Hand made knives

[Jake]

I know we've got a few knife and blade aficionados around here, but I haven't seen any mention of Cut Brooklyn yet. What a great looking shop & set of knives. I don't own any but would love to visit his shop & check some of them out first hand. He is part of the made by hand group & those videos are also pretty inspiring. Hope you let us know if you end up with one of these excellent knives.

[DS/B MCS]

I've never heard of this maker. It's pretty nice looking stuff, but there are lots of other options in his price range.

[Jim]

The knife forums have been talking about Cut Brooklyn for a while- The maker Joel is pretty much self taught. At the end of the day the most optimistic description of these knives would be one of "Mid tech" manufacture. There is no forging, rather they are cut out of sheet steel, sent to the maker, are ground, then sent out for heat treatment, sent back,then synthetic handles are applied. The knives are basically flat ground, and are a somewhat hybrid in profile to the western/European/Japenese style.

They get a lot of buzz from chefs who are upgrading from crappy European style knives. I have used an early one briefly and hated it.

[eastomjac]

now this is a knife,i own several of them in different styles.
http://www.coldsteel.com/

[Jake]

The knife forums have been talking about Cut Brooklyn for a while- The maker Joel is pretty much self taught. At the end of the day the most optimistic description of these knives would be one of "Mid tech" manufacture. There is no forging, rather they are cut out of sheet steel, sent to the maker, are ground, then sent out for heat treatment, sent back,then synthetic handles are applied. The knives are basically flat ground, and are a somewhat hybrid in profile to the western/European/Japenese style.

They get a lot of buzz from chefs who are upgrading from crappy European style knives. I have used an early one briefly and hated it.

Thanks for the update & further information Jim. Interesting that he is doing so well in spite of his quality -- I guess it does say quite a bit for the allure developed by his video and other promotional materials. I was impressed by the presentation & never having seen the knives couldn't really decide. But it is interesting how little is discussed on his site about the actual manufacturing of his blades. Thanks for clarifying this and for your comments about your personal experience with his knives.

[jwhite]

I would like to add that getting steel from another source and outsourcing heat treat is not indicative of quality. If his knives do not perform as well as one would expect from a hand made knife than it is down to steel choice, design, bevel angles, choice in handle material etc. The process certainly qualifies the man as a custom knife-maker and that same process can produce excellent knives, if his are not look to the player not the instrument.

[Jim]

I would like to add that getting steel from another source and outsourcing heat treat is not indicative of quality. If his knives do not perform as well as one would expect from a hand made knife than it is down to steel choice, design, bevel angles, choice in handle material etc. The process certainly qualifies the man as a custom knife-maker and that same process can produce excellent knives, if his are not look to the player not the instrument.

Oh quite right, James. Generally and most certainly arguably "custom knife/handmade knife" can mean many things. My point from the view of a knife lover is that some of Cut Brooklyn "hype" does not stand up to the scrutiny that some other makes would use in their self descriptions of their own work. Handmade can mean anything short of a robot doing the work. In the custom knife community many makers would call this a "mid tech" knife as they did not forge the blade. As an example Devin Thomas makes his own damascus and then forges it into knives, heat treats it in shop, finishes it and makes the handles, no one would argue that this example is a handmade knife. Devin also makes a line of knives that start as sheet steel and he follows through the same steps, he calls this a Mid tech because he did not forge the blade to shape. At the end of the day both knives will work wonderfully because they where created with care and thoughtful design.

[Hammertime1]

I will give a word of caution to anyone looking for custom or hand made knives. There are a lot of unscrupulous people marketing using the words custom or hand made. The worst are buying $5.00 Pak 440 blanks or finished knives an marketing them as hand made and steels other then 440. several custom makers got called out on bladeforums about 3 plus yrs ago.
It was at this time I was in fact looking for a custom folder and fixed blade. Most of the makers I looked at had absolute beautifuly looking work well over the $400. price tag using

words like hand made, custom forgings, special heat treatments, one of a kind, etc.
I was just about to put a down payment on a folder when the first guy got busted. I started looking up knife making suppliers and getting their catalogs to try and better educate myself. I was trusting other people's words that custom makers were reputable and decided considering the cost I better do more then trust strangers. Turns out not only was the one of a kind custom I wanted not hand forged the blade was a preground kit! You pick the parts, the little intricate details parts kits (all pre made made just glue, screw rivet and finish handle) again a beautiful knife but at a kit price of well under $100.00 and that it wasn't really a one of a kind that eas being promised or requiring several hundreds of hours to make as deacribed. About 30 minutes of time to put together at most. It was very disapoinitng experience.
There are still a lot of guys who market this way and actually do very little other then assemble pre made knife kits which are sold as custom and have no problem charging the same price as a true custom or even semi custom manufacture. I have no problem with some selling them as long as they are honest about what they are selling. It seems like the other trick is to Initally be upfront about eveything and as time go by allow people to mislead themselves and spread the misinformation and the maker who never bothers to correct it but allows his prices to sharply increase about same time. The times that I aw it were blatant it was like they were being cirpitic and if it got pointed out hey it's misleading and you don't have anything about it on your web page they would point to some knife forum where they explained they were kits etc 10 years earlier.
I just found a knife blade supplier that sells 01 blanks at $10.00, I wouldn't have realized even it was that cheap.
In know way an I referring to who this post is about, because I have never looked into his knifes or process.
I just want to make sure that people understand there is a whole grey area when it comes to semi and custom knives as well as fraudulent makers in the industry. Just because it says custom or semi custom it may not have the meaning
one thinks.

[Mack The Knife]

I have one home made knife from a old timer who sold them at several gun/knife shows. He is passed on now, and Im glad I got it from him.
Tho its made from D6 tool steel, and has an elk horn handle, and a cats eye for a pummel.
It does what I asked for, spits hip and shoulder sockets apart on elk and moose.
Its thick, sharp, and you can pry for days with it, without worrying about tip breakage.

My wife takes it to the kitchen when she has bones to cut.