woensdag 4 juni 2014

What's the best.....?(knife, steel, handle material, brand etc etc etc)

As a Knife maker, Collector  and all around enthusiast I tend to do a lot of reading about knives. Most of my reading takes place on the internet, specifically on the various knife forums and communities that I frequent.

One of the most asked questions that I see generally runs along the lines of: What's the best.... followed by a
Because we all know Daniel San is the best....also
you might want to listen to the song that's now stuck in your head.
...you're welcome.
specific part or construction method or maybe a brand or something.

Sometimes the questions vary a little as in they'll ask...: I have $XX.XX...what's the best knife I can get for that?

I have to admit I've even asked the question myself once. Purely for inspirational purpose on what to buy with all my hard earned pennies. And that's fine I think. We all need a little inspiration every now and then (even though I'd never ask that question that way anymore).

Why would I never ask that anymore though? Don't we all want to know what the best of something is? Offcourse we do! Don't we deserve the very best that our money can buy? (I feel we do). So why NOT ask that question?

Well, because the question isn't complete. Let's take that question and put it in a setting that more people have something in common with. Let's take cars for instance.
Allthough let's be honest...this is clearly the best car EVER!
I mean nothing offroads like this beast!
Let's say you ask someone: "What is the best car ever produced so far?"
You could ask 100 people that question and possibly come up with 100 different answers. I typed it into google and the results I got were mostly, "Best sold cars ever" in which case the best car ever according to Wikipedia it's probably the Toyota Corolla. (Funnily enough the above shown Ford-T ranks pretty darn high as well)

But is the Toyota Corolla really the best car? Can it beat a landrover when it comes to going offroad? Or a Ferrari when it comes to high speeds? Can it fit a lot of people and travel comfortably like a volkswagen hippy van? Or keep on going and being easily repaired like the common army Jeep?

I'm pretty sure the answer to all of those questions is a wholehearted NO.

I'm popupar because I think thumbs up
is still considered cool (I really do)
So we see that the most popular doesn't mean it's the best at something. You see, you can't just say "The
best". Because that question should ALWAYS be followed up by the counter question: "At what?".

So now we're getting somewhere. Now we can start asking direct questions. Like:
What's the best value for money? What's the best steel for low maintenance? What's the best design for skinning? What's the best brand for kitchen knives with long periods in between sharpening?

If we ask questions we need to share with the person we're asking them where the question is going. Are you an avid outdoorsman who's spening 30% of his time in the woods/forrests? Maybe the best knife you should buy might be a little more spendy than for someone who only goes camping 3 days a year (two of those on a campsite with electricity).

A proffessional if I ever saw one.
Are you a proffessional chef? Maybe spending a little more on a good chefs knife might shave a few minutes off prep time in the kitchen for dishes and in the long haul will make your kitchen more efficient.

Are you a hobby chef? Maybe "efficient" isn't that important to you, but maybe you'd love something that just LOOKS good?

Do you do a lot of woodchopping? Maybe you'd like a shock reistant steel in your knife like CPM3V. On the other hand if you'd prefer something that works well in a wet enviroment and keeping it sharp is not much of a priority then 420J might be plenty good for you.

Want something budget friendly? Get something made in china with 8Cr13Mov steel and you'll only spend up to $20 or so. The performance won't be up to par with more expensive blades often. But for a lot of people it'll be just fine.

On the other hand if you want someting unique that'll work really well you'll have to spend a little more.

I've had some customers come to me and ask me: "What's your best knife?" To which I'd have to reply......I don't know. What do you want to do with it? (Because I'd love to make you one)


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