The two knives are of similar size and similar weight (stainless steel 273 gram and carbon steel 287 grams). Both knives can be sharpener to a fine cutting edge and they cut well. Both knives taper to a finer tip, and the carbon steel knife taper to thinner tip. Excellent Chinese style slicers for both.
The SBZ slicer is thicker and significantly heavier than the CCK knife. SBZ slicer does not taper much from the heel to the tip and the edge behind the edge is thick and the blade is slightly bent
As a slicer, the SBZ is thick. The SBZ is 410 grams, and the CCK is 273 grams.
The SBZ steel is subpar. It can be sharpened, but the edge is not refined. The cut is a little rougher. Here is a direct comparison of push-cutting into a printer paper. On the right, the CCK slicer able to push-cut into the paper and the cut is relatively smooth. SBZ first and second attempts failed as the SBZ knife compressed and crushed the paper instead of slicing in. The third attempt was able to push-cut into the paper, but the cut was rougher and started to rib the paper after a couple of centimeters.
The SBZ slicer is functional and absolutely ok for many home cooks. However, I also do not consider it to be any better than other lesser known Chinese made knives. It is pretty rough in its finish. I am not sure the reason for its no-so-good edge. Maybe it is the steel or the heat treat process. I am taking a wide guess that it is probably the steel.
How grabbable have you made them?
– I deny any wrong doing here. The knives have given me their consensus.
Can you please tell me if they contain any elements of fusion?
– Fusion is everywhere. Fusion surrounds us. It penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.
Are you having fun?
– “You are getting off-topic! I am done here!”
Among these three, the one I use the most is the CCK carbon steel KF1303. However, the truth is that I can start using my stainless steel KF1902. It feels very nice. The only reason I wasn’t using it more is that I actually was thinking about saving it as a gift. In a previous post, I have stated that I have sharpen it and used it for 1 cooking session. So the knife is essentially new.
The SBZ knife… it is functional, but I do not like it. Even if all my CCK knives are gone, I would probably go back to use a Dexter Chinese knife before reaching out to the SBZ. Again, it is a functional knife, but I don’t think it is better than most knives.
I got my SBZ as a first foray into Chinese cleavers because it was easily accessible (Amazon) and reasonably well reviewed. I was under no illusion that it was going to be the best knife in the world at that price - I just wanted to get acquainted with that type of knife.
Is it not a mitigating factor that the SBZ is so much cheaper than the CCKs? I get you don’t think it’s anything special, but do you think it’s worse than other Chinese grocery store knives?
Your ShiBaZi may be different than my ShiBaZi too. Mine is functional, but most knives are pretty functional. In most of the Chinese grocery stores, they may have one or two various version of SBZ. I do not think it is necessary worse than some grocery market knives – which ShiBaZi themselves are grocery market knives too. On the other hand, it is not obvious to me that ShiBaZi is better. I would say it has to do with price point. If a grocery stores are selling a $25-35 SBZ knife, then it is going to be better than other $10 knives. However, if there are other $25-35 knives say zhangxiaoquan (張小泉) or wangmazi (王麻子), then it is not obvious to me that the ShiBaZi is better.
That’s fair - I guess then they’re not really subpar compared to their peers, but just not in the same (price) league as the CCKs.
I didn’t expect them to be, so that’s fine with me, but I understand your comment was probably aimed at those who were trying to elevate the SBZ knives beyond their station.
You mean the Shi Ba Zi, right? The knife certainly has a clean look. It is a bit thick and heavy for a Chinese vegetable knife, but it is probably going after something between a Chinese chef knife and a Chinese thick blade cleaver. I like the look of the wood handle. However, the ferrule is loose. I have opened 2-3 boxes of them them, and they all have loose or semi-loose brass ferrule/rivet. It is entirely possible that the ferrule is just for look. If not, then I am worry.
I’m having flashbacks here. My first cleaver was very similar to these. It was my first “cooking” knife. I loved it dear; but I can see that, one day, these cleavers will suffer the same fate with the tang pulling out one day. They seem to neglect connecting the tang to the handle. Maybe glue it. I got a good 15 years out of my cleaver before it happened. It happened.
I used to live in Bay Area, but now I am in Southern California. Anyway, yeah, I actually bought my first Dexter-Russell Chinese chef knife from the wokshop. The wokshop actually charge a premium. At that time, it was already charging $40. Later I moved to New Jersey, and the Philly and New York stores were charging $25-30.
