Black Lotus Knives

See what's happening with current or completed "Pass Arounds". Forum members occasionally send knives or sharpening stones around to a hand selected group of participants for short term use and feedback/reviews.
Bob Z
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Bob Z »

Got the knife last week and didn't get around to using it for a few days, but my first impression was; its heavy!

I have to agree with all that Bluenoser says though. The thicker spine cracked all of the harder ingredients, but the knife did well for softer stuff like onions, cabbage, lettuce etc, and I even managed to fine dice some garlic. Sadly i wished i could have seen the original finish from Steve but didnt want to scrub off the patina on it to see if that was still there. The patina had some interesting areas on it but lots of it was a dark pale yellow color not very attractive. The handle we perfect for size of the knife and well executed. If this were mine i would probably use it as a meat slicer also.
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Bob Z »

Looks like this one fell off the grid!
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pd7077
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by pd7077 »

The knife is currently with a Andreu. He was sick this past week, but he told me that he would be sending the knife out to Altadan today.

Jeff has been getting a bit adventurous as of late. He knows that I’m into kiridashi, and he wanted to try making one so I sent him photos and dimensions of my favorite Michio Tasai kiridashi. He forged it out of 1084/15N20 and W#2.

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--- Steve
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Altadan
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Altadan »

Adventurous you call that eh?
Darn, that looks so well done
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nakneker
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by nakneker »

pd7077 wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 6:21 am The knife is currently with a Andreu. He was sick this past week, but he told me that he would be sending the knife out to Altadan today.

Jeff has been getting a bit adventurous as of late. He knows that I’m into kiridashi, and he wanted to try making one so I sent him photos and dimensions of my favorite Michio Tasai kiridashi. He forged it out of 1084/15N20 and W#2.

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Jeff is awesome, not scared to try anything and has some serious talent. After working with him on my 260 Gyuto and having it go as well as it did I hope to get more from Black Lotus. Maybe I need one of those too! He kicked some butt on that, simple knife, yes, but simple doesn’t always come out nice. That one did!
Last edited by nakneker on Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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STPepper9
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by STPepper9 »

I'm drooling over that kiradashi
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Altadan
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Altadan »

The gyuto arrived well packed and in good condition.

First impressions:
wow, what a behemoth! And what cool patina colors it wears :)
Handle is beautiful, and strangely fitting in size and proportions (nice work, Sean!)
Cuts a cucumber as well as any knife, but will crack even short carrots (I know, nothing new to contribute).
“If we conquer our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.”
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nakneker
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by nakneker »

Altadan wrote: Wed Sep 11, 2019 1:05 pm The gyuto arrived well packed and in good condition.

First impressions:
wow, what a behemoth! And what cool patina colors it wears :)
Handle is beautiful, and strangely fitting in size and proportions (nice work, Sean!)
Cuts a cucumber as well as any knife, but will crack even short carrots (I know, nothing new to contribute).
Thanks Dan!
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Altadan
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Altadan »

Second impressions:

This thing has a beautiful mirror finish under all that patina
the cladding line is gorgeous
The handle is the biggest I've ever held, but still - as mentioned before - strangely fitting this very, very chunky knife.
I kept thinking that CJM would do a great job thinning this thing... but then I recalled that this is the work of an American smith, so he could do it himself! haha
In my kitchen where carrots and sweeties are staple, this thing is just too big and too thick to be very useful or desirable :\ Please excuse me!
If it were mine, I'd say there was an amazing blade still hiding inside its wrought iron shell. It just needs to be coaxed out ;)

On a more positive note, I was making a gratin the other day, and while slicing them sweet potatoes was not much fun, I did discover that both on sweets and on golden potatoes, the very back part of the blade, near the heel, the knife had some great food release. I've a video of it, but I'll try to post that one later.
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J david
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by J david »

Looking forward to the video Dan. I always enjoy them.
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pd7077
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by pd7077 »

I haven’t used the knife (I just polished her up and sent her to Sean for the handle), but the comments thus far are pretty much in line with what I expected based on the grind I saw. Most people tend to gravitate towards thinner, laserish grinds, but those that know me can attest to the fact that I love thicker workhorse grinds. The grind on this knife is thicker than what Jeff normally makes, but it’s pretty much in line with the specs that I asked him for. I agree with Dan that some minor tweaks would result in improved performance, but I’ve always had a preference for food release in spite of the hindered performance with denser ingredients. I have another knife on order with Jeff that will have his standard grind so I might end up doing another passaround with that knife so that some of the participants of this passaround can get a feel of what else Jeff can do.

Side note: I’ve been playing around with the kiridashi Jeff made for me, and I ended up etching it a bit so that I could get the Damascus to show on the bevel. I’ll get some pics up of it soon.
--- Steve
Bluenoser87
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Bluenoser87 »

I’ll chime in here again on this one. Sean was gracious enough to send me his other Black Lotus to try after I was done with the passaround. This one has a pretty wild twisted Damascus cladding and is 257g and 257x53mm with Jeff’s “medium” grind. It behaves completely differently to the passaround blade and probably more in line with what I was expecting. It flies through carrots and dense veggies no problem. I don’t want to derail the passaround thread, I just thought it was worth mentioning now that I’ve used another BL. I was so impressed with both of these knives that I’m now on Jeff’s books for a knife now too, probably with a medium grind or something similar.
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appleton
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by appleton »

Hi all,

Just received the B.Lotus; it arrived in good shape. Out of the box:
- The handle is a touch small, but plenty good. And matches the balance of the knife.
- The balance is quite good. About 5 to 8mm in front of the logo vs. maybe....275g? (will check tomorrow) - it moves well.
- The distal taper makes sense, given the weight. But I'll need to cut with it to confirm.
- The cladding looks to be fun, and I am interested to see how the patina will deepen. Out of curiosity, does anyone know who the supplier of the wrought iron was?
- I prefer thicker grinds, and this one looks promising.

Also: nak has done a great job with the handle, and the polisher (pd and andreu?) have thrown a nice skin on the blade.

I'll prep with it tomorrow/Tuesday, and update.

~apple
appleton
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by appleton »

I've had a few sessions with the Lotus:

In Short: The Lotus has a very good: weight/balance, handle, and feel. And a decent edge. I think the distal taper's transition, and the edge-to-spine transition could be improved. Aesthetically, the wrought iron looks great.




Lotus was tested against enchiladas, a roast, and chicken- each with assorted veg. It was tested against this month's knife rotation. I have not stoned the Lotus, but will do so if time permits.

Pros:
- The cladding is stable enough against rust.
- Great weight/balance.
- nimble enough.
- has a good feel when rock chopping and push chopping.
- it's heft gives it a good feel when slicing protein.
- handles thin cuts well enough.
- does well on softer veg.
- wedges on carrots, celery stacks, and quartering onions - but its hefty enough to pull through.
- decent edge (is it 51200?).

Cons:
- deleted for fairness.
- wedged on squash and harder veg.
- a tip-to-heel cut doesn't feel...smooth?
- food release could be improved.
slobound
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by slobound »

Bluenoser87 wrote: Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:46 pm The first thing I did was marvel at the patina on the blade and wonder what on earth Garrick was cutting to do that. I think I can see his thumbprint in the patina too! The blade looks very reactive and I was initially a little worried about it. Some spots almost look like rust but it’s mostly a nice blue/purple patina. After using it for a week the patina didn’t really change much so it seems pretty stable but it’ll be interesting to see how this develops as it makes the rounds. The patina does unfortunately hide a lot of the wild finish Steve put on the blade.
Yea, I found that the knife was crazy reactive but wore a nice patina when parting out a whole roasted chicken and some tritip. I thought it was funny that it held my thumbprint too. I guess I have to keep my iPhone away from you guys :lol:
-- Garrick
appleton
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by appleton »

For sure Slo, that patina is legit. I stoned a few portions of the cladding before sending it off, and that wrought iron is quite nice.
Marc4pt0
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Marc4pt0 »

I'm just now seeing this pass around thread, and quite saddened that I missed it. Spring and summer were just too crazy.

This thread has been a Very enjoyable read thus far. I've definitely been admiring the works of Black Lotus. Some seriously beautiful stuff.
Cutuu
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Cutuu »

I have the knife.
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Jeff B
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Jeff B »

Marc4pt0 wrote: Fri Oct 11, 2019 7:40 pm I'm just now seeing this pass around thread, and quite saddened that I missed it. Spring and summer were just too crazy.

This thread has been a Very enjoyable read thus far. I've definitely been admiring the works of Black Lotus. Some seriously beautiful stuff.
If Steve doesn't mind, you can take my place. He can work you into the order where he sees best. I am so swamped with work for the next month or so I don't think I'll have the time to truly enjoy having it here.
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: Black Lotus Knives

Post by Marc4pt0 »

Jeff B wrote: Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:18 pm
Marc4pt0 wrote: Fri Oct 11, 2019 7:40 pm I'm just now seeing this pass around thread, and quite saddened that I missed it. Spring and summer were just too crazy.

This thread has been a Very enjoyable read thus far. I've definitely been admiring the works of Black Lotus. Some seriously beautiful stuff.
If Steve doesn't mind, you can take my place. He can work you into the order where he sees best. I am so swamped with work for the next month or so I don't think I'll have the time to truly enjoy having the here.
That's very kind of you, Jeff. Greatly appreciated. But I'd feel guilty taking your spot. Definitely not trying to squeeze myself in here. Sorry.
Yes, I'd love to have a crack at this, but don't want to "take anyone's place", if that makes sense
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