From top to bottom :
From top to bottom :
This review consists of :
The Chicago Cutlery Chef's knife is a very inexpensive and basic offering. A few specifications :
This steel 420-J2 this steel is heavily maligned as a low grade stainless steel however properly hardened it will :
The initial sharpness was above average
it could slice newsprint well and could push cut a cm from the
point it was held it also shaved decently well.
Measuring
the sharpness on
Esprit baisting thread it scored 120 (5) grams.
Checking the edge under 50X magnification the edge is well unfinished
along most of the edge but there is a fairly rough spot in the middle
and a few other sections of the edge clearly show pieces breaking away.
This is not uncommon in a lot of knives with the as-boxed edge even more expensive ones however for the inexpensive ones it is very common because there simply isn't enough time allowed in the cost of the knife to :
With the initial sharpness the Chicago Cutlery Chef's knife had the ability to cut any food in the kitchen including ones which were very demanding to cut in regards to sharpness such as :
Cutting ability : The Chicago Cutlery Chef's knife has a very thin and acute edge with a full flat grind on flat stock. It also has a nice sweeping edge with a smooth curvature so there are no hangups on draw cuts and it also rocks nicely on a cutting board. In general the forces used to make the cuts is minimal but some increased force can be noticed when compared to a much thinner blade such as on the Farberware Chef's knife. Some notes illustrated in a table :
| Knife | Cut | Force (lbs) |
|---|---|---|
| Farberware Chef's | Half an onion (2.5") | 2 |
| Quarter an onion (2.5") | 1 | |
| Half an apple(3") | 6.5 | |
| Chicago Cutlery Chef's | Half an onion (2.5") | 3.5 |
| Quarter an onion (2.5") | 2 | |
| Half an apple(3") | 9.5 | |
| Cold Steel Bushman | Half an onion (2.5") | 3.5 |
| Quarter an onion (2.5") | 2 | |
| Half an apple(3") | 9.5 |
The much thinner blade on the Farberware shows its benefit and it can produce lower force cuts even though it has a significantly higher edge angle. This is because on really deep cuts on wedging material the blade body will experience a lot of the force of the cut and the thicker Chicago Cutlery requires more force to push through the foods. The Bushman was just included as a reference point for a rather thin out door type blade. Of course on materials such as meats, tomato's and other foods edge angle and especially sharpness can be more critical.
Wedging : This blade does have the complex geometries found on some knives which act to prevent wedging. It doesn't have the granton cut outs or the multi-faceted grinds commonly found on Japanese knives. However it does have a slightly thicker blade stock with a distal and full blade taper and thus it does not wedge as badly as a knife like the Farberware on very large potatoes, turnips and of course especially any of the sticky cheeses.
Point : The point is dropped which increases the width significantly which reduces ease of penetration significantly compared to a point which is in line with the spine. In fact the point is so dropped that it compared well to a Santoku. The main benefit of this is that it it gives the tip more of an upswept arc and it also makes it more controlable for cutting or scoring cuts directly on the cutting board.
Utility : This knife has a very thin blade and point and is not suitable for much in the way of utility work such as prying apart frozen foods. In fact the blade is so thin that it can even be flexed readily in hand and be given a permanent set. However for any cutting, even very thick foods, this lack of strength is not a problem.
The knife was put into action in the kitchen on December Jan. 8, 2012 and the following observations were made on the weeks of continuous use. It was the only knife used for personal food preperation unless it was completely not suitable for the work at hand and another knife had to be used. The following table describes the results :
| Week | comments |
|---|---|
| #1 - #4 | no significt loss of sharpness (newsprint) |
| #5 | light loss of sharpness noted1 |
| #8 | significant loss of sharpness noted2 |
| #10 | severeloss of sharpness noted3 |
| #12 | extremely blunt, trial stopped4 |
1 : After the fifth week :
2 : After the eight week :
3 : After the tenth week :
4 : After the twelfth week :
On Cardboard it performs as a Class I type steel as expected :
| # runs | Initial Sharpness | 15% | 10% | 5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 94+11(20) | 1.1-0.0(0.1) | 3.0-0.3(0.3) | 17- 1( 2) |
However there are a few concerns with the edge retention, while it would not be expected that the steel would be other than a Class I steel, the edge retention is a little lower than expected and compared to other 420J2 steels. A bit of information as to why this is so is given in the image in the right.
The image shows extensive rolling (the large white regions) but more interesting is that it also shows fracture (the chipping). This combination in general shows problematic thermal processing and likely means that the heat treatment of the steel was less than optimal and that it is likely that
After the twelve week cutting in the above the edge was steeled with a smooth hone from cKc knives. The edge was almost completely restored with just a few passes on the smooth hone showing there was very little wear in the three months of use. Push cuts on Esprit Baisting thread :
It went from about 25% of initial sharpness after the three months back up to 85% with a few passes on the smooth steel rod. A push through 3/8" hemp :
As this steel is both low carbide, no significant ultra-hard carbide and is fairly soft (the maximum hardness of 420J2 is 53/55 HRC) this knife is very easy to grind and therefore shape and bring the edge to an apex. However there are a few issues.
The image on the right shows the edge after it was shaped with a 700X Bester waterstone and then lightly polished (50 pps) with a SPS-II 3k waterstone. It shows the only problem with this knife in sharpening is that while it is easy to grind it will tend to form a prominent burr.
However, to be very clear this isn't an inherent problem with the steel, it is likely due to the same reasons that there are issues as described above with the edge retention. All this means is that after the edge is shaped it has to be carefully checked and burr minimization techniques used before the final edge finish it applied.
Comfort : The handle is squarish, the edges are broken but not fully rounded. The only significant issue with regards to comfort is that the spine and bolster are squarish which is not uncommon on such knives however personal preference is to have them all well rounded.
Security : The grip material does not have much traction, it is in fact very smooth. However it has a :
Durability : The handle durability is very high in regards to general kitchen use. It is very cut and abrasion resistant and thus takes only minor damage even when used harshly and thrown in a drawer so the handle is exposed to the edges of other knives. The grip is made out of a very hard polymer which had little tendency to absorb liquids the only noticeable weakness is that it isn't very resistant to extreme heat. In immediate exposure to open flame (lighter) it will start to melt in a few seconds and then ignite after 10 seconds.
Cleanup : As shown in the video in the above the handle is very easy to clean even if covered in grease and oils.
As this knife has a :
A number of modifications were made to optimize the performance :
With the above modification, aesthetics aside, the performance is comparable in most aspects to very high end knives aside from the ease of sharpening and edge retention of the steel.
Summary :
Comments can be emailed to YouTube Playlist or discussion thread :
Most of the pictures in the above are in the Chicago Cutlery Chef's knife
album at PhotoBucket.
| Last updated : | 28/02/2013 |
| Originally written: | 11:29:2011 |