I have to admit, these have me very intrigued.When I become rich, I am buying one. http://sandrinknives.com/index.html
An interesting idea, but there's a reason pure carbide (normally) isn't used for knives instead of steel. Carbide, by itself, is brittle. Very hard, super wear resistant, but very brittle. A pure carbide blade would be a very delicate thing indeed. From a practical standpoint, I don't like the idea of a pure carbide blade. It would have virtually no ductility or lateral or torsional strength, and it would be virtually impossible to sharpen. Let alone reprofile, or remove the inevitable chips. Carbide cutting bits for things like lathes, or even those "garden tool sharpeners" you can get at a hardware store are nearly always a 90 degree corner, or "edge", which gives the material a lot of strength due to the super steep angle. Reduce that angle down to an acceptably thin knife edge, and you loose that support of the material, and it becomes delicate, and easy to damage. Now, having carbides properly distributed throughout a far tougher, more malleable steel matrix is the way to go. But that's just my thoughts on it. Those blades do look nice, regardless.
"The sound delivered by the crisp mechanical and authoritative report of the blade on opening and again as it is locked closed has been engineered through controlling the machining and fit tolerances of each of Clemente's 26 parts to the micron level – measured in millionths of a meter. A single human hair is typically 75 microns wide – the precision of the part-to-part fit in Clemente is exactly 1.02 microns, exceeding even those standards expected of the high-technology and aerospace industries. That precision and intentional design not just of parts but in how those parts interact with each other creates the “Clemente sound;” a sound unlike anything previously heard by the human ear. It is a sound as indescribable as it is unnameable, the human tongue incapable of creating language to adequately codify its auditory properties. Clemente is euphoric. Clemente is transcendent, and beyond comprehension. It is a beautiful tragedy to experience, and that for no other reason than once it has been heard, felt and observed – that first may never again be experienced." say what? sound what? carbide sound? Clemente sound? what the **** is this ****?
They had me at this: from their site: "sharp and fine enough to perform multiple cuts on even a single red blood cell"
Agitated? I'm not picking up on that at all. I do agree that the description sounds kinda....abstract.
As detailed above, carbide would not be my choice of material in a knife blade. Maybe in a small edge that only needed good wear resistance and other properties didn't matter. Having a decade of experience in machine trades I've seen plenty of carbide cutting tools. A good high speed steel end mill or lathe bit, for example, can get much sharper, and doesn't chip (typically) when it dulls. While carbide has other advantages and is used in that industry for a reason, understand that all cutting tools are consumable items in manufacturing. For a knife I intended to both use frequently (not babying it) and keep a long time, I'm skeptical of a completely carbide blade. I would be interested to see how it performs. I'd hate to try and resharpen it without an appropriate grinder though.
Carbide is ceramic. This is a ceramic knife. Those exist. Industrial carbide cutters use steel holders for a reason--not only is it crazy expensive, but replacing a small piece when it wears out is much more economical than replacing an entire blade. The cutting angle found on carbide cutters is usually pretty thick to avoid chipping.
oh im well versed with what a carbide knife is .....this crap though is bovine soil. For the record I was not calling out Chessie either, but the MFG of the knife
I'm just saying that their product isn't exactly revolutionary and is subject to pretty much all the same failings that plague other ceramic knives. In short, it's polishing a turd. Pretty much the only situations ceramic knives are good for are low-impact low-abrasion tasks that even very basic steels are capable of handling very well, without the brittleness issue. Also, factory edges almost universally suck, and ceramic knives are notoriously difficult to sharpen. Even using diamond stones they tend to get chipped edges.
The folder looks uncomfortably thick, and the backspacer is uneven from front to rear. Not sure if that's intentional, but seems a little less precise than the short novel describes.
Their fixed blades look like something you can buy from Knifekits.com I don't mean to rag on the company. It just peeves me when I see a company/knifemaker that relies more on marketing than actual design and engineering. I'm sure they make great knives, but they definitely lack any design imagination. And for $1300, I'd rather more knife and less nuclear code box.
Oh no doubt carbide can be tough when it's in a large block form, but the whole carbide knife idea would fail for the same reasons a solid carbide ring can shatter if dropped from waist height into a tile floor. When you reduce the thickness and mass amount of material supporting it, it becomes very delicate.
