# Steven's small collection



## stevenStefano

These are my working knives that I use all the time. I don't have a huge collection, I used to have loads more but I either put them to pasture or sold them and focused my collection a bit more. I hope you like them

Tilman Leder 210 Niolox suji
Got this nearly a year ago and I have literally used it every day in work since I got it. Edge retention, fit and finish and grind are all fantastic. It has a 90/10 lefty grind so it had a bit of learning curve to get used to it, but it's worth the effort, it improves the performance a lot







Sakai Yusuke White #2 210 suji
Been replaced by the TL but it is a great knife for the price. I don't really use carbon any more because I got sick of others using them and not looking after them so that's why it's been mothballed but it is very nice in its own right




260-ish Kono HD
Looks a little different from the standard ones doesn't it? Was rehandled/modified a little by Tilman and it also had a nose job courtesy of one of my co-workers so it once looked like this. I also thinned it quite a bit to make it more lefty-friendly and it improved its performance astronomically. Profile looks really funky in the first photo but it's just an optical illusion







Tilman Leder 270 Niolox wa-gyuto
Haven't had this for too long and it took me a little while to get to grips with sharpening it but it's very nice. Very very thin but strikes a nice balance between food release and thinness. It doesn't really flex at all which surprised me when I first saw it. It's also 270 on the edge which I like. As with the suji, the edge retention and fit and finish are excellent, especially the handle







270 DT ITK
Got this as a birthday present from an Uncle Tom I didn't know I had. Probably not a lot I can add to what others have said. This is incidentally one of the early numbered ones. I kinda wish it was 270 on the edge but it's no big deal. This is #10. Any previous owners here or anyone know who had it before?




Sakai Ichimonji Kichikuni White #2 lefty 210 kamagata usuba
Don't really get too adventurous but I guess this sorta counts. Didn't cost all that much and Keiichi was very good to deal with in getting this. Sadly there is a bend in the blade to the edge isn't totally flat, limiting its usefulness. Maxim sharpened it and did a good job but I don't use it that much any more







240 Hattori FH
I never use 240s any more but I'll still take this to work with me. My first J-knife ever. Pretty sure the profile is all kinds of different from when it was new due to my newbie sharpening and thinning but I still like this a lot, particularly the profile


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## rdm_magic

Nice collection


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## stevenStefano

Some choil shots

Kono HD










Tilman Leder 270 wa-gyuto




DT ITK


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## stevenStefano

Some working pictures


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## TB_London

Nice set, like the look of the Tilman knives especially


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## apicius9

Very nice, Tilman really seems to do nice work. Haven't contacted him in a long while, maybe I should...

Stefan


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## Johnny.B.Good

I love these threads; thank you for sharing your collection with us, Steven

What kinds of tasks do you do with your little 210 suji?


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## Lefty

Nice little collection, there, Steven! I'm glad you're liking the DT. It was a tough one to let go, but I'm glad it's getting some real use


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## Customfan

Nice knives... Specially the working pictures.... Kind of curious about the Tilman.... Looks nice :happymug:


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## Andrew H

Nice collection! Mind talking about the grind on the 270 Tilman?


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## quantumcloud509

Thats a very nice looking collection. Thanks for sharing


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## stevenStefano

Johnny.B.Good said:


> What kinds of tasks do you do with your little 210 suji?



I use it for everything. It does all the things a petty does but it is way way more versatile. Particularly good for any kind of meat prep. This one is pretty much a copy of one Tinh has and I believe Andrew also has a similar one. If you haven't got a 210 suji I'd go for it, you'd be surprised how much you'll use it




Andrew H said:


> Nice collection! Mind talking about the grind on the 270 Tilman?



I know heirkb sold his Tilman to Rick recently but this one is a bit different, it's a bit thinner and has a more biased grind, it's about a 70/30. There is no steering at all. For such a thin knife the food release is pretty good. There is some sticktion but for it being so thin it's still pretty impressive. If I cut one potato it doesn't stick, if I cut up a pile a few bits stick but I think it does a good balancing act between thinness and convexity. The spine thickness is about 2mm so it's pretty thin. How does that compare to yours Andrew?


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## stevenStefano




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## heirkb

The thicker one Tilman made for me was an awesome cutter. I still want to get another made with a slightly higher tip, a less shiny finish, and a cheapo ho-wood/burnt chestnut handle.


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## Pensacola Tiger

heirkb said:


> The thicker one Tilman made for me was an awesome cutter. I still want to get another made with a slightly higher tip, a less shiny finish, and a cheapo ho-wood/burnt chestnut handle.



I'm quite impressed with it, myself.


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## Crothcipt

Once I got used to the Tillman that was going around for the passaround. I liked it very well. Great expense you have there.


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## Andrew H

stevenStefano said:


> I know heirkb sold his Tilman to Rick recently but this one is a bit different, it's a bit thinner and has a more biased grind, it's about a 70/30. There is no steering at all. For such a thin knife the food release is pretty good. There is some sticktion but for it being so thin it's still pretty impressive. If I cut one potato it doesn't stick, if I cut up a pile a few bits stick but I think it does a good balancing act between thinness and convexity. The spine thickness is about 2mm so it's pretty thin. How does that compare to yours Andrew?



It just looked like it was more righthanded than left from the picture. Maybe I have bad eyes? 
Sound pretty similar to mine. Maybe a little thicker and more convex where mine is thinner.


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## stevenStefano

Andrew H said:


> It just looked like it was more righthanded than left from the picture. Maybe I have bad eyes?
> Sound pretty similar to mine. Maybe a little thicker and more convex where mine is thinner.



I'll try and get a few better pictures, tricky to get choil shots. Yours is even thinner? Wow. Mine doesn't taper that much to the tip so it has no flex which is good


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## stevenStefano

How times change..... This was my collection a little under 2 years ago....


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## stevenStefano

As far as I can tell,t his doesn't break any rules so here it goes. I made a thread about cheapo sayas a while ago that got locked, so I think this is the best place to post this

So recently I thought I'd make a saya for my 210 suji. My tools for this endeavour: a Stanley knife and a ring binder






After cutting out 2 saya bits and a fake knife bit, I wrapped it with athletic tape






Test fit:






I have some thin leather about that I got for stropping but it was no use and I thought I'd cover the saya with this. After an unsuccessful attempt at gluing the leather to the saya which involved me getting Superglue all over my hand, I took it to my local cobbler, who for the princely sum of £4 stitched it






He could have got it tighter, but I'm still pretty happy with it


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## stevenStefano

Already posted a couple of pics of this in the "Show your newest knife buy" thread but I thought I might as well put a few here as well

It's a 270 Carbonext with a rosewood handle and red liners, and the blade has also been thinned and refinished. The work was done by Tilman Leder and he did an awesome job as always. The wood was his choice and I couldn't be happier with it, it's totally different from my other handles (which he made) and the white part at the end is interesting and pretty cool and I like the asymmetry of it

As far as the knife goes, I think it's awesome. I haven't had it long enough to do a true comparison with my Kono HD but so far there seems to be little to no difference in performance. The steel does take more of a "patina" but everything else is very similar. And looking at the price of the HDs now, it's outstanding value


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## stevenStefano

Haven't posted anything for a while but I thought this was worthy. Some photos of said Carbonext a few months later when it's been put through its paces. The "patina" on it is very heavy now. My Kono HD takes no patina at all really, just a slight blue hue, but this one looks basically like a carbon knife. The only difference really is the lack of blue in the colour, it's just a flat gray no matter how you look at it. Hope somebody finds it interesting


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## stevenStefano

Started posting here again after a really long break so I've updated the images. I'm a home cook now so my collection is pretty small. Pictures aren't in order and some are pretty old as I don't have them all at hand

Tilman Leder 210 petty/suji
Tilman Leder 270 gyuto
Tilman handled 270 Konosuke HD gyuto
Stefan handled and Tilman modified 270 Blazen gyuto I bought here in 2013
Tilman rehandled 270 Carbonext Gyuto
JCK Kagayaki VG10 240 gyuto beater


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