Sabol Brothers gyuto's

[kwakster]

Currently waiting for 2 custom 210 mm gyuto's from the Sabol Brothers in Slovakia, below are some early pics they sent me.
One will have a deep cryo Elmax blade @ +/- 62 HRC, +/- 25 degrees inclusive edge, +/- 0.2 mm behind the edge.
The other will have a deep cryo K390 blade @ +/- 64 HRC, +/- 25 degrees inclusive edge, +/- 0.2 mm behind the edge
The handles on both will be octagonal shaped black linen Micarta with a color accent.

[kwakster]

Both blades are now ready to be fixed to the handles, have their edges sharpened, and the Elmax version will also receive it's maker mark.
Shipping from Slovakia to my address is to be expected later this week.

[kwakster]

While waiting for my own gyuto's i found this recently made clip from the Amy Learns To Cook channel, showing a woman's view on 3 different Sabol Brothers kitchen knives in N690 steel.

https://hooktube.com/watch?v=miUl1L5SkO4

[Etherealicer]

those are gorgeous...

[zoidberg]

those are gorgeous...

      

[Barry Rowland]

 

[Gerhard Gerber]

 

[kwakster]

The knives were delivered this afternoon, and these are the first pictures.
More detailed ones will follow later.
The N690 kiridashi knife @ 61-62 HRC was a present because the brothers thought that after payment i had to wait a bit longer than usual for the knives to be sent, even though the reason for the delay was that they had been ill.
If that isn't a great gesture than i don't know what is, 

[kwakster]

Took a quick comparison pic of the Sabol Brothers gyuto's together with 2 freshly sharpened Japanese gyuto's which are in use with 2 Dutch professional Chefs.
The top knife is a Takamura 210 mm gyuto in R2/SG2 steel, and below it is a Kotetsu 210 mm Type III gyuto, also in R2/SG2 steel.



Both Japanese gyuto's were picked up this morning by the owner of the Takamura, which also gave him the opportunity to handle the Sabol Brothers knives.
He was quite impressed, and being a large individual with bigger hands himself he specifically liked the larger overall size of the knives, the height of the blades, the extreme thinness behind the edges, the rounding of the back of the blade and the rounding & polishing of the back of the heel.

[kwakster]

Specs:

Max blade thickness (ricasso): 2.58 mm
Max blade height (at the heel): 4.9 cm
Thickness behind edge: 0.23 mm (heel area), 0.20 mm (midsection), 029 mm (point area)
Blade length from handle to point: 22.4 cm
Blade length from heel to point: 20.9 cm
Handle length: 14.6 cm
Weight: 194 grams

More info on Elmax steel: http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/se/elmax.shtml

[kwakster]

Specs:

Max blade thickness (ricasso): 2.83 mm
Max blade height (at the heel): 4.9 cm
Approximate thickness behind edge: 0.16 mm (heel area), 0.20 mm (midsection), 0.22 mm (point area)
Blade length from handle to point: 22.5 cm
Blade length from heel to point: 20.9 cm
Handle length: 14.8 cm
Weight: 204 grams

More info about K390 steel: https://www.bohler-edelstahl.com/en/K390PM.php

[kwakster]

There was a bit of a hick-up regarding the knives.
After unwrapping the very well packaged parcel, then the individually wrapped knives in their black wooden saya's, and then removing these to inspect the blades, both edges reflected some light on the straight part of the blades, meaning they were a bit blunt in that area (the Elmax version somewhat more than the K390)
When i contacted the Sabol brothers about this i told them that i figured that maybe the package might have been handled a bit rough during shipping.
They doubted that idea because of the careful & thorough packaging, and proceded with doing some tests in their workshop.
What they found was that the glue they had used for making my saya's contained tiny abrasive particles, enough to blunt both full hard Elmax and K390 steel to a degree.
The brothers then made & tested 2 new saya's using another type of glue and sent these out to my address.

This afternoon i resharpened both edges (just stropping on hard cardboard with 1.0 micron mono-diamond paste didn't work) on a Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound and removed the tiny burrs with a second Paper Wheel coated with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
Both edges can now whittle a chesthair from hair-root to hair-tip at 4 to 5 centimeters from the point of holding.

Both freshly resharpened knives in their new saya's, with the old ones below:

[Gerhard Gerber]

 
So what you're telling me is if I make kitchen knives I still need to make sheaths?
 

[kwakster]

The Sabol Brothers obviously think so, and for the market they aim for (pro's & afi's) it could indeed be both a nice and useful incentive.

But it doesn't need to be handmade like they offer.
My old Cold Steel K7 serrated knife already came with a blade protector, a cheap but very effective piece of flattened black plastic tube that slides over the blade, and which over the years has proven to be very effective.
It seems that you can buy this flattened plastic tube on large rolls and simply cut off the length you need.