First, an acknowledgement - tomthebaker posted about this back in Nov/2012 -
Unbelievably inexpensive but very good chef knife set!
This set is still freely available - via Sam's Club auctions where most of the bids I have seen were under $32 -
I am not a Sam's Club member but there probably is a shipping charge -
and I believe most of the bids are from and won by Amazon Marketplace vendors.
There's where I bought mine from - prices as low as under $56 shipped - this is less than the price for a single Damascus Santoku or Chef's knife.
Included with the set is a heavy black painted wood knife drawer block -
It is not really space efficient - and would probably take up most of a standard kitchen drawer.
So I don't use it as such - but lean the block vertically (knife tip up) on my kitchen counter against the wall -
at such an angle that there is little chance of the block toppling or any of the knives falling out,
I actually like using the block this way.
These are VG10 stainless steel core with 66-layer stainless Damascus cladding - VG10 is one of the finest stainless steel for cutlery. At one time only available on Japanese made knives - but these are made in China.
Although many will say the Damascus is merely decorative - cladding a harder (more brittle) steel has been a tradition in Japanese bladesmithing and cladding/sandwiching (eg: San-Mai) does serve a purpose of giving the core toughness/strength.
The knives all have bolsters and end caps. The handles are basically pakkawood (epoxy resin laminated wood) humorously called "Polywood".
There are 4 knives -
7.5" Chefs - this is narrower than the typical Western Chef - so closer to a Japanese Gyuto, heavy at 8.64oz. Even though it is sharp, it is not quite as good as a typical Western 8" Chef's knife - eg: the Victorinox 8" Fibrox Chef 40520
7" Santoku - with Granton or scalloped (hollow ground) edge.
All the knives are pretty heavy/hefty - for example the Santoku weighs in at 8.27oz compared to the Shun DM0702 Santoku (non scalloped edge) at 7.25oz. The blade is thicker behind the edge than the Shun - which normally is not a good thing - but these knives have a wide bevel that is continuously convex - without any shoulder to the blade face - this is a very good thing - as the blade and edge presents less resistance to cutting through things.
The cutting ability for soft foods is very comparable to the Shun DM0702 Santoku - a $125 knife.
5.5" Utility -
this is really heavy/hefty at 6.5oz - it almost feels like field/hunting knife - being heavy/hefty may seem to the a sign of quality (more material etc) but it is not so good. Utility knives are supposed to be for more delicate cutting when a Chef (or Santoku) may be too large....
in fact the handle on this utility knife is the same size as on the 7.5" chef.
4" Paring knife -
most paring knives are closer to 3" - so again this is quite substantial/heavy/hefty at 3.2oz - again not such a good thing - especially for what a paring knife is supposed to be used for, peeling and making even more delicate cuts - but at least this has a smaller narrower handle. The size is really closer to a typical shorter utility knife - it's a bit too short for me as a utility and way too big and heavy to use as a paring knife.
The Santoku interested me the least - but turns out really to be the best knife of the set for me - it's too heavy, but does cut really well.
Overall this is an amazing value for money set - the knives hold up well even against well reputed expensive premium knives - they are heavy and the handles are a bit large on the smaller knives - but that is merely my taste and may suit others better.
--
Vincent
http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
Unbelievably inexpensive but very good chef knife set!
This set is still freely available - via Sam's Club auctions where most of the bids I have seen were under $32 -
I am not a Sam's Club member but there probably is a shipping charge -
and I believe most of the bids are from and won by Amazon Marketplace vendors.
There's where I bought mine from - prices as low as under $56 shipped - this is less than the price for a single Damascus Santoku or Chef's knife.
Included with the set is a heavy black painted wood knife drawer block -
It is not really space efficient - and would probably take up most of a standard kitchen drawer.
So I don't use it as such - but lean the block vertically (knife tip up) on my kitchen counter against the wall -
at such an angle that there is little chance of the block toppling or any of the knives falling out,
I actually like using the block this way.
These are VG10 stainless steel core with 66-layer stainless Damascus cladding - VG10 is one of the finest stainless steel for cutlery. At one time only available on Japanese made knives - but these are made in China.
Although many will say the Damascus is merely decorative - cladding a harder (more brittle) steel has been a tradition in Japanese bladesmithing and cladding/sandwiching (eg: San-Mai) does serve a purpose of giving the core toughness/strength.
The knives all have bolsters and end caps. The handles are basically pakkawood (epoxy resin laminated wood) humorously called "Polywood".
There are 4 knives -
7.5" Chefs - this is narrower than the typical Western Chef - so closer to a Japanese Gyuto, heavy at 8.64oz. Even though it is sharp, it is not quite as good as a typical Western 8" Chef's knife - eg: the Victorinox 8" Fibrox Chef 40520
7" Santoku - with Granton or scalloped (hollow ground) edge.
All the knives are pretty heavy/hefty - for example the Santoku weighs in at 8.27oz compared to the Shun DM0702 Santoku (non scalloped edge) at 7.25oz. The blade is thicker behind the edge than the Shun - which normally is not a good thing - but these knives have a wide bevel that is continuously convex - without any shoulder to the blade face - this is a very good thing - as the blade and edge presents less resistance to cutting through things.
The cutting ability for soft foods is very comparable to the Shun DM0702 Santoku - a $125 knife.
5.5" Utility -
this is really heavy/hefty at 6.5oz - it almost feels like field/hunting knife - being heavy/hefty may seem to the a sign of quality (more material etc) but it is not so good. Utility knives are supposed to be for more delicate cutting when a Chef (or Santoku) may be too large....
in fact the handle on this utility knife is the same size as on the 7.5" chef.
4" Paring knife -
most paring knives are closer to 3" - so again this is quite substantial/heavy/hefty at 3.2oz - again not such a good thing - especially for what a paring knife is supposed to be used for, peeling and making even more delicate cuts - but at least this has a smaller narrower handle. The size is really closer to a typical shorter utility knife - it's a bit too short for me as a utility and way too big and heavy to use as a paring knife.
The Santoku interested me the least - but turns out really to be the best knife of the set for me - it's too heavy, but does cut really well.
Overall this is an amazing value for money set - the knives hold up well even against well reputed expensive premium knives - they are heavy and the handles are a bit large on the smaller knives - but that is merely my taste and may suit others better.
--
Vincent
http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
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