Blade
- The blade on the Super Bread Fusion 2.0 is the main reason I've picked that knife for testing. About 215.00mm(.5") cutting edge, that'd be the length on the straight line, obviously wave pattern on the edge makes actual cutting surface longer, but that's a different aspect. As mentioned above, compared with western mainstream knives Super Bread knife is really thin, just 2.33mm thick. That is in line with Japanese kitchen knives. For the record, the blade tang is about 1mm thicker then the blade, also based on the information on the New West Knife Works I know that the tang has cutouts to reduce its weight. I don't think it affects rigidity, tang itself is short enough relative to its thickness. That's not to say the handle is short, to the contrary. Mainly it's done for the balance and weight reduction. Ok, moving on. At the heel the blade measures 48mm. Reasonable width for the length, and overall blade looks quite proportional. The blade geometry resembles a gyuto, I am referring to general shape and the back line, not the kris type edge :) The blade has nice satin finish, no scratches or blemishes were present. Granton grooves are evenly spaced and ground. Like I said above, there was a minor problem with slightly overground tip, about 0.5mm, which would probably go unnoticed by 99% of the people, and doesn't affect functionality, that is the cutting ability of the Super Bread Knife. About an inch at the blade tip is a straight edge, which is super useful when you need more delicate cuts with the tip, or get into the tight places. Obviously, you are rather unlikely to use Super Bread as a paring knife, in a choke grip, but still, that tip was useful on many occasions during my tests.
The edge on the Super Bread knife was very sharp out of the box. As most of the bread knives, the edge is ground from one side, the other is flat. I am not so sure how much the term chisel edge applies here, but in the cross section it is still a chisel edge :) Like I said, sharpness out of the box was high, but what I wasn't too happy about, was the coarse primary edge grind. Actually, it was rather strange combination of polish and rough grind. To be precise, the primary grind on the edge was coarse, but the edge was close to the mirror polished. You can see some of that in this edge closeup photo. I am not sure whether or not that was intentional, but it would've been nicer if the edge was polished. Yes, I know the theory about rough edges cutting better, especially on the slicer like Super Bread, but coarse finish was on the primary edge grind, which isn't in direct contact with the medium anyway. Besides, that coarse edge stuff works on cardboard and highly abrasive mediums like carpet and ropes, for traditional food though, polished, thin edges cut and last a lot longer. The very edge still had mirror polished finish and it cut just fine through all the tests. Sharpening wavy edge like on Super Bread knife isn't as easy as sharpening the straight edge, and polishing out those grooves would've taken long time, so I gave up. After all, it wasn't worse than the edge finish on mainstream kitchen knives. The only reason I mention that part and overground tip section, is that I was holding this knife to higher standard and expecting more from it in sharpening department, especially given its price. On the positive side, sharpening the edge on the Super Bread is considerably easier than on any other bread knife I have had before. Plus, the wider wave pattern allows for a more versatile knife and cuts are much more smooth, vs. rips produced by standard serrated bread and other knives. I'll discuss various cutting in detail in the usage section.
CPM S35VN
- Finally, before I move on to the handle section, let's mention the other important part of the Super Bread knife, Crucible CPM S35VN steel. You can think of it as an evolution, or the next step after CPM S30V steel if you will. Both alloys have quite a bit in common, they were both developed by Crucible, (which, later became part of Latrobe, and which in turn later became part of Carpenter if you are curious, although I ma having hard time keeping up with all those things). Both alloys were developed specifically for knife blades, both times renowned knifemakers were consulted. It is not a common practice in western metallurgy at least, and I can't say Japanese are spoiled by dedicated knife steels either, though they seem to have more. How much of an improvement and in what areas CPM S35VN is over CPM S30V is not that simple to tell. And given the test kitchen knife with wave style edge I'd have very hard time doing comparisons. So, I simply ignored that part, I mean S30V vs. S35VN. For those who like numbers here CPM S30V vs. CPM S35VN composition comparison graph. In general, S35VN is slightly less wear resistant compared to S30V, but has a bit better toughness. That's a simplified view of the matters. In practice, individual heat treatment protocols and blade geometry can make much greater difference then the choice between those two alloys. Well, all that is fascinating and I could go on for hours about knife steel comparison, but that is outside of the scope of this review. What is in the scope is the fact that, this was the very first CPM S35VN kitchen knife I have ever handled, at 60-61 HRC it is matching mid or even some high end Japanese kitchen knives, blade geometry and thickness or thinness was also comparable, so it was pretty interesting to test.I have to give the credit to New West Knife Works for both, using a modern alloy like CPM S35VN, and especially for using it at its full potential, and not at 58-60HRC as others do. There is a huge difference in performance between 58 and 61 HRC and it does affect edge thickness and cutting performance, and the edge longevity. While there is a theoretical chance that both knives will end up at 60HRC, it is far more likely average CRK Sikayo will be 1-2 pt softer. Head to head tests just confirmed that. Check NWKK site for those. Making a high end kitchen knife, does imply getting the max out of the steel for a given design and I think NWKK did just that. Yes, a harder steel is harder to machine, more expensive to heat treat and a bit more difficult to sharpen, but it pays off in terms of performance and makes a higher grade product, especially for the kitchen knives which are note meant to be used as axes or sharpened in the "field" whatever that might be, because I can't imagine taking a simple DMT diafold sharpener to the same "field" along with a 300$ knife being a serious problem. I suppose for an average kitchen knife user CPM S35VN is perhaps a better choice, because of its increased toughness. Main problem with the kitchen knives at higher hardness as usual becomes inexperienced users chipping the edge or in worst cases breaking them. While S30V has better wear resistance, in the kitchen wear resistance isn't as critical for average consumer, as increased toughness is. At least not until they learn how to use kitchen knives properly. That is one of the reasons, mainstream western knives feel more durable for lots of people, because they can bang them through the frozen chicken and the knife won't break. Nevermind that it's dull, it ain't broke :) Well, it ain't a knife anymore either...
Sharpening
- Considering that the knife was being tested for several weeks, and it went through the hands of several of my friends, none of which are as gentle on knives as I am, I did need to sharpen the Super Bread knife more than once. All in all, the blade was never chipped. Obviously, that(absence of chipping) made sharpening easier. I suppose, summary description of the CPM S35VN steel as a tougher and a bit less wear resistant version of the CPM S30V steel does have a merit. Anyway, with sharpening the Super Bread knife main problem is the waved edge, otherwise, CPM S35VN as a steel, even at 61HRC is fairly easy to sharpen. Even though CPM S35VN has several carbide formers in its composition Cr, Mo, V and Nb, still it is nowhere near in terms of sharpening difficulty compared to high Vanadium alloys like CPM 10V steel, which I love for its performance by the way. As far as serrated and non straight edges go, Super Bread is considerably easier to sharpen than Gude Bread knife or Global Bread knife, and let's not forget there are bunch of serration types not sharpenable at home at all. Waves on the edge are much wider compared to traditional bread knives and because of that it's easier to get in there without super specialized tools. I myself predominantly used round ceramic rod which comes with Edge Pro sharpening system. As I said in the blade section, the edge wasn't mirror polished, and if I wanted to spend enough time, I could've done it using progressively fine grit sandpaper rolled on the same ceramic rod or something similar. That however wasn't the objective, I just wanted the knife to be reasonably sharp and fine grit ceramic rod was able to restore the edge in minutes each time. Chisel edge means you only need to sharpen one side, which obviously cuts the time needed for sharpening in half. Overall, edge durability was quite high and it was easy to restore, which is a definite plus, especially for those who are not too skilled in sharpening. That's not to say you don't have to know anything about sharpening, in order to sharpen Super Bread or any other knife. I've seen more than enough edges destroyed with all sorts of fool proof sharpeners.Handle
- Now about the handle, which I don't really like as in it is too colorful to my taste :). However, that is a matter of taste and has no bearing on the knife performance of handle comfortability. By the way, New West produces Phoenix series with solid color handles, they have a custom shop as well and as I understand cocobolo is another handle material option as well. Since it was a test and I wasn't gonna own the knife, I specifically chose the knife that is in their flagship line. For the record, all of the ladies who had a chance to check out the knife, and cut stuff with it, had an opinion which was the exact opposite of mine, shortly summarized as "Oh, this is so cute!". Alright, cute it is :) I still prefer Japanese WA type octagonal handles, preferably in black with small insets, or something else. Anyway, I had no complaint about the craftsmanship, slabs were well fitted, rivets flushed and there were no gaps, wobbling or any other problems observed during the initial inspection. One thing I noticed immediately, the handle felt a bit slim compared to what I am used to. I assumed it wouldn't be an issue when using the knife in a pinch grip. I was able to adapt quickly, but even after using the knife for total of 20 hours of cutting in a dozen, prolonged cutting sessions, I still felt that something was a bit awkward on occasion, especially when I'd pick up one of my own knives for comparison cutting, even though in the pinch grip I wouldn't be gripping the whole handle. On the other hand, everyone else who worked with the same knife, regardless of the gender, didn't report slim handle impression, nor did they have a problem with some of the knives I used in the same tests, although handles on my Yanagibas are on the larger side for most of the people, and I find them comfy. I suppose partly because I have larger palms and partly because I am used to those handles. Slim or not, I didn't notice grip security problems with wet hands, and while messing with Avocados, which are quite oily grip was less secure, although still reasonably good.On its own, the Super Bread handle is quite comfortable, user friendly shape. As for the fusionwood, it is multiple layers of hardwood, impregnated with proprietary resin, under the vacuum. In other words, it's a complicated process, which in the end needs precision machining or sculpting, etc. Overall, it should make a very durable handle, but still, I wouldn't recommend neglecting the handles or putting them in a dishwasher. I cannot attest to the handle durability, for one I didn't try to abuse it, two, it'd take a long time to notice durability issues, but from what I know about it and based on the New West knives info, it is a durable handle. Like I said, I am not sure what hot temperatures in a dishwasher would do to the handle and the resin in it, might be nothing, but can't be good for sure. As for the rest, if you like colored handles, then Fusionwood handles come in multiple colors, so that you can pick and choose to your hearts content.