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This is a benchmark large-scale research by knife users all over the world to separate the truth from marketing hypes.
We are not comparing knife steels or heat treatment protocols, we are testing the knife maker philosophy behind the cutting edge in each knife category. How knife-making companies design their blade for a function reflects in its performance.
PROCESS
We contract CATRA to do the testing. Testing done by CATRA themselves gives unbiased results.
We could do the CATRA testing ourselves, but these results will draw adverse criticism. Testing must be done by an independent party - that is why we contract CATRA. Everyone can dispute results that we obtain, but no one can dispute results obtained by CATRA themeslves.
Testing is performed on the CATRA Knife Sharpness and Life Tester by ISO 8442.5
In testing kitchen knives, 2 staple Chef's knives of a given brand are tested for the Knife Life TCC, the numbers are averaged and put in the report. Where a maker produces several lines of knives, each line is tested.
The CATRA TCC is recognized as a trusted indicator of the overall knife cutting performance and edge durability/retention. The TCC does not depend on how the blade was sharpened - it depends on the steel, heat treatment and the edge geometry.
We also record the ICP (Initial Cutting Performance) number. The ICP depends on sharpening methods and is extremely sensitive when measuring the cutting edge "softening" created by overheating the edge by aggressive dry power sharpening techniques.
We test the factory edge "out of the box". A knife with bad ICP does not hold the edge, and you will have to manually re-sharpen it 4-6 times before you get rid of the steel damaged by the factory grinding.
By comparing the test results we get an objective ranking of knife brands.
Our study will honour knife making companies who really strive for the knife performance.
We will honestly name those who use the best steel for the function, heat treat it the right way, design the blade and cutting edge geometry for the optimal performance, and sharpen properly.
In testing butcher knives, we test boning knives of the brands used in the meat industry, including but not limited to: Victorinox, SWIBO, Giesser, F.Dick, Dexter Russell.
PUBLISHING
The Australian Knife Magazine follows the progress of the project.
Knife Grinders publishes the results as we obtain them.
FUNDING
Funding to pay CATRA for testing comes from the public donations.
The testing is done by batches of 10 brands, 2 knives for each line.
As soon as we accumulate enough donations for the next 10 brands, we perform the testing.
There is no overhead, and all the funds go to the purpose.
The Australian Knife Magazine has oversight of the use of the donations.
Any donation amount is welcome, and one-off are fine.
As you make the donation, please list the brands you want tested in the donation Note.
Provisional report on Kitchen Knife Brands >>
Woodcarving, bushcraft, hunting and combat knives in the pipeline.
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