Military-Grade Cuts: The Extrema Ratio Kitchen Knives Review

If you're looking to upgrade your kitchen cutting tools to the extremes, the Extrema Ratio kitchen knives are what you should have.

The collection of knives offered by Extrema Ratio is intricate and high quality with a touch of strictness and discipline in material, function, and design. Extrema will change how you view your kitchen knives—one from something casual and functional to something that's loaded.  

Let's get to know the brand and the kitchen knives collection to bring the extremes in your kitchen.

The Extrema Ratio Brand

The Extrema Ratio brand has been dedicated to creating high-performance knives since 1997. This brand grew its roots in Prato, Italy, and flourished by serving the toughest, most disciplined members of society–the military and the law enforcers.

The Extrema Ratio team adapted themselves to a high standard to meet the needs of their chosen consumer group. They select only the finest materials and apply their hands to craft the best kitchen knives worthy to serve alongside Kitchen Patrols (KP) and cooks in any chow hall.

Diligent product research is done during the development stages.

Apart from the thorough development process and designing, the Extrema Ratio involves the Armed Forces directly for functionality and quality inputs. They provide feedback for each kitchen knife being designed and participate in field testing knife prototypes to meet the army's rigorous standards. 

If the input is positive, the Extrema Ratio team follows through and produces numerous batches to assemble and finish using their hands. Experienced craftsmen inspect the quality of each hand-assembled item thoroughly before it makes it to the surface to be bought and used. This is how Extrema Ratio makes good kitchen knives.

As a reputable brand all over the world, Extrema Ratio prides in its products made from hard-working hands, an eye for quality, and consumer involvement—making it one of the best knife manufacturers in the country.

Types of Kitchen Knives Offered by Extrema

The Extrema Ratio is most famous for manufacturing high-quality tactical, hunting, and combat knives, but they have also created a product line dedicated to the kitchen. Here are some of the custom kitchen knives they've created solely for bringing high quality and function to the household or military kitchen.

Butcher Knife / Heavy Knife (Genovese)

Extrema Ratio's Genovese knife is known as the cleaver or butcher knife. The Scandi grind profile makes it easy for this knife to chop through thick chunks of meat and bone with a good downward swing. There's a lot of weight behind the bevel that would assist its force. The entirety of the blade's design is unique. 

There's an added area on the blade's spine where the hole for hanging is located. The edge of the blade also extends right at the bottom of the bolster. As a result, the spine brings more weight to the downswing, and the extended edge increases the length of the cut. The Extrema Ratio's Genovese model is built to chop something tough and heavier than your normal meat cleaver.

Vegetable Knife (Kato)

This vegetable knife designed by Extrema Ratio looks like a long version of a pocket hunting knife. The blade has adapted a Sheepsfoot point profile but is slightly less pointy for safety. The slight curvature on the edge allows you to perform a rocking motion that is pretty convenient when slicing up vegetables. The flat grind profile is more than enough for the user to cut vegetables. 

But this knife, on the other hand, could do something more. It can handle bigger vegetable items or may even be used as a substitute for your kitchen knife if the only task is to slice and dice things. The blade is also full tang, and the bolster length extends down to the edge of the knife. These design features are proof enough that Extrema Ratio is taking this simple vegetable knife to extreme levels, widening its range of use.

Ham Knife (Pernae)

The Pernae is probably the most uncomplicated kitchen knife design among the Extrema Ratio knives collection. It's stripped off of the scale, so the blade and handle are all made of Bohler steel. This is compensated with a longer blade of 8.97 inches that could easily slice a thick chunk of ham from top to bottom in a single stroke. 

There's no point profile for this knife, as it is fully dedicated to slicing, which is a good thing. The blade is also the thinnest at only 2 millimeters and could slice ham or any soft chuck of cooked meat to thin slices with efficiency.

Carving Knife (Waki and Mato Grosso)

There are two carving knives offered by Extrema Ratio: the Waki and Mato Grosso. The difference between the two is subtle, but both can still do the job of carving up chunks of meat from a slab for portioning.

The Waki's point profile looks like a tanto blade. This model aims to be seen as a carving knife with a tactical purpose. This would be great for outdoor use because the point is a bit edgy, which can help out when trying to pierce the meat's skin and easily start the carving process.

On the other hand, the Mato Grosso adapts your usual drop point profile. This knife is really meant for cutting slabs of meat that has already been dressed prior. Other characteristics of this blade support this function: it's longer than the Waki blade, which gives you more carving capabilities, it's also lighter, so you can easily maneuver it. But this knife doesn't have the tactical features, so you'll have to keep it indoors.

In Focus: Extrema Ratio Psycho 24 Knife

We're putting the focus on the apex of all of Extrema Ratio's kitchen knives—the Psycho 24. This knife would be equivalent to a chef's knife with tactical elements put into it.

Design 

The Psycho 24's design screams tactical. Its design looks like one of those edgy combat knives but is dialed down for use in the kitchen. However, there are familiar elements that make it look like your standard chef knife.

Drop point – this blade point profile is typical of any chef's knife. The drop point allows the knife to use the tip for a more intricate slice or pierce soft food ingredients. It also enables rocking motion so you can slice food items efficiently. The tip is broad enough to discourage any deep perforation.

Flat grind – this grind profile is the best for slicing. Since there is no bevel on the edge, your slices will be symmetrical. In addition, the flat grind offers precision slices so expect a smooth, straight slice line.

Full tang – What's really cool about Psycho 24's tang design is that it incorporates the lanyard hole at the tip of the metal, so you know the blade will stick to the handle scale if you lift the entire knife from the lanyard attached.

Material

The Bohler N690 cobalt stainless steel blade is known for its excellent edge retention capabilities. The combination of cobalt and steel is vicious enough to endure a series of heavy-duty blunting in the kitchen.

The Forprene material of the handle is also a tough one. This is the same material used for the drive belt of cars—an essential component that connects every other component to the crankshaft. Forprene is a trusted material that stays tough for a very long time.

Features

• Its Rockwell hardness of 58 falls within the standards of a good chef knife. The blade can compete side-by-side with the best Japanese knives when it comes to toughness.

• The handle material has thermal and electric insulation features. The handle will adapt to a high temperature if the kitchen becomes too hot.

• The stainless steel blade and the Forprene handle are both abrasion-resistant. It can withstand scratches and bumps, accidental or otherwise.

• There's an added choil feature on the bottom of the blade to signal you that the edge ends where the choil begins whenever you're sharpening the knife.

Highlights

• A full tang blade so it's sturdy and balanced in terms of weight distribution.
• Extended tang incorporates a lanyard hole for a reliable hold on the entire knife.
• Edgy blade design and features.

Lowlights

• The thick ricasso between the handle and the blade seems unnecessary.
• The handle's hollow section looks edgy but feels uncomfortable.

Conclusion

The Extrema Ratio kitchen knives took the concept of kitchen knives to the extreme. They have proven that combining military standards with Italian blade craftsmanship will result in a premium-grade cutting tool worthy of any kitchen. 

Getting the Psycho 24 would be like getting an Italian sports car equivalent to a European kitchen knife. A cutting tool with superior materials with top-grade quality and detailed knife craftsmanship. That's what Extrema Ratio offers.

If you’d like to know more about other brands that offer different kinds of quality knives, check out our other reviews here.