Which Knife is your Best in Terms of Cutting Performance Alone?

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Coonskinner

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Disregarding all the other characteristics we evaluate knives by, which knife is your best cutter?

I don't mean x-acto knives, box cutters, etc. I mean production or customs.

For me, it would have to be my Calypso Jr. and Schrade-Walden Stockman for folders, and my Marbles Fieldcraft and a Lee Reeves Custom in fixed blades.

What do you have that cuts like Blazes?
 
Of the knives that I own, the Victorinox paring knives are the best cutters due to their thin (0.048-9") blades.
Others that come to mind are the Spyderco Moran and Calypso Jr., along with assorted SAKs.
 
Ethan Becker had some Murray Carter kitchen knives that were the best cutting knives I had ever seen. Unbelievably good slicers.
 
Large Classic Sebenza in S30V steel. Have a couple oflarge Obernaufs
in D2 steel that cut like crazy also!
 
The best cutter in the small number on knives I own is a Benchmade 710 M2 steel. Recurve blade.

Akwack
 
For long lasting edge holding it's pretty close between my Ed Fowler Pronhorn and my Carson M4 in Stellite. I've got a couple in Talonite, (CUDA EDC and Mini-Talon) that I never have given a full workout, but I have no doubt they will perform. Probably the knives that get used the most are my kitchen knives, two by PJ Tomes, which are a pleasure to use and a stag handled carving knife from Geo. Wosentholm & Sons from the 1930's. This knife was a gift in a set from James Day, it had seen some hard use and shows signs of it's age, but I'm always amazed at the keen edge it takes. It makes carving any holiday meal a joy.
 
The best in terms of cutting performance it has to be the Spyderco Calypso both large and small.Do to the fact that they are both flat ground and of VG-10 steel. Why Spyderco ever discontinued them is beyond me.:)
 
Gerber Silver Knight this baby was born to slice, hollow ground blade, superthin, takes a scary edge, and holds it very easy, also my Queen serpintine jack.
 
I have an ATS55 delica, that I flat ground and sharpened with almost no edge bevel. Its a slicer :) Edge tends to roll with even remotely tough cutting, but its great for showing off with on paper tricks and stuff.

Fixed blade is tough I have several carving knives that have small extra thin, extra hard blades, that take a really wicked edge. For a full sized fixed blade, I have a drop point hunter (3.5" blade,8" OAL) that I made, full flat grind ATS34 heat treated and cryo treated by texas knifemakers supply, thats pretty awesome (cutting, not necessarily the best looking ;) ). Does the free hanging rope tricks and stuff AND holds an edge.
 
Ed Caffrey Progression II folder. 3/32" at the spine, distal taper, flat ground to a fine convexed edge and super sharp. Cuts like a laser!

Terry Primos drop point hunter with the same config except a little thicker and in 1084. Doesn't give up much to the Caffrey.
 
My Dozier Straight Utility has a very thin grind, and cuts like crazy on stuff such as cardboard and carpeting. Bob's D2 also cuts for a long, long time before sharpening is needed. I’d put my PCKS BG-42 Buck 110 right up there with the Dozier in terms of cutting efficiency. It doesn’t hold its edge as long as Dozier D2, but is still pretty good. My BG-42 Sebenza runs in about the same league of cutting efficiency as the Buck 110. It doesn’t hold an edge like the Dozier, but longer than the Buck. Thin hollow grinds make awesome utility knives.

I like to use convex grinds for outdoor work. They whittle wood very well, and are a bit more durable than hollow grinds. My Blackjack Small and Marbles Trailcraft both have thin convex grinds and cut like there’s no tomorrow.

I don’t normally do flat grinds, as I don’t generally like the sharpening drawbacks. I don’t like the way that the blade thickness behind the edge bevel thickens with repeated sharpening. But I do have a couple that are quite exceptional. The BM 710HS came with a very good flat grind from the factory. It’s a good slicer. The Camillus EDC also cuts quite well, especially the talonite version. Talonite is some amazing stuff, adding its own unusual properties to the mix.

I will note that I’ve managed to chip all of these blades, at one time or another. That’s the price you pay for a thin edge. Such is life.

Oh yah. I’ve got numerous slipjoints that possess awesome cutting efficiency, just because they tend to have thinner blades. The Buck Cadet, Robeson wharncliffe whittler, and any of my SAKs are sensational slicers.

The famed Opinel is also an awesome cutter.
 
Most likely my Mayo skinner in 440v (S90v).

Almost a flat grind and 440v takes and holds an awesome edge :)
 
Pure cutting performance?
1.Frost's Mora 4" Carbon steel blade

2.Dozier...just pick something:D

3.Virtually anything from Spyderco with a full height flat ground blade in VG-10.

There are others of course, but, who cares?
 
The sharpest production knives I have are a couple of DeltaZ’s. Got a couple of fixed blades and folders that are screaming sharp out of the box. They cut through that double ply corrugated boxes like it was made of hot butter. The wife uses them to open and break down boxes. She has RA so she can’t put too much force into it.

The sharpest custom I have is by a local Georgia Journeyman ‘Smith. His mark is King’s Edge. It’s a high carbon Damascus drop-point. Used it to skin and quarter two deer and it would still shave.
 
Coonskinner :

Disregarding all the other characteristics we evaluate knives by, which knife is your best cutter?

I don't mean x-acto knives, box cutters, etc. I mean production or customs.
Click to expand...


Box cutters are not actually that high when it comes to cutting ability in a limiting sense. While the steel thickness is decent, the primary grind is not optimal (as it is nonexistant) and the edge is several times more obtuse than necessary for most light cutting (foods, fabrics etc.) . I have several blades which will out cut such knives.

The most efficient cutter I have right now is a 3/32" thick D2 blade with a full convex grind with no secondary edge bevel, the edge is just a couple of degrees off the primary in the last mm or so. The most efficient cutter for most light work is a full flat grind with a strong hollow relief. The blade is layed flat to the spine on the stone and sharpened like a straight razor.

For flesh and other light materials you can go much thinner than production knives, about 10 times or so I would imagine. Consider a knife which is less than 0.01" thick more than a quarter inch back from the edge.


For unmodified blades, David Boye, Phil Wilson, Ed Schott, A.G. Russell knives jump to mind as having cutting ability which is many times to over over the better production blades like the Spyderco Calypso Jr. . The ABS guys forge some outstanding knives in this regard as well. Most puukkos and Japanese knives are very high as well, much more so than the average western knives.


-Cliff
 
Cliff you are being bias again.
 
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