The KX06 utility knife is an evolution of the K04 utility kitchen knife. From the Spyderco website a note on the alteration of the design with respect to the K04 :
We made a few changes to the blade which includes a wider tip. We have found over the years that tip breakage was more common than we like and so by making the tip a little wider we believe that this will solve that problem. There was also an area at the heel, just before the handle, that was considered a little too sharp and so this area has been rounded and extended to make it more comfortable and more user friendly. The handle on the knife was made in two colors to be able to tell the plain edge from the serrated edge. The serrated edge version is using a black ebony handle and the plain edge has a birch handle. They are more comfortable and more user friendly than the plastic handled version. The steel is the same MBS26 that we have been using for the past 20+ years. We have found it to be the absolute best performing kitchen knife steel on the market today.
A few specifications :
Initial impressions : The initial sharpness is high however there are a few issues with fit and finish. The tang and pins are not perfectly flush with the grip and The edge grind is slightly uneven from one side of the blade to the other.
The KX06 utility knife was extremely sharp new as boxed NIB
Checking the sharpness on light thread and poly :
This is among the sharpest blades seen. The high sharpness and thin grind produced very strong cutting performance. A quick few checks on 3/8" hemp :
The point on the KX06 is quite slender given the slim stock and taper, it sinks very well into a phone book on a push and reachs 302 (20) pages with a 50 lbs load. The blade flexes significantly though so care had to be taken when applying the force and the off hand had to be used to support the blade.
For perspective on the stock testing here is some info on the ability of the plain edge KX06 compared to a Japanese utility :
| Model | Sharpness | manilla hemp | phonebook | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thread | poly | push | slice | ||
| grams | cm | pounds | pages | ||
| KX06 | 90 +/- 10 | 0.5 +/- 0.1 | 18-22 | 16-18 | 302 +/- 20 |
| Japanese Utility | 118 +/- 10 | 0.45 +/- 0.04 | 17-24 | 13-15 | 304 +/- 14 |
As noted the KX06 had a slight lead in initial sharpness and matched the very high level of cutting ability of the Japanese blade. Note in regards to these two knives while having a similar designation in that both are called utility knives, the Japanese one is more of a small chef's knife, and the Spyderco pattern more of a general western utility knife. Other comparisons can be made by comparing the results with reviews of other knives.
This is a semi-standard utility knife pattern with a more rounded tip for better durability, designed to handle most cutting in between a paring and chef's knife. The RX06 also has a small guard to aid in keeping fingers off the very sharp edge. Due to the thin stock and thin and acute edge bevel, the RX06's cut very well, and could make thin slices requiring little force. They were also light in hand and thus had very low fatigue rates.
Getting specific, the KX06 on a medium sized onion, took between 2-5 lbs to make a cut and with the Japanese utility knife about 0.5-1 lbs less. On smaller vegetables, such as on the end of a carrot, the forces were much closer together with the Japapense knife having a barely detectable reduction in force of 0.25-0.5 lbs, at the point were it became difficult to tell them apart by feel. The same level of performance was noted in general when both knives were used in the kitchen. The only significant difference was Japanese knife seemed to stick to foods less, only readily noticed on potatos, probably due to the hollow relief grinds.
Overall, these knives have similar but different roles, the Japanese utility works best as a small chef's knife, chopping vegetable and fruits, ideally suited to work on a cutting board with the dropped blade profile. The KX06 does this also, but is more versatile in general as it can also readily carve meats, peel potatoes, etc. and thus is more versatile in general .
The KX06 is also far stiffer as it is fully hardened, and can easily handle work like removing the eyes from a potato, or slicing a thick turnip which could bend the Japanese knife unless care is taken. The edge on the KX06 is also more robust and can handle cutting which would damage the Japanese knife such as cutting frozen ground beef or chicken breasts, or using the tip to break up frozen berries.
Regarding the curvature of the tip, its benefit was noticed readily during some caplin cleaning (a small fish, four to six inches in length). Through cleaning more than five hundred of the small fish, the tip profile of the KX06 allowed it to readily zip open the caplin by running the top of the point along the spine. The Japapense utility blade has a more pointed tip and thus would more readily dig into the spine.
The grip fills the hand well being comfortable and secure in extended use. Even when the handle was covered in grease there was no problem maintaining a secure grip for routine kitchen work.
MBS-26 is a stainless steel, nominal composition :
It is similar to 9Cr13MoV, 19C27, CTS-BD1 and AUS-8 in terms of material properties. An interesting perspective is gained in comparing how Sandvik describes such a steel (19C27) as they describe it as a coarse and high carbide steel suitable for cutting rope and other abrasive material. However in a modern cutlery industry where VG-10 is considered "entry level" and is filled with steels like S110V and k390, MBS-26 is likely to be found by many as being a rather low carbide, easy to grind stainless.
As a curious point of comparison it was checked for edge retention alongside a Tomodachi paring knife which is a very inexpensive kitchen knife. The basic method :
The TCE results (average of three rounds) :
In short, the Spyderco had slightly more than 5X the edge retention. This is to be expected and consistent with other cardboard and rope cutting showing the general advantage of a likely significant increase in hardness and the larger amount of primary carbides.
Interestingly enough, the first run with the Tomodachi showed significantly problems in durability, the blade chipped not only in the apex but deep enough to penetrated beyond the micro-bevel and into the edge bevel itself. This isn't uncommon in inexpensive knives as they are used very hard and this often fatigues the steel due to constantly impaction. Note the difference in behavior in the edge after the second and third round. There is still some minor fracture but it is constrained to just the apex itself and does not extend into the edge bevel itself.
This is one of the main reasons why when a really heavily used knife is sharpened initially the performance often keeps increasing for awhile when it is sharpened. This builtup fatigued metal at the edge takes some time to remove and get back to quality steel. The difference will also be seen in how the apex forms as fatigued metal tends to easily form a large and fragmented/floppy burr. For old knives which are heavily used, it often benefits to cut the edge back a little before sharpening to ensure quality performance.
The Spyderco Utility of course is sharpened on a regular basis and thus there is no build up of fatigued metal on the edge and in the cardboard runs it just worn smooth, no significant impaction or chipping.
The KX06 is of high quality and performs very well for its intended function. There were no significant problems with fit or finish, very high NIB sharpness, and it cut very well while being comfortable and secure in hand. The edge retention was high for a kitchen knife, and the edge remained free of corrosion even when left wet for extended periods of time.
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| Last updated : | 26/04/2015 |
| Originally written : | 04 : 07 : 2005 |