk redneck and can make some pretty fancy slices.

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By now, the chicken is done, and after letting it rest for a few minutes, it turned into this.

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One thing of note with the above photo is how cleanly the warm chicken was cut..

Not sure how it will turn out, but I sprinkled some Lawry's seasoned salt on the chicken and am going to let it set in the fridge overnight before mixing it in with the salad.
Other than the veggies and bacon posted earlier, I decided to throw in some green olives and a splash of apple cider vinegar.

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We shall see tomorrow how it all turns out!


As a little summary, I am still immensely happy with this knife and confident in saying that James does fantastic work. This knife has made many meals in the months that I have had it, and I have only touched it up once. Not that it needed it, I was just tired of not having to sharpen it.:D

It keeps getting more intuitive in the hand and I really can't get enough of this kitchen knife.

Thanks again for a fantastic knife, JT.:thumbup:
 
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nice pics.
for the salad, instead of cider vinegar, try Balsamic sometime -- it's kind of a sweet red wine vinegar and goes REALLY well with onion & olives.
(or when stir frying mushrooms, carrots, and yellow squash)
 
muahahahaha!!!
"my" kitchen knife finally arrived!
comfy in hand, well balanced, and despite spending the past 4 months travelling the country on passaround, still sharp enough to finely slice up a hatch chili pepper for the curry I had for dinner tonight.
no pics yet.
 
Awesome!

Someday we will have to get together and do a little comparison of our THK kitchen knives!
 
1066vik said:
muahahahaha!!!
"my" kitchen knife finally arrived!
comfy in hand, well balanced, and despite spending the past 4 months travelling the country on passaround, still sharp enough to finely slice up a hatch chili pepper for the curry I had for dinner tonight.
no pics yet.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you finally have it. Thank you for your patience!

cbwoods67 said:
Someday we will have to get together and do a little comparison of our THK kitchen knives!
Click to expand...

I'd be very interested to see that. Should it come to pass, perhaps I should provide the latest version for y'all to compare along with them... ;)
 
1066vik said:
you could bring it to Ethan's next week.......
:D
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I'm pretty sure I would get along with you loonies just fine.:D

One of these days I will make it to a Becker gathering. For the time being, I have very limited time off work and plan to use it to fill the freezer.
 
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