Paid very little for it, the geometry is thin and it took a scary edge on my stones in about ten minutes. Problems: it rusts if I look at it wrong, the handle is a loose piece of wood on a rat tail tang, and I have no idea what the steel is. Is there a sensible way to test whether the blade is worth spending a weekend and the cost of new scales on.
I spent a full weekend rehandling a blade that turned out to roll its edge on onions. Test first, handle second. That order costs nothing to follow.
Rust on a bare carbon blade is not a defect, it is the maintenance contract you signed. Wipe it dry between ingredients, never leave it wet in the sink, and let it build a patina rather than polishing it back to bright every time. Mine has been dark grey for years and rust stopped being a thing I think about once the patina settled. If that sounds like an unwelcome relationship, sell it and buy stainless, because no rehandle fixes it.
I have been scouring it back to bright after every wash, which explains a lot. Letting it go dark from now on.
I do rehandles as a hobby and the honest accounting is that scales, pins, epoxy and finish are not expensive but the time is: shaping, fitting and finishing a handle properly is most of a weekend for a first attempt, and first attempts are usually slightly wonky. For a knife with unknown steel, I would do the cheapest possible version first, which is a simple wooden handle glued and pinned with no fancy shaping, and live with it for six months before deciding whether it deserves the good wood.
The unpopular answer is that you can buy a known carbon steel knife from a maker with a real reputation for a fairly modest sum, and if you value your weekend at anything at all, that is cheaper than a rehandle plus the risk that the steel is rubbish. Souvenir knives are worth keeping because you were there, not because they are secretly bargains. Keep it, use it for soft work, and buy the good one for daily cooking.
@mat_mira · 5mo ago · 3 replies
Test the blade before you commit any hours, because the handle work is the expensive part in time and the blade decides everything. Sharpen it properly, then use it for a full week of normal cooking including a couple of sessions on hard vegetables, and see whether the edge is still biting on day seven or has rolled by day two. A soft blade will feel wonderful on the stones, because soft steel sharpens beautifully, and then fold the moment it meets a squash. If it holds a week of home use, it is a good knife and worth rehandling.
Reply
Report
@carbon_steel_cam · 5mo ago
A week of squash and carrots it is. It sharpened so easily that your soft steel warning is now nagging at me.
Reply
Report
@migration_marek · 5mo ago
Easy sharpening is not proof of anything either way, plenty of excellent carbon steel sharpens fast. It only tells you something when combined with how it holds up.
Reply
Report