Holly Aura Two - a $499 Beast

what is up folks this gorgeous 9.5 inch curved beauty has a bit of a story to it please allow me to explain however I do want to respect your time if you want to go ahead and jump to where the review starts scrub along here in the video or the timecode in the description will take you to where the nitty gritty begins on this knife okay you're still here you want the story awesome the year was 2014 I was working as a chef de Partie at the French Laundry at the time and I somehow or another got this advertisement for this knife that was made with cryogenically treated steel gemstone counterweights in the handle a one-of-a-kind burl would handle custom pins and a blade profile that was designed to reinforce the motion of rock chopping all while at the same time being made here in the US okay you have my attention so I started to do my research this guy nowa was making these knives by hand in California and the price wasn't all that expensive remember at the time I had a knee knocks in a pretty esteemed box in my head and there 9.5 inch chef's knives go for close to $800 so to see someone playing with knives in a similar bracket at four to six hundred dollars was just insane to me I want to even say that back then he was taking orders for knives where he would cast the grip of your hand in clay and then model the knife handle off of that so it was truly made for your fingers as you hold it it was just an insane so long story short I never bet the bullet I was just making above minimum wage I was in all that sound with my finances and I didn't really need it my knife prep was too intricate to justify a workhorse like that so I moved to Seattle in 2017 that whole three-year span I was following the guys at aura where they were just creating I was watching them grow and that's writer at the time when I met this guy named Matt Broussard most of you know Matt I've had him on the podcast he's got a really fun IG and YouTube channel and I see whoa he's cooking with aura knives that's super cool little do I know Matt and Noah the owner of aura are super tight homies and I asked Noah on Instagram now that I've finally got this platform where I review gear for chefs I said hey man do you want to collaborate on a video and he answers and he goes you can either wait for this or oh one which is one of their higher-end knives to get back from a loan or I've got a Hollywood handled or a two left I've got just one and I will give you a discount for making a video on it let me know and so in my head I figure why not go to the guy with the most aura knives I know and try before I buy so here's a vlog from that evening we need a few of these let's go look at that so wet and rainy and cold outside and we are here on january 9th 2019 I went to this place called Dick's drive-in can I have a deluxe and a cheeseburger and an order of fries please got dinner just kidding I'm not making at this place called episode it's just if I don't eat now I'm not gonna eat until later tonight Dick's is not my favorite burger ever but Anna and I used to live really close to here and we used to come here all the time because it was like super cheap and super convenient close to our house and so I never come here anymore but if you come here you should order the deluxe and a cheeseburger the fries are always kind of a soggy though okay we are actually here now and I've been texting with my friend Matt because he has this knife that I've really wanted to check out forever and so he said do you want to come over and get your hands on version 1 version 2 let's go check it out what's up my dude we're doing a fake unboxing now yeah so this is how the aura used to come I love this check it out like handmade in California it's carved on here like this is a box you don't want to throw away and then you open it up get a moss oh my god that's sick that is sick you like hand wrote a note from you there yep and they don't have like instructions for the carrying of the blade I guess give me a rundown what's here what's your relationship what's here what's the story so no uh he saw some pictures on my Instagram and so they were all Japanese knives he's a fan and he's like I need to get you some American steel so he sent me this one got it which I was too much this was like about five years ago and I was like a new fresh cook a palace kitchen yeah fresh to Seattle yeah yeah yeah like my first actual knife here was a Miyabi uh-huh which is good but it's like you wanted to get me some good steel so it's so wide here so down for that look how wide that is yeah that's what pretty much all my chefs say is like it's too wide oh I love it yeah I mean especially if you choke up on it and you can see what he did with the new one I was gonna say so slimmed down yeah this is much more exaggerated I love this sheet because it has the leather yeah oh the strop on one side so check that out so wooden saya custom-fit for the knife but it's got a strop on one side of the saya it's pretty good so and then what about this one this is a little baby he never at least that guy it was like a little petty yeah he was gonna like just gonna call it the prana the prana and I really wanted it so you gave me one that's all so he gave that to me money went to my nap at dinner yeah I love it it's really new so this is much thinner stainless steel this is 190 oh man or a two it's cuz it doesn't have that counterbalance yeah this is way lighter yeah so this is originally what I thought I was gonna go for because I saw very similar design details the steel is almost the same right it is the same it is the same exact same steel and so I'm not one to overly romanticize about handle materials so yeah I think this one makes the most sense for me the Hollywood ones really nice yeah white the all-white and that's tight okay so should we cut some [ __ ] yeah I'm losing track your knives here okay yeah this drags too much when you're cutting especially if you're going on like yeah yeah that's wild let's do you think yeah it's like trying to cut a shallow with a David knife do you think she'll mind if I use her alright so I will probably do a review of one of these eventually at least I hope to but if you shock or 2.0 I like to end with always who is it for and should you buy it so it'd be good for a home cook uh-huh it's good for um cuz it's less intimidating it's less intimidating it's not so big it's you know it's a cheaper price point yeah that's still a gorgeous knife totally we're gonna make some French onion soup now or what so this was clearly a little bit more than just a first impressions I got to see side-by-side of both of them now the next step is getting one in for review but I mean you probably have more or knives than anyone Noah but I mean you're you're you're his but you're one of his biggest advocates which is amazing and thus that brings us here I've been cooking and prepping with this for the past few weeks and I really feel more than ready to share with you my thoughts on it so let's get into it on paper the aura 2 is a unique product it's not budget per se retailing at four hundred and ninety nine dollars which I will get into later it's pretty much sold out in all handle styles at this point unfortunately but it is more affordable than any other aura knife right now that they're selling I do have to hand it to Noah on his copywriting on the aura site allow me to just read a few of the descriptors that help describe the details of this knife metallurgical research ergonomic leverage progressively rockered pro sooth initiation we are geometric fundamentals I mean come on man you can't do that to us gearheads but seriously he does know how to talk to someone who appreciates knives and uses them day in and day out and it shows in the design of this knife I can confirm that the steel does not shine which is really wild as you use it it definitely catches people's eye the handle is also made from this really light wood they took with it and ran with it and they called it the Holly because of the beautiful blondes running around there where they are at in Southern California down in Hollywood check back in on the steel we're working with their proprietary aura steel it's noted at a sixty rockwell hardness and freaking back at it again with the judging quote it's chock-full of microscopic vanadium and niobium cutting carbides that are 81 to 89 rockwell hardness when measured individually and quote just being real you can overall expect really fantastic performance with really great ease of sharpening it's got that equal double bevel on the edge mine did have a bit of a heel issue out of the box I could tell that whoever did the final sharpen on it clipped the edge up just because I'm a slight bend towards the heel I can't tell if one came before the other if they all happen at the same time I haven't noticed any performance issues on my end but it's just I got to be transparent yes I got this for a discount yes it was the last one and yes these are handmade so expect them to kind of vary piece by piece especially when you're looking at the handle materials they are very very unique but I just wanted to make that super out in the open what surprised me though is it does have that lacquer defect where you aren't technically gripping the wood which gives way into this wild seamless experience on the handle listen you can't hear the seam it's all just encased together I'm trying to run my nail over and let you folks hear where the seam is but it doesn't exist it's all like encased in this resin and the joining of the brass bolster and the mosaic pins leaves no room for gaps and it flares in all the right places which for a pinch grip I love Matt was showing me a couple of the earlier handle types where it would flare really dramatically in the palm of your hand and then it cut would kind of taper off and this just feels so much more natural to grip which I really really appreciate the spine is beveled Bravo if you're following this channel for a while you know I really really love that detail you go and look super close here I've got a macro lens on you can see that there's this seam of the blade into the Tang so take that for what it's worth alright let's talk about what it feels like to work with this I would basically take every instance that I would normally use my nine point four inch miss oh no UX 10 and reach for this guy instead over the last few months and I got to say there was never a time when I was like I want to switch back I was very very comfortable using this and the comfort is unreal asterisk I'm not prepping for usually longer than four hours anymore at this point in my career but no signs from fatigue for that amount of time it truly does have the capacity to be multi-purpose so vegetables chickens skinning and pork swing fish hashing garlic and shallots and chopping herbs and this thing held up great through all of it and if I did have to give any complaints I wish the steel was just a little bit harder but I understand wanting to keep it a little bit softer especially when the blade is this then I think if anything I was less inclined to grab different speciality knives in my bag because I was just wanting to keep using this because it is so comfortable to use and that heavy day after day use just led to it losing its edge faster quote-unquote but that's just how I perceived it so weird compliment let's talk about balance real quick if I go like that that's pretty spot-on right where the handle and bolster meet if you like a blade heavy knife versus a handle heavy knife this is pretty much spot-on right in the middle which you might enjoy and you might not enjoy it is significantly lighter than the oral one it's one of the reasons why I gravitated towards this initially when I was over at Matt's place and even looking at it stacked up against my u x10 a knife that's notoriously well balanced you're just able to get a really good feeling in the hand with almost 25% less weight which I'm looking at as a completely different knife it's not this is a nine and a half inch knife in the Misano is a nine and a half inch chef's knife I'm looking for some heft if I want more weight in my hand and the project on the board I'll go for the Misano if I want more comfortable and nimble or a2 I really wish I could end this with who is this knife for and should you buy it but the buying part might pose a little bit of a challenge I have one link down below for JB Prince calm and they have it in black right now as of posting this video it is still in stock but no it doesn't seem to be making any more of these he launched the new chakra knife very recently and I think that I initially thought I was gonna get when I went over to check them all out at Matt's place and of course the aura one is always available on their site if you want to see more reviews of aura stuff please get some color on that like button and crush that subscribe button like an unassuming clove of garlic or even go ahead and DM the aura Instagram which is also linked up down below because I really think that you should follow them for some amazing knife form shots on IG if you have questions for me on this knife please leave them down low in the comments or tweet at me I'm at Justin underscore Connor there until next time thank you so much for your attention yes I've seen that we just hit 10k thank you that video is coming a si P my name is Justin Khanna and I really hope you have a good one [Music]

Channel: Justin Khanna

Views: 28,932

Keywords: justin khanna, chef, restaurant, eater, michelin, emulsion podcast, fine dining, cooking, knife, aura, noah cowan, aura knifeworks, aura two, hollywood knife, blonde, white handle knife, california knifemaker, american knife, knives, chakra, mosiac pin, american steel, chef knife, 9.4 inch, 270mm, justin khanna knife, justin khanna sharpening, knife restoration, knife sharpening, high end knife, best restaurant knife, cryogenic steel

Id: IP7qfRIgrjY

Length: 13min 24sec (804 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 02 2019