Cutlery Reviews

I needed a narrower in-drawer knife block that fit in a narrow drawer. This definitely fit the job. It holds the remainder of my assorted knives well and holds my wide-handle Chicago Cutlery Steak knives on the raised section. I love the "Wusthof 12-Slot In-Drawer Knife Tray" best, but this is a great companion buddy to fit in a smaller place. It has plenty of clearance in my drawers.

Recieved the product ahead of schedule, which was a suprise since I opted for the free shipping option. The knives are of reasonably good quality, My only real complaint is that the wood in the handles is not particularly well finished. I know I can't expect Rolls Royce for Chevy prices, however they should have stepped to the next finer grade of sandpaper at least. Aside from that complaint, they all arrived nicely sharp and the steel appears to be of good quality, if not overly polished. Fuctionally they handle well and seem to hold an edge reasonably well(time will tell). The block is of decent quality, not great, but decent. Asthetics aside you will have to spend quite a bit more to beat these knives. I have some Henkels (5 star) single knives, aside from better finish, they aren't a huge jump except in price.

I needed a new knife set to replace a jumble of mixed knives collected over the years, most of them not very good. But the fancy German brands were outrageously over priced. One of the few good knives I had was a Chicago Cutlery boning knife, It is very sharp, well made and filets a fish cleanly. So, when I saw this set of forged (not stamped) knives at a price below a single one of those German treasures, I tried it. And I am not disappointed! The workmanship is top rate, the blades razor sharp and the grip and feel is excellent. Construction is full tang, brass rivets and walnut grips. The finish is polished and smooth. Add the boning knife and you have everything at the price of one of those other brands.

Very impressive set. Excellent quality, sturdy, good value for dollar spent, and offers a nice assortment of knives for general kitchen use.

Dave

Without being a purist, (I'm from Wisconsin, after all), this is a very nice sashimi knife, considering the price. Those of you who work at sushi bars will scoff, but this isn't a $600 hocho either, and not all of us wish to spend so much. No saya came with my knife.
After many sharpenings, the back must be leveled, very much like a good Japanese chisel, as the hollowed part comes closer to the edge, but this is true of all knives of this type.

Money well burned, if you cut a lot of fish into tiny bits. It is good for many other things, and gets a lot of use in my house.

BTW - if you are just fooling around or learning, get one of the $30 knives - they are plenty good, and, if you find that you don't like using this type, you haven't blown a bunch of cash that you could have spent on ahi or mahimahi . . .

Very sharp blade and comfortable handle. Excellent quality for the money. Only possible drawback is the box indicates it is not recommended for lefties. My wife, a lefty, says she has no problem slicing but has cut her fingers several times while chopping. I, a righty, have no such problems. Well worth the purchase price but be aware if you are, or you're buying the knife for, a lefty.

This is a poorly made product. After a few months of use, the blade broke off. The handle is hard, brittle plastic covered with soft plastic. The blade extends into the brittle plastic only a little bit. The results were inevitable. Pure junk.

This would be a fantastic knife if it had a better blade. Like all OXO Good Grips products, it is ergonomically designed and would be good for long use. Unfortunately, the blade is light and made of shoddy metal. It will not hold a good edge. Of course, I normally use good German knives, so I may have been spoiled.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this does not actually sharpen your knives in the sense that it won't put an angle on your blade that isn't already there. However, what this is great for is keeping your set of kitchen knives in good (and safe) condition.

Note to novices: make sure to ask a pro or an experienced cook how to use a steel. If you hold the knife at the wrong angle, you may actually be reversing the effect the steel is supposed to have - realigning the blade to its sharpest position.

Note 2: a lot of blades these days are made with the higher-end cobalt alloy steel that is significantly harder than regular stainless. All this really means is that if you have a good knife, you technically won't have to use this every time you slice and dice, but it's still a good idea to keep the knife in the best condition possible.

I cook for a livin' and I have many honing steels, some at 14" for my big knives and this one for my 8" and under knives. I got this one in an upscale set of 4 starz and I do love it. As previously reviewed, it's not for sharpening but used to maintain a sharp edge. If you use this PROPERLY every time you use a new knife then the factory edge will last for months if not years under normal usage.
If you are collecting the 4 star line then this is a must, it is one of the most attractive steels made, the Rockwell rating is harder than any factory production blade made, the grooving is crisp and it is a bargain compared to other brands. A must replacement for a lesser steel in most 4 star sets.
It would be worth your time and money to buy the knife care video and learn how to use this well...an investment for your future enjoyment of Henckels 4 star knives.

We hand out 5 mojo*z for this steel Magnolia!!!

A very useful honing steel, still keeping my knives sharp several years after purchase.

I love OXO products and own almost every product, but these knives are very poorly made. I had three sets, and the handles eventually came off on all six knives- very unsafe! Some handles slipped off, and some snapped off. I'm surprised OXO is still making and selling these knives, because the poor quality really tarnishes their reputation.

The only reason that I give the mini chef knife (I have not used the paring knife) one star is because its size has sometimes come in handy and the blade is extremely sharp.

WORDS OF WARNING - <1> the grip has a tendency to move/slide while you are using the knife... do not use this knife to cut anything that would require significant pressure! <2> The back side of the blade is also very sharp! I have better than average culinary skills and have cut myself twice on the back of this knife. <3> Though it is a small, cute knife, only a fool would think that this knife would be a good "junior" knife for a kid who wants to cut and cook like Mommy (or in my case, Daddy).

My Son, who is a Culinary graduate, purchased a set of OXO knives for me as a gift. I know they were not inexpensive. However, within a year, three of the six knives seperated from the grips during use. While the grips are quite nice, the knives are dangerous to use and can cause serious injury in the kitchen. They should be removed from the market. In all three cases, the blades flipped upwards during slicing.

I bought this set in Feburary, and have been giving them a test drive. Boy I sure like them, they clean like a dream and you never have to worry about germs and crud on them. ( well I didn't exactly worry about my knifes before.....but if you do then you don't have to now.) They realy hold an edge just ask my scared nuckles. I keep hitting them on the knife, you would think I would learn. I also was dicing an avacado holding it in my palm and went through it and into my hand. Now I don't blame the knives, I just think a person should be smartter than their cutlery or maybe I need training wheels. I wasn't sure about them at first, but I had to learn (the hard way) to let my knives work for me. Duh Huh. The hone is wierd but it realy works. I think this set would last a lifetime. The only thing that is funky is the block (plastic) although it seem durable, and you can get over it.
My friend bought an expensive set of Henkels and I would not trade her for my Furi. Go ahead and buy this set.

I would highly recommend this product. These knives are a dream to work with, I actually look forward to having a reason to use them! Impeccable product! However, I will point out that the template showing knife placement that came with my set was wrong, it had transposed placement of the carving knife and fork. A very minor fix, once I realized the mistake.
Amazon's customer service is great, too. One of my knives had a bent tip due to the guard coming off somewhere in the packaging or shipping process. Amazon replaced the whole set, shipped it priority and did not charge me anything extra!

My husband is a professional chef and he specifically asked for this as a Christmas gift after he had seen a demo.
He is delighted with the assortment of knives, the excellent construction, and the handy knife-sharpener.
Might be overkill for someone who is not serious about cooking.

As a previous reviewer noted, precut meats are readily available (and most of us use them most of the time). On the other hand, I for one am not going to pay a dollar or more a pound premium to buy a chicken that's already cut up when I can do it myself perfectly well, thank you. If you are the type that will take the extra few minutes after shopping to cut up large-quantity meat and freeze it for future use, a cleaver can save you some real money over the long run.

Having said that, this cleaver is about as good as it gets. Well-balanced, very sharp. and able to easily cut through bone, this is as good as it gets for the home kitchen. I recently upgraded from a Henckel International, and the difference is profound. While the Henckel is perfectly fine for light duty and playing "Yan Can Cook", the Wusthof is the one you want for serious business.

This is my first cleaver ever and I love having it. Works great, just the right size and heft.

The Classic 6 inch cleaver belongs in any serious set of home or professional cutlery. It has numerous uses from overkill smashing of garlic cloves, use as a scraper to pick up prepared food and place in bowls, mixer or pan. It can quarter poultry, separate beef or pork ribs with ease. If you buy large cuts of meat, you can cut into smaller portions for extra savings.
The Wusthof 6 inch Cleaver is a high performance, high quality kitchen tool. The handle (as in the whole Classic line) is comfortable. The finish on all Wusthof knives and instruments is excellent and will provide long years of use and easy cleaning.
A good purchase that I'm happy with!
John Row