Anyone else collect knives?

BlackTalon

Not a pocket knife collector, but I have a one or two dozen kitchen knives (okay, maybe or threee or four dozen 😗 ) The pocket/ neck knives I have are a couple from Randy Haas and one from Case with damascus made by Devin Thomas. Need to dig up pics...

(couple pics added) Here is the folder from Randy Haas (HHH):

Here is the Case with Devin Thomas's Damascus (spells out Case in the pattern):

And here is a pic of most of the chef knives/ gyutos, with a couple pettys thrown in:

wagudc

Does the Bob Kramer Chef deserve all the hype it gets?

BlackTalon

No more so than a Snoopy vs a reqular Speedmaster. When compared to other carbon steel knives from other japanese and western makers it is in the in the upper third of what I own/ have tried, but with that being said the overall level of kitchen knives by custom makers has improved tremendously over the last 5 or so years. Bob Kramer has some distinctive features he builds into his knives based on his years working in a pro kitchen, such as the very high heel so the blade has a large triangular area for better 'board scraper' ability. And his grind keeps that large surface area from sticking, which is not an easy thing to do. The distal taper is also pretty decent, resulting in a thin, useful tip.

The reality is he spearheaded custom kitchen knife making here in the US, and getting some press showing how his knives were superior cutters to the typical mass market knives launched him into the spotlight. His knives were inexpensive back then, and he struggled to make a living. After demand skyrocketed he worked his tail off, but unfortunately his knives got too expensive for the pro cooks who had been his target demographic. He really started to shine with his damascus work, and getting a damascus knife from him became very difficult, resulting initially in 2 year waits, and then a lottery system.

Today there are dozens of custom kitchen knife makers in the US that can make livings due to the groundwork done by Kramer. And his damascus work keeps getting better.

There is something to having a knife he forged, ground and handled. A Speedmaster owned by an astronaut does not work any better than another Speedmaster, yet it sells for a heck of a premium.

My Kramer was obtained used at a very resonable price, and Kramer rehandled it for me. It's value is not any more than some of the top custom Japanese makers charge for their carbon steel knives. If it was damascus it would sell at least 4xs that amount if auctioned off on eBay, even though it would not perform any better.

Long-winded way of saying it's a pretty good knife, even if not in the top 1% of what is being produced by custom makers today. And it more than holds its own against Burkes, Raders, etc.

BlackTalon

Having a budget for kitchen knives is like having a budget for watches... 😁

watches blow away what I spent building my kitchen knife collection. These days I cherry pick, and only add about two knives per year. Okay, maybe 3-4. But I actually sold two knives the past year -- my first sales ever.

kcgunner

I've collected about 75 pocket knives. Mainly Benchmade, Spyderco and Rick Hinderer. I got into sharpening a few years ago with a wicked edge system. Very relaxing at times.

STANDY

In daylight