# EU passaround- z wear



## HSC /// Knives

I’m in London and will be in the EU till mid December. @preizzo has agreed to manage this passaround for me

this is a freestyle knife about 195mm In z wear at 63rc with a katalox handle

Matteo will have the knife early October

the knife has a working belt finish
This is primarily about giving those interested a chance to try the steel

See Matteo for details or he will post and take it from here

I’m looking for honest feedback and reviews. I would like the knife back by the end of the year

Thanks
Harbeer


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## Carl Kotte

Great stuff!


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## M1k3

I'd hop on this if I was in the EU.


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## juice

M1k3 said:


> I'd hop on this if I was in the EU.


OK, so this made me


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## IsoJ

Yes please


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## riba

Yesss, definitely curious for the details 

Is there a particular audience you would appreciate feedback from? (E.g. biggest differentiator would be home versus pro probably)


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## JayS20

Pretty though schedule.
Would love to be in since I'm quite curious about your knives and Z wear. Might tip me over to finally get one from you


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## HSC /// Knives

riba said:


> Yesss, definitely curious for the details
> 
> Is there a particular audience you would appreciate feedback from? (E.g. biggest differentiator would be home versus pro probably)


Not really... open to all
But Matteo will handle this on my behalf


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## preizzo

Hi to all you guys.

I will get the knife from harbeer when back from holidays.
Please any who want to be part of the pasaround can send me a pm with his name and country were he /she is living (Europe only)
I will post in here the list of all the participants later .

Ps have a few of his knives and they are awesome.

Cheers Matteo


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## preizzo

JayS20 said:


> Pretty though schedule.
> Would love to be in since I'm quite curious about your knives and Z wear. Might tip me over to finally get one from you


Got you


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## cotedupy

Very nice, love the elegance of that. Would've been all over this last year.


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## juice

cotedupy said:


> Would've been all over this last year.


Yes, welcome to the land of perpetual envy


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## JayS20

juice said:


> Yes, welcome to the land of perpetual envy


Considering how many great knifeshops and knifemakers you have, I don't think so.


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## juice

JayS20 said:


> Considering how many great knifeshops and knifemakers you have, I don't think so.


Yeah, but ... PASSAROUND!!!

Also, @cotedupy has just moved here from the UK, so...


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## HSC /// Knives

update -
I'm in France, and Matteo informed he is ready to receive the knife from me.
However there is a delay.

In short, while waiting for @preizzo Matteo to get back home to Sweden, I thought I would make use of the knife and let some chefs try it out in Paris. I gave the knife on Sept 27 to a chef in Paris. I went back few days later to collect the knife and get it to the next chef.....When I got to the restaurant the knife was not available for me to pick up...In short the knife has been lost or stolen.

the chef offered to pay for the knife, I encouraged him to find it for everyone's benefit.
Last night I rec'd a message, to the effect that they checked the security cameras and determined the knife has been stolen, the alleged person was not at work that day... so I wait for an update from the chef.,

Beyond this, I have ordered a grinder here in France, it should be 2 weeks to get it... so I believe I can produce another knife for the pass-around by the end of October.

so stay tuned, I'll update once something significant happens. Either I get the stolen/lost knife back and we get going or I make another one.

regards
Harbeer


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## JayS20

Wow that sucks, sorry to hear Harbeer.
Let's hope you get it back and thank you for your efforts.


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## Dhoff

Sucks, guess it was too good, he could not let it go


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## IsoJ

I am very sad to hear what happened. Fingers cross that the knife gets back to you.


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## alterwisser

That sucks!


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## preizzo

That is sad , unfortunately in our industry there are a lot of skum bag working.


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## MarcelNL

so unemployment goes up by 1 in France, what is someone like that thinking IF they can think at all...'nice knife, I wanna have it'...OK, but steal it? Come on, stay off someone elses stuff and besides; CCTV can not come as a surprise nowadays.


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## HSC /// Knives

Update.
i have finally been able to complete a new knife for this passaround
It will ship to @preizzo this Friday. 
Matteo is handling this passaround

I’m looking for honest feedback and criticism on the performance of the knife, I’m not a guy that gets butt hurt, if you don’t like it, you don’t like it but I’d like to know why

There was a USA z-wear passaround and you can read those comments

Some words on the build. The Koa handle is made entirely from hand tools here in France. 
The blade was also ground here in France. I heat treated the blade at home in arizona.

The blade finish is very much a working finish. It’s a medium scotchbrite belt finish. Z wear is highly abrasive resistant and I can only put so much time and effort into a passaround knife given my schedule here in France and I want to get this passaround going. It’s been delayed long enough 

FYI, I can do 3 blade finish options on this knife up to a highly polished hand rubbed scratch free finish. But it is very time consuming and requires diamond film abrasives and so I charge for that, a lot.

This is a high alloy tool steel and a stock removal knife. It’s 240 x 50 and 2.4 mm spine and tapering. I favor ease of cutting in my blade geometry vs food separation or sticking.

the edge can get “freakishly” sharp. Everyone’s skills and stones for sharpening are different, if u can’t get the edge crazy sharp, ask for assistance or you are missing out.

since The knife will be traveling a lot I put it in a box that is for another knife. I want that box back. Please don’t tell me that you can’t find the box....

look forward to your feedback on this steel and it’s performance.


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## juice

HSC /// Knives said:


> since The knife will be traveling a lot I put it in a box that is for another knife. I want that box back. Please don’t tell me that you can’t find the box....


This seems like something of a dangerous gamble...


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## preizzo

Hi to all guys 
Finally the knife from harbeer arrived to me in Sweden .
Since long time it gone from the last time I am asking all the members that want to try test this knife to comment in this post so I will noted again. Sorry but been a bit busy with many things lately 

Let's do it 
Cheers Matteo


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## Carl Kotte

I’m in


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## preizzo

Carl Kotte said:


> I’m in


Got you Carl


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## IsoJ

yes sir


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## JayS20

Would also be in.


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## preizzo

Eagle will be abuse today


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## Jovidah

Planning to cut on marble all day? What could go wrong!


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## preizzo

Jovidah said:


> Planning to cut on marble all day? What could go wrong!


I did actually ,still sharp


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## M1k3

Jovidah said:


> Planning to cut on marble all day? What could go wrong!


Hopefully no tomato smashing with the spine.


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## TB_London

Is this having a UK leg? If so I’d be tempted to join


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## preizzo

TB_London said:


> Is this having a UK leg? If so I’d be tempted to join


It s for eu member so yes


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## Jovidah

...better be quick then...


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## preizzo

Jovidah said:


> ...better be quick then...


,


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## preizzo

Very happy with the knife ,steel is something special,freaking sharp .

So here is the list of people that right now have agreed to the passaround.

I will send the knife ,then each guy will be in charge of shipping cost to the next in line .
As @HSC /// Knives already mentioned it the knife will come with a box that cannot be lost 

@Carl Kotte (Sweden )
@IsoJ (Finland )
@humami (Netherlands)
@riba (Netherlands)
@JayS20 (Germany)
@TB_London (UK )


Right now we are 7 in total ,if someone more want to join please can comments in here and I will change the list .

Have all great holiday and stay safe .

Cheers Matteo


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## Carl Kotte

Excellent!


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## riba

Due to unfortunate circumstances I cannot participate


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## preizzo

riba said:


> Due to unfortunate circumstances I cannot participate


Ok


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## M1k3

riba said:


> Due to unfortunate circumstances I cannot participate


Hope all is well.


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## LostHighway

I look forward to the impressions of The Beige Lion. I will say, however, that I don't think the virtues of this alloy entirely lend themselves to a quick passaround. The edge retention of Z-Wear is amazing, noticeably better than SG2 IME. It should also be noted that Harbeer is great to work with should you decide to buy one.


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## TB_London

I think I’ll pass on this, it’s good to see an EU pass around though!


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## IsoJ

I am really excited about this passaround, not too many changes like these in EU happening, so thanks to Harbeer and Preizzo. For me the timing couldn't be much better .


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## preizzo

IsoJ said:


> I am really excited about this passaround, not too many changes like these in EU happening, so thanks to Harbeer and Preizzo. For me the timing couldn't be much better .


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## minibatataman

Always wanted to try Harbeer's work, if you're still adding people to the list, I'm in the Netherlands, I'd like to join the passaround


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## HSC /// Knives

Knife is on its way to @Carl Kotte


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## preizzo

Little update on the list 

@Carl Kotte 
@IsoJ 
@JayS20 
@humami 
@minibatataman 

Like @HSC /// Knives said the knife is on the way to Carl .
Few rules just to keep things straight.
The one in possession of the knife will have a week to use it and sharpen it after will have to contact the next person in line for address info and report on this trade when the package leave.

Trackable package with insurance is obligatory.

Have fun ,the steel is pretty impressive, looking forward to have one of this in Sanmai 

Cheers Matteo


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## juice

HSC /// Knives said:


> Knife is on its way to @Carl Kotte


And may God have mercy on its soul


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## Carl Kotte

@preizzo and @HSC /// Knives the knife has arrived and looks like a million.


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## preizzo

Carl Kotte said:


> @preizzo and @HSC /// Knives the knife has arrived and looks like a million. View attachment 109202
> View attachment 109203


Nice


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## Carl Kotte

A little behind in my updating. The knife is on its way to @IsoJ. I’ll post later on my impressions.


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## Carl Kotte

First of all, thanks to @HSC /// Knives and @preizzo who made this happen.
Sharpening z-wear was a humbling experience to me. First attempt was not succesful. I reached out to Harbeer to ask for his advice, and he was very generous with it. Second attempt I got the edge the way I want it to be. Time, the right choice of stones and a little extra effort did the trick.
The idea of having a knife I need to sharpen rather rarely is appealing to me. Though I’m a home user I can see a time in the future when I simply can’t or won’t sharpen as often as I do now.
I think the knife looks great, great comfortable handle, and the rough finish is cool aesthetically.
Also, the profile is sweet. I’m not a fan tall and super straight profiles - this knife was just right. Perfectly tall and perfectly curve in the right places.
As for performance I didn’t quite click with the knife. I generally like knives with heft, some taper and a convex grind. This knife is way thinner and lighter than the things I’m used to. I struggled a little with dense root veggies. It went ok, but not as smoothly as I expected it.

Given the thin spine I think I would have appreciated a knife (pretty much like this but appropriately modified) like this in the form of a suji or a killer petty. Alternatively, if there was a way to get more heft, taper and convexity, that knife would probably become my goto gyuto.


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## preizzo

Carl Kotte said:


> First of all, thanks to @HSC /// Knives and @preizzo who made this happen.
> Sharpening z-wear was a humbling experience to me. First attempt was not succesful. I reached out to Harbeer to ask for his advice, and he was very generous with it. Second attempt I got the edge the way I want it to be. Time, the right choice of stones and a little extra effort did the trick.
> The idea of having a knife I need to sharpen rather rarely is appealing to me. Though I’m a home user I can see a time in the future when I simply can’t or won’t sharpen as often as I do now.
> I think the knife looks great, great comfortable handle, and the rough finish is cool aesthetically.
> Also, the profile is sweet. I’m not a fan tall and super straight profiles - this knife was just right. Perfectly tall and perfectly curve in the right places.
> As for performance I didn’t quite click with the knife. I generally like knives with heft, some taper and a convex grind. This knife is way thinner and lighter than the things I’m used to. I struggled a little with dense root veggies. It went ok, but not as smoothly as I expected it.
> 
> Given the thin spine I think I would have appreciated a knife (pretty much like this but appropriately modifierad) like this in the form of a suji or a killer petty. Alternatively, if there was a way to get more heft, taper and convexity, that knife would probably become my goto gyuto.


Amen ,tk you for sharing Carl


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## Carl Kotte

preizzo said:


> Amen ,tk you for sharing Carl


Thank you Matteo, but could you please stop shooting those sperms in my face?!


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## daveb

Carl Kotte said:


> Sharpening z-wear was a humbling experience to me. First attempt was not succesful. I reached out to Harbeer to ask for his advice, and he was very generous with it. Second attempt I got the edge the way I want it to be. Time, the right choice of stones and a little extra effort did the trick.



Curious to what Harbeer and other Zwear users do for a sharpening regimen.. May have to grab a cigar and start a thread to that effect.


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## M1k3

daveb said:


> Curious to what Harbeer and other Zwear users do for a sharpening regimen.. May have to grab a cigar and start a thread to that effect.


When I used it, King 1k worked fine. Glass 500 and 4k was better. Pro 2k worked also.


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## daveb

My answer has become SG500, SP1000, SG4000 on the suji and SG500, SP1000, SP2000 on gyuto. Next time I have gyuto out I'm going to try the SG4000. Not sure why but Gesshins, G2K, G4K and diamond plates didn't seem to touch it. It laughed at Jnats.


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## LostHighway

I've been using SP1k & SP2k which seems to get the job done albeit slowly. I have a SG4k but it is EdgePro size and I haven't tried it, I may have to invest in a full size SG4K. I just assumed that Z-Wear would laugh at my JNATs and never attempted it.
Definitely more work to sharpen than SG2/R2 but IME the Z-Wear edge lasts longer.


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## Barmoley

Weird, I didn't have any issues with G2K or G4K. Diamond stones do it easier though, but even gesshins did fine.


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## HSC /// Knives

I have a king neo st 800 coming any day for z wear and other such.

I’ve been using a king 1000 and king 800
They work fine. But I’m also starting out at the thinnest ground edge without any use and it’s predictable to me how it will sharpen. I’ve also been using a tsushima (I think) to finish. And always a loaded leather strop.


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## preizzo

Hi guys 

Any update on the knife ?

@IsoJ did you receive the blade ?


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## IsoJ

preizzo said:


> Hi guys
> 
> Any update on the knife ?
> 
> @IsoJ did you receive the blade ?
> ☺


It is on its way to here. I should receive it next week


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## preizzo

IsoJ said:


> It is on its way to here. I should receive it next week


Nice


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## IsoJ

I just received the knife, all looking good


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## Carl Kotte

For all passaround participants: I replaced the box. The box the knife arrived in has been sent To Harbeer. The current box is just an ordinary box. No dalman kiri box or anything. So don’t worry about it getting lost or destroyed. All best!


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## preizzo

Carl Kotte said:


> For all passaround participants: I replaced the box. The box the knife arrived in has been sent To Harbeer. The current box is just an ordinary box. No dalman kiri box or anything. So don’t worry about it getting lost or destroyed. All best!


Nice harbeer got is box ,he really love that box ,was his favourite box


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## Carl Kotte

preizzo said:


> Nice harbeer got is box ,he really love that box ,was his favourite box


I can understand that special attachment to a box.


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## preizzo

Carl Kotte said:


> I can understand that special attachment to a box.


I have the same attachment for my two mazaki Damascus Kiri box


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## JayS20

Do we have pictures of said mythical box since I'm missing out? 
Any data, specs?
Where is the review of that wonderful box??!
I need answers


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## Carl Kotte

JayS20 said:


> Do we have pictures of said mythical box since I'm missing out?
> Any data, specs?
> Where is the review of that wonderful box??!
> I need answers


I forgot to take pictures. Sorry!


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## IsoJ

Few thoughts about the knife. It came with good edge from @Carl Kotte. I still decided to touch it on the stones because Harbeer is going to make me a custom so I wanted to try the steel and where my skills are atm. It felt good on the stones. I noticed that more pressure than my normal sharpening routine worked better. 

I've used it for 5-6 meal preps at home. I like the profile, good lenght and height. I need to say that I prefer heavier and thicker gyutos so my opinion is a bit biased and I don't have a real comparison to this knife. For me it feels like an allrounder, no big cons or pros, gets the job done. Little wedging with carrots, some sticking with potatoes and softer products but nothing too serious. I am no pro and I noticed that when using more speed with the cutting, there were less sticking. Handle is well made, a bit thin for my hand but my prefered shape. 

Edge retention the best so far from the steels that I have tried. I think I will choose this steel for the custom . 

Thanks again for this passaround.


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## IsoJ

Knife is on its way to @JayS20 . Thanks again


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## preizzo

Hi to all guys 

Any update on the knife @JayS20 ?

Have a great evening  matteo


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## JayS20

Hey, after many moons it finn-ally arrived, at least at the postoffice.
Gonna get it tomorrow.


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## JayS20

*Review HSC3 – Z-wear*



Z-wear is a powder metallurgy high alloy carbon tool steel by Zapp. Carbon content of 1,15% , 7,5%Chromium, 1,6 Molybdenum, 1,0 Tungsten, 2,4 Vanadium. It belongs to the semi-stainless steels, has a good corrosion resistance, is quite tough and has good edge retention. Harbeer tempers it for his chefknives to 63HRC.

The knife is a PA substitute and therefore not necessarily representative of his knives in the fit and finish department. It was done in France with mostly hand tools and is a stock removal from a piece of steel he tempered in Arizona. He focused more on ease of cutting than foodrelease.

*Specs:*
Monosteel Z-wear
*Length:*
Edge: 24,5cm
Handle: 13,9cm
Total: 40,3cm
Height: 51mm
*Weight:* 203g
*Spine thickness:*
out of handle: 2,56mm / middle: 2,29mm / Drop to tip: 1,78mm / 1cm in front of tip: 0,87mm


Height tip: 2,4cm

*Thickness blade:* (slightly over the edge, 1cm above, 2cm)
heel: 0,4 / 1,07 / 1,86
in front:
5cm: 0,31 / 1,01 / 1,77
12cm: 0,27 / 0,77 / 1,49
3cm : 0,34 / 0,70 / 1,17
to tip

*Handle:*
Height: 2,6cm to 2,3cm
Width: 2,1cm to 1,8cm

The handle is made out of Koa, which is really appealing to me. It consists of two pieces. He split the handle and morticed out the space for the tang. This is really well done and you only notice it if you take a closer look in a good lighting. The handle slightly tapers towards the front, feels a bit too chunky, bulky for me though. I'd prefer it to be thinner but as soon as you start cutting with it you barely notice it. It's an octagonal form and the edges aren't rounded, except in front but also not sharp. Thanks to the thickness and the gradient, how it rests in my hand, I don't bend my forefinger as much as I usually do with pinchgripping. Hence I feel a light pressure of the choil against the middle joint of my middle finger. On account of this I also wish for the blade to be taller. The tang could be fitted a bit cleaner into the handle but it's a quickly done PA knife. Also there is a groove around the tang slot which could be filled up more, so there won't be a place to trap moisture. The handle is else well sealed but not slippery.

*Grind and finish:*
The spine and choil are nicely eased. On the right side of the choil a bit better than on the left. The last 15mm towards the edge are a bit sharper. The blade finish is very much a working finish. It’s a medium scotchbrite belt finish. Coming out of the handle the blade has a slight and smooth nashiji finish which feels really good. The edge bevel is ground pretty consistant, apart from the last centimetre towards the tip. It's a bit wider over there.
The blade has at first a flat grind spine to edge for about 17mm, then it switches into a minimal convex grind and the last mms it's back to a flat grind. On the left side the convexity is slightly more distinct. On the right side the convexity starts a bit deeper. The convexity declines more and more leading up to the tip and glides down. The knife doesn't have crazy distal taper. It mostly starts at the drop for the tip. The tip is rather robust than thinly ground. It's sufficient and cuts well but gets noticeable cutting onions. The edge tapers from heel to tip.
The last 2cm close to the tip are magnetized.





*Profile and cutting techniques:*
The knife has a flatspot of about 10cm with the heel having a really small upswing, barely noticeable. Then there is a gradual curve with the last 7cm going upwards a bit more pronounced.
I would call the knife an allrounder. Pullcutting with the tip works very well. Push cutting ain't a problem at all. Chopping is fine as the knife is relatively light and well-balanced. The knife has to be quite sharp though since there isn't that much weight and the balance point isn't in front of the pinch which would help with chopping.
The point of balance is 32mm in front of the handle, pretty much on the “H“ of the logo and close to where I pinch.
Rocking worked surpisingly well but you need a forward movement, else you are getting close to the heel hitting the board and biting into it which it never did though.

Pork sweet-sour:



*Enjoyment of cutting:*
The knife arrived with a nice sharpness, the tip could have been a bit sharper. Onions were a breeze, at least the horizontal cuts with the middle part of the edge since the tip wasn't perfectly sharp and is more solid ground. Cutting leek was nice but the knife struggled a bit trying to cut several leeks next to each other at once. Cellery was also easy, same for carrots which resulted in barely any cracking noices but carrots did stick a bit especially longitudinal cuts. Bell peppers felt great. Mushrooms felt good but not perfect, slight resistance. Zucchini was fine, did stick quite a lot but weren't hard to get off with your hand. It was a bit better with a faster cutting style and pullcuts but not great. 




There was quite some wedging in bigger parsley roots. Cooked potatoes were fine as long as you didn't need to cut them too thin. Then you had the problem with sticking and getting them off without breaking apart. Minicing herbs was nice. The biggest offender I encountered were sweet potatos. Trying halving them was pretty much an impossible task, way too much sticking, wedging and getting stuck so you needed to put quite some pressure onto the spine. After that it wasn't much better cutting them longitudinal. Pullcuts worked the best on single slices. 
Steak with Sauce Hollandaise, pepper-ragout, yam purée and fries:




Parmesan worked quite well at least the pieces you can buy for home use. Cabbages were a joy.
I could only work with the knife at home since I'm still out of work, shortterm-employment, but I didn't really notice any big loss of edge retention for the 9 days of home usage. The steel feels good on the board better than e.g. SG2 and never felt brittle. It had a fine sharpness and didn't really feel toothy but rather clean so you could do bell peppers and tomatos without any struggles. The blade didn't oxidize and I didn't notice any change of colour.

*Conclusion:*
Altogether I really liked how the steel felt on the board and the experienced sharpness. I can't make any informed statements on the steel regarding edge retention and sharpening though. The profile worked great for me. The handle could be a tad more comfortable but was still fine. The knife is pretty good in the aspect of ease of cutting but not perfect when you also include the lack of foodrelease and sticking since it's not totally in the laser category for me. All in all I had some fun with the knife and could imagine buying a knife like this.

Fried mushroom risotto balls with creamy mushrooms:





I'm going to send the knife along its way as soon as @minibatataman contacts me.


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## IsoJ

JayS20 said:


> *Review HSC3 – Z-wear*
> View attachment 115294
> View attachment 115295
> 
> Z-wear is a powder metallurgy high alloy carbon tool steel by Zapp. Carbon content of 1,15% , 7,5%Chromium, 1,6 Molybdenum, 1,0 Tungsten, 2,4 Vanadium. It belongs to the semi-stainless steels, has a good corrosion resistance, is quite tough and has good edge retention. Harbeer tempers it for his chefknives to 63HRC.
> 
> The knife is a PA substitute and therefore not necessarily representative of his knives in the fit and finish department. It was done in France with mostly hand tools and is a stock removal from a piece of steel he tempered in Arizona. He focused more on ease of cutting than foodrelease.
> 
> *Specs:*
> Monosteel Z-wear
> *Length:*
> Edge: 24,5cm
> Handle: 13,9cm
> Total: 40,3cm
> Height: 51mm
> *Weight:* 203g
> *Spine thickness:*
> out of handle: 2,56mm / middle: 2,29mm / Drop to tip: 1,78mm / 1cm in front of tip: 0,87mm
> View attachment 115296
> 
> Height tip: 2,4cm
> 
> *Thickness blade:* (slightly over the edge, 1cm above, 2cm)
> heel: 0,4 / 1,07 / 1,86
> in front:
> 5cm: 0,31 / 1,01 / 1,77
> 12cm: 0,27 / 0,77 / 1,49
> 3cm : 0,34 / 0,70 / 1,17
> to tip
> 
> *Handle:*
> Height: 2,6cm to 2,3cm
> Width: 2,1cm to 1,8cm
> 
> The handle is made out of Koa, which is really appealing to me. It consists of two pieces. He split the handle and morticed out the space for the tang. This is really well done and you only notice it if you take a closer look in a good lighting. The handle slightly tapers towards the front, feels a bit too chunky, bulky for me though. I'd prefer it to be thinner but as soon as you start cutting with it you barely notice it. It's an octagonal form and the edges aren't rounded, except in front but also not sharp. Thanks to the thickness and the gradient, how it rests in my hand, I don't bend my forefinger as much as I usually do with pinchgripping. Hence I feel a light pressure of the choil against the middle joint of my middle finger. On account of this I also wish for the blade to be taller. The tang could be fitted a bit cleaner into the handle but it's a quickly done PA knife. Also there is a groove around the tang slot which could be filled up more, so there won't be a place to trap moisture. The handle is else well sealed but not slippery.
> 
> *Grind and finish:*
> The spine and choil are nicely eased. On the right side of the choil a bit better than on the left. The last 15mm towards the edge are a bit sharper. The blade finish is very much a working finish. It’s a medium scotchbrite belt finish. Coming out of the handle the blade has a slight and smooth nashiji finish which feels really good. The edge bevel is ground pretty consistant, apart from the last centimetre towards the tip. It's a bit wider over there.
> The blade has at first a flat grind spine to edge for about 17mm, then it switches into a minimal convex grind and the last mms it's back to a flat grind. On the left side the convexity is slightly more distinct. On the right side the convexity starts a bit deeper. The convexity declines more and more leading up to the tip and glides down. The knife doesn't have crazy distal taper. It mostly starts at the drop for the tip. The tip is rather robust than thinly ground. It's sufficient and cuts well but gets noticeable cutting onions. The edge tapers from heel to tip.
> The last 2cm close to the tip are magnetized.
> View attachment 115297
> 
> 
> *Profile and cutting techniques:*
> The knife has a flatspot of about 10cm with the heel having a really small upswing, barely noticeable. Then there is a gradual curve with the last 7cm going upwards a bit more pronounced.
> I would call the knife an allrounder. Pullcutting with the tip works very well. Push cutting ain't a problem at all. Chopping is fine as the knife is relatively light and well-balanced. The knife has to be quite sharp though since there isn't that much weight and the balance point isn't in front of the pinch which would help with chopping.
> The point of balance is 32mm in front of the handle, pretty much on the “H“ of the logo and close to where I pinch.
> Rocking worked surpisingly well but you need a forward movement, else you are getting close to the heel hitting the board and biting into it which it never did though.
> 
> Pork sweet-sour:
> View attachment 115298
> View attachment 115299
> 
> *Enjoyment of cutting:*
> The knife arrived with a nice sharpness, the tip could have been a bit sharper. Onions were a breeze, at least the horizontal cuts with the middle part of the edge since the tip wasn't perfectly sharp and is more solid ground. Cutting leek was nice but the knife struggled a bit trying to cut several leeks next to each other at once. Cellery was also easy, same for carrots which resulted in barely any cracking noices but carrots did stick a bit especially longitudinal cuts. Bell peppers felt great. Mushrooms felt good but not perfect, slight resistance. Zucchini was fine, did stick quite a lot but weren't hard to get off with your hand. It was a bit better with a faster cutting style and pullcuts but not great.
> View attachment 115300
> 
> There was quite some wedging in bigger parsley roots. Cooked potatoes were fine as long as you didn't need to cut them too thin. Then you had the problem with sticking and getting them off without breaking apart. Minicing herbs was nice. The biggest offender I encountered were sweet potatos. Trying halving them was pretty much an impossible task, way too much sticking, wedging and getting stuck so you needed to put quite some pressure onto the spine. After that it wasn't much better cutting them longitudinal. Pullcuts worked the best on single slices.
> Steak with Sauce Hollandaise, pepper-ragout, yam purée and fries:
> View attachment 115301
> View attachment 115302
> 
> 
> Parmesan worked quite well at least the pieces you can buy for home use. Cabbages were a joy.
> I could only work with the knife at home since I'm still out of work, shortterm-employment, but I didn't really notice any big loss of edge retention for the 9 days of home usage. The steel feels good on the board better than e.g. SG2 and never felt brittle. It had a fine sharpness and didn't really feel toothy but rather clean so you could do bell peppers and tomatos without any struggles. The blade didn't oxidize and I didn't notice any change of colour.
> 
> *Conclusion:*
> Altogether I really liked how the steel felt on the board and the experienced sharpness. I can't make any informed statements on the steel regarding edge retention and sharpening though. The profile worked great for me. The handle could be a tad more comfortable but was still fine. The knife is pretty good in the aspect of ease of cutting but not perfect when you also include the lack of foodrelease and sticking since it's not totally in the laser category for me. All in all I had some fun with the knife and could imagine buying a knife like this.
> 
> Fried mushroom risotto balls with creamy mushrooms:
> View attachment 115304
> 
> 
> I'm going to send the knife along its way as soon as @minibatataman contacts me.


Wow, that is some great review, you really put effort and time for the writing .


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## JayS20

Wow, that is some great review, you really put effort and time for the writing .
[/QUOTE]
Thank you.
I always want to get as much info out of reviews as I can so I can get a sound opinion of a knife. That's why I always try to write them in a way which attempts to convey that. So others can also come to conclusions and I get a deeper understanding for the knives I try and own.


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## IsoJ

JayS20 said:


> Wow, that is some great review, you really put effort and time for the writing .


Thank you.
I always want to get as much info out of reviews as I can so I can get a sound opinion of a knife. That's why I always try to write them in a way which attempts to convey that. So others can also come to conclusions and I get a deeper understanding for the knives I try and own.
[/QUOTE]
Big respect . Looking forward of reading your next review


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## HSC /// Knives

@JayS20 wow ! You don’t mess around with the reviews. Thanks very much for this detailed write up


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## preizzo

JayS20 said:


> *Review HSC3 – Z-wear*
> View attachment 115294
> View attachment 115295
> 
> Z-wear is a powder metallurgy high alloy carbon tool steel by Zapp. Carbon content of 1,15% , 7,5%Chromium, 1,6 Molybdenum, 1,0 Tungsten, 2,4 Vanadium. It belongs to the semi-stainless steels, has a good corrosion resistance, is quite tough and has good edge retention. Harbeer tempers it for his chefknives to 63HRC.
> 
> The knife is a PA substitute and therefore not necessarily representative of his knives in the fit and finish department. It was done in France with mostly hand tools and is a stock removal from a piece of steel he tempered in Arizona. He focused more on ease of cutting than foodrelease.
> 
> *Specs:*
> Monosteel Z-wear
> *Length:*
> Edge: 24,5cm
> Handle: 13,9cm
> Total: 40,3cm
> Height: 51mm
> *Weight:* 203g
> *Spine thickness:*
> out of handle: 2,56mm / middle: 2,29mm / Drop to tip: 1,78mm / 1cm in front of tip: 0,87mm
> View attachment 115296
> 
> Height tip: 2,4cm
> 
> *Thickness blade:* (slightly over the edge, 1cm above, 2cm)
> heel: 0,4 / 1,07 / 1,86
> in front:
> 5cm: 0,31 / 1,01 / 1,77
> 12cm: 0,27 / 0,77 / 1,49
> 3cm : 0,34 / 0,70 / 1,17
> to tip
> 
> *Handle:*
> Height: 2,6cm to 2,3cm
> Width: 2,1cm to 1,8cm
> 
> The handle is made out of Koa, which is really appealing to me. It consists of two pieces. He split the handle and morticed out the space for the tang. This is really well done and you only notice it if you take a closer look in a good lighting. The handle slightly tapers towards the front, feels a bit too chunky, bulky for me though. I'd prefer it to be thinner but as soon as you start cutting with it you barely notice it. It's an octagonal form and the edges aren't rounded, except in front but also not sharp. Thanks to the thickness and the gradient, how it rests in my hand, I don't bend my forefinger as much as I usually do with pinchgripping. Hence I feel a light pressure of the choil against the middle joint of my middle finger. On account of this I also wish for the blade to be taller. The tang could be fitted a bit cleaner into the handle but it's a quickly done PA knife. Also there is a groove around the tang slot which could be filled up more, so there won't be a place to trap moisture. The handle is else well sealed but not slippery.
> 
> *Grind and finish:*
> The spine and choil are nicely eased. On the right side of the choil a bit better than on the left. The last 15mm towards the edge are a bit sharper. The blade finish is very much a working finish. It’s a medium scotchbrite belt finish. Coming out of the handle the blade has a slight and smooth nashiji finish which feels really good. The edge bevel is ground pretty consistant, apart from the last centimetre towards the tip. It's a bit wider over there.
> The blade has at first a flat grind spine to edge for about 17mm, then it switches into a minimal convex grind and the last mms it's back to a flat grind. On the left side the convexity is slightly more distinct. On the right side the convexity starts a bit deeper. The convexity declines more and more leading up to the tip and glides down. The knife doesn't have crazy distal taper. It mostly starts at the drop for the tip. The tip is rather robust than thinly ground. It's sufficient and cuts well but gets noticeable cutting onions. The edge tapers from heel to tip.
> The last 2cm close to the tip are magnetized.
> View attachment 115297
> 
> 
> *Profile and cutting techniques:*
> The knife has a flatspot of about 10cm with the heel having a really small upswing, barely noticeable. Then there is a gradual curve with the last 7cm going upwards a bit more pronounced.
> I would call the knife an allrounder. Pullcutting with the tip works very well. Push cutting ain't a problem at all. Chopping is fine as the knife is relatively light and well-balanced. The knife has to be quite sharp though since there isn't that much weight and the balance point isn't in front of the pinch which would help with chopping.
> The point of balance is 32mm in front of the handle, pretty much on the “H“ of the logo and close to where I pinch.
> Rocking worked surpisingly well but you need a forward movement, else you are getting close to the heel hitting the board and biting into it which it never did though.
> 
> Pork sweet-sour:
> View attachment 115298
> View attachment 115299
> 
> *Enjoyment of cutting:*
> The knife arrived with a nice sharpness, the tip could have been a bit sharper. Onions were a breeze, at least the horizontal cuts with the middle part of the edge since the tip wasn't perfectly sharp and is more solid ground. Cutting leek was nice but the knife struggled a bit trying to cut several leeks next to each other at once. Cellery was also easy, same for carrots which resulted in barely any cracking noices but carrots did stick a bit especially longitudinal cuts. Bell peppers felt great. Mushrooms felt good but not perfect, slight resistance. Zucchini was fine, did stick quite a lot but weren't hard to get off with your hand. It was a bit better with a faster cutting style and pullcuts but not great.
> View attachment 115300
> 
> There was quite some wedging in bigger parsley roots. Cooked potatoes were fine as long as you didn't need to cut them too thin. Then you had the problem with sticking and getting them off without breaking apart. Minicing herbs was nice. The biggest offender I encountered were sweet potatos. Trying halving them was pretty much an impossible task, way too much sticking, wedging and getting stuck so you needed to put quite some pressure onto the spine. After that it wasn't much better cutting them longitudinal. Pullcuts worked the best on single slices.
> Steak with Sauce Hollandaise, pepper-ragout, yam purée and fries:
> View attachment 115301
> View attachment 115302
> 
> 
> Parmesan worked quite well at least the pieces you can buy for home use. Cabbages were a joy.
> I could only work with the knife at home since I'm still out of work, shortterm-employment, but I didn't really notice any big loss of edge retention for the 9 days of home usage. The steel feels good on the board better than e.g. SG2 and never felt brittle. It had a fine sharpness and didn't really feel toothy but rather clean so you could do bell peppers and tomatos without any struggles. The blade didn't oxidize and I didn't notice any change of colour.
> 
> *Conclusion:*
> Altogether I really liked how the steel felt on the board and the experienced sharpness. I can't make any informed statements on the steel regarding edge retention and sharpening though. The profile worked great for me. The handle could be a tad more comfortable but was still fine. The knife is pretty good in the aspect of ease of cutting but not perfect when you also include the lack of foodrelease and sticking since it's not totally in the laser category for me. All in all I had some fun with the knife and could imagine buying a knife like this.
> 
> Fried mushroom risotto balls with creamy mushrooms:
> View attachment 115304
> 
> 
> I'm going to send the knife along its way as soon as @minibatataman contacts me.


This is some hell of review


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## preizzo

I am adding one more partecipant at the passaround,he lives in danimark

@Olsen


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## preizzo

Morning Europe

Checking just how is it going for the passaround,if there are any updates !

Cheers


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## minibatataman

Knife is on its way to me, should be arriving soon. I'll keep you guys updated!


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## preizzo

minibatataman said:


> Knife is on its way to me, should be arriving soon. I'll keep you guys updated!


Great


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## minibatataman

Knife arrived safely. Haven't had the chance to try it out but first impressions are very positive. Interesting profile, love the height. Will be sharing my thoughts later during the week after I've had the chance to try it !


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## preizzo

Nice


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## minibatataman

Now that I have some time off of work and school I can finally talk about the knife 

Thank you @HSC /// Knives and @preizzo for the PA, it was a very very interesting knife to use, very different than anything I've tried.

Also I spent most of the last week without my phone, sorry for the lack of pictures!

While there isn't much to add after @JayS20 's review, here's what I thought:

Profile: 
Loved the profile. A good flat spot in the back (bar a small upswing at the heel) and then a continuous, slow curve for the rest of the knife. Profile is pretty flat overall, and the spine doesn't dip till the tip, giving the knife a pretty tall feel in use. Despite being more or less the exact same dimensions as my heiji, it feels MUCH taller in hand, while being lighter. Overall it's a great all-round (a description you'll hear a lot in this review) profile that's great for all uses.






Grind:
A very middle ground grind. Pretty thin but not laser thin. It's mostly flat but with a little bit of convexity to help with food release. In use it's pretty good. I usually prefer heavier knives but there's no comparison in dense veg. This knife goes through carrots and beetroots with very little cracking, much less than my heiji, but as expected it sticks more, especially with potatoes. I had a very similar experience with sweet potatoes as Julian, noticing a lot of sticking, I missed the weight of a heavier knife here because this knife doesn't lend itself to extra pushing. Pull cuts were a dream though, the the thinness throughout and the simple edge made it very easy. The tip is very average too. It's thin enough for me, and I had no issues, but you'll notice some resistance in onions and such. But it feels tough and robust while still performing well, so that's a big plus for me.






Steel and daily use:
Here is where the knife shines. I received the knife with a solid edge so I only touched it up on a hard jnat and it got as sharp as anything I've ever tried. Insanely sharp edge that just keeps going no matter what I do. I must have went through 20 kilos of root veg at work and all I ever needed was some stropping to bring the edge back to shaving sharp. While I didn't go through a full sharpening progression my touch up and following stropping weren't particularly difficult, add the fact that it's stainless and it's pretty much the dream knife for line work. I loved the feel in hand with how light it is but again, I missed the added weight to go through produce with less work, but that's down to personal preference. 

Fit and finish:
A functional finish for sure. This is a PA knife so I can't really judge, but the choil and spine were polished well enough. The knife had a medium finish that worked, as well as a very nice smooth nashiji finish coming out of the handle.






Speaking of the handle, I was very pleasantly surprised. Some said it was a bit narrow, some thought it was a tad wide. For me it was perfect. Big enough for my hands but tapers nicely towards the front, very comfortable in use and looks very nice. It's my first Koa handle, but definitely not the last. The two halves are sealed well and I didn't notice any issues with it not being a single piece of wood.










Final thoughts:
This is a fantastic all-rounder gyuto, and excellently made one all things considered. While it doesn't excel in much, it's jack of all trades that does well with anything you throw at it. The only issues I had were some sticking issues that are to be expected with thin knives. I'd love to try more of Harbeer's work, if this knife was a bit heavier and had a more pronounced grind, I'd be calling it the perfect knife.


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## HSC /// Knives

Excellent review to close this out. Thanks

The perfect knife - stainless clad z-wear


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