The latest and greatest by one of the best in the business upholds in every way the extraordinary standards he has set for his culinary artwork: by bladesmith Salem Straub, Constrained Vibrations is the freshest chef knife to be cooked up at his Washington studio. The blade, measuring 262mm / 10.3" long and 63mm tall, is shaped from a newly conceived mosaic damascus pattern that merges dense and open elements, perpendicular and parallel lines, and stretched and condensed forms, which tiled together form a striking and detailed metallic artwork that flows from the integral forged bolster to tip. Light and thin, the entire object weighing under eight ounces, the blade enjoys Salem's usually superb compound 'S-grind' bevel geometry above a thin, hard, razor-sharp edge. The dimensions in tandem with Salem's carefully calibrated heat-treatment process results in no small degree of lateral flexibility in the forward half of the blade. Tapering steadily along the rounded spine, the blade's width from top to bottom slims until a fine, pointed, yet not-delicate tip is reached, perfect for all manner of slicing and detail work. Comfort and control are provided by a Western style handle in spalted maple wood with a stunning combination of curved faces and flat facets, set with an heirloom-fit Zildjian Cymbal bronze spacer, and capped with a silicon bronze retention bolt cap at the rear.
