# Don Nguyen suji/line/prep knife



## ecchef (Jan 25, 2015)

I've had this for about 4 months now and have been beating the crap out of it every day. Does double duty as a line and general prep knife, so it gets exposed to all kinds of abuse: veg prep, meat/poultry/fish fabrication, slicing hot & cold proteins, mincing herbs, chopping nuts/dried fruit/chocolate...pretty much anything kitchen related with the exception of breaking down cardboard.

So, here we have it: 220mm on edge. 42mm height at heel. Spine a bit over 4mm at heel, tapering to about 1.25mm at the kiritsuke break and down to 2mm at the back end of handle. 129g. Balances about 3mm back from leading edge point of handle. 52100 steel. Handle is Craig Stevens' dyed spalted hackberry with black G-10 liners and mosaic pin. Saya is sandwich of G-10/wood/G-10 with tapered G-10 pin.





Aesthetics/F&F/Ergonomics. I worked with Don on the profile for several months prior to production, tweaking it to try to get maximum versatility from a single blade. I sent him a scale drawing and he took it from there. I think the knife looks good proportionally. The blade arrived with a nice surface finish and patina'd up quickly and evenly. Spine and choil are not completely rounded, but nicely relieved and polished to eliminate any sharp edges or rough spots. The handle materials are well bonded to each other and the steel, with no gaps or de-lamination. Mosaic pin is flush with the scales surface with no evidence of tear out and the hole was very precisely drilled to match the pin diameter. Don's trademark faceted and rounded handle is very comfortable and offers a secure feel using any grip style.




Geometry, Profile & Grind. This blade has a unique property that I don't recall seeing in any of my other knives. The front 40% of the knife works like a laser petty. The distal taper & grind ensures that it will fall through food on the push cut and thanks to a suji-like profile will slice cleanly with no stiction on the pull. This is great for soft veg and raw protein prep as well as detail work. The rear 60% works more like a narrow gyuto with a good flatish(?) profile and enough backbone to support the edge in dealing with chopping stuff and cutting through shellfish exoskeletons, meat tendons and hard veggies. (Yup...I rolled the edge)




Steel and Heat treat. I like what Don does with 52100. This is a very forgiving knife. I dug the tip into a rubber cutting board during the 'break-in' period and figured I'd snapped a few mm off. Nope. It bent. I bent it back. Can't even tell. But the blade has no flex; it's pretty stiff. I've hit bones and mango seeds. No chips. Ok, so soft steel with no edge retention right? Absolutely not. This thing gets real sharp real fast; a pleasure to work on the stones. Initial sharpness drops off a wee bit, but then just stays there for a long time. I'll hit the borosilicate rod once in a while and then a quick strop on the leather sheath. Brings it right back.
This steel performs a lot like Martell's O-1. That's a good thing.

Observations and Conclusion. I'm really happy with this purchase. Overall, I think it's a good value for the level of craftsmanship that went into it. I also didn't have to wait 2 years for it. There is one thing I would change, but this is on me because Don followed my specs exactly. The heel could be another 4-5 mm taller at this blade length. The other thing is there's a lot of distance between the choil and the front of the handle in Don's latest work. I would have spec'd it closer to his earlier designs with less space. With the density of the handle materials on this knife and the strong distal taper, that would have moved the balance point forward. Don has told me that he has played around with his own knife to move the balance point forward, and has offered to do the same modification for me. Stand up guy. 
Other than that, you'll never see this knife listed in B/S/T. And that says it all.


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## cheflarge (Jan 25, 2015)

Beautiful knife! I don't believe that I have ever heard/read a bad thing about Don's work. Or the man himself, actually. Nice review, thanks.


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## Dave Martell (Jan 25, 2015)

Great review of what is obviously a great knife. My personal thoughts on Don is that he has such a bright future ahead of him and I hope that knifemaking continues to be something that he pursues because he's got mad natural talent.


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## Zwiefel (Jan 25, 2015)

Awesome knife ecchef! Mine is certainly my favorite...and you're right on the money about it being a pleasure to sharpen and getting wicked sharp.


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## ikyjr23 (Jan 25, 2015)

Looks and sounds like the knife I want too bad my budget won't allow for this piece :'( 

Is there any knives similar to it that you know of for around 200 or less? That can do the same type of duties?


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## Dave Kinogie (Jan 27, 2015)

One day I will cop one of his knives. Always an admirer of his work.


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## sachem allison (Jan 27, 2015)

i regret not keeping any of the three I had.


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## ecchef (Jan 28, 2015)

Son, with all the weird karma you have in your life, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they come back to you someday! :biggrin:


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## ecchef (Jan 28, 2015)

ikyjr23 said:


> Is there any knives similar to it that you know of for around 200 or less? That can do the same type of duties?



I really couldn't say. The inspiration for this blade came from here: http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/4007-Some-destruction-testing!
I though that a scaled up version would be a good all-arounder. I didn't tell Don specifically how the knife was to be used, just gave him some general direction and let him do what he thought was right.


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