Steelport’s Kitchen Knives Stand out Thanks to Special Carbon Steel Heat Treat

Young kitchen knife company Steelport Knife Co. is bringing its brand of high-performance culinary cutlery to more people this year. With an emphasis on hand-finished details and high performance, Steelport’s knives are all made with the company’s proprietary version of 52100 carbon steel.

“I consider myself a food guy working in the knife world,” says Steelport co-founder, professional sharpener, and longtime knife store owner Eytan Zias. Zias spent 10 years working in the food industry before moving West and opening up the Knife House, a large kitchen knife retailer and sharpening center, in Phoenix, Arizona. He says that, with more than 100 knives brought in for sharpening a day, the Knife House provided the perfect school for learning about the working properties of steel. “You can learn a ton about different steels, construction, and geometries,” Zias notes. “As a retailer featuring one of the largest knife collections in the country, I not only get to see all the successful/unsuccessful knife details out there, but I also talk to chefs every day and see all their likes and dislikes.”

Zias really brought all this experience to bear when he partnered with Dr. Ron Khormaei to found Steelport Knife Co. two years ago. Based in Portland, Oregon, Steelport’s catalog is a small collection of kitchen knives, all featuring one-piece drop forged construction, all of the same steel, 52100 carbon. 52100 is a common sight amongst carbon steel aficionados, but Zias says the way they work with it at Steelport is special. “I think heat treat is what we do best here, and it is very important to us. To my knowledge there is no other production kitchen knife which has achieved 65HRC on 52100 (especially with our performance) and with a differential heat treat on top of that.” Edge retention is high, but Zias is quick to point out that, thanks in part to that differential heat treat, there isn’t a brittleness issue. Just as importantly, there isn’t a sharpening one either: “It is also very easy to resharpen and will respond to any abrasive (no diamond/CBN needed),” Zias confirms.

There are five models in the Steeport lineup: two chef knives (with 8 or 6-inch blades), a 4-inch paring knives, a 10-inch bread knife, or a 10-inch slicing knife. They’re sold at specialist cutlery stores across the country so the Steelport is getting its name out there, but Zias tells us the company doesn’t want to expand too quickly. “Currently we are focusing on forging integral carbon steel chef knives which we see as missing from the market – we will let you know when we have other plans though.”

Knife in Featured Image: Steelport Knife Co. 8″ Chef Knife

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