Cutlery Reviews

Recently I decided to upgrade my knife collection at my home and cabin, which meant buying two knives. My mainstay, a Japanese sushi knife, has incredibly hard steel but was too delicate for day to day use. After doing the research I bought the Tramontina Professional Series 8" Cook's Knife and also the Calphalon collector's editon knife, figuring to keep the best one at my house and exile the loser to my cabin. I ordered the Tramontina ($...) and bought the Calphalon ($...). If money is the primary thing I would buy the Calphalon. But if I had it do over again I would buy two Tramontina knives. The steel of both of these tools is very,very, good; unless you toss your knives in a drawer you won't have to sharpen these very often. The difference is in the balance, feel, look, and workmanship. The Calphalon blade has a wave or slight curve to it and when you run your hand along the side of the blade you can feel hollow places and irregularities in the forging. The Tramontina is just dead on. The handle is a bigger disappointment for the Calphalon, because it is almost square in cross section with a sharp transition from top to side and side to bottom. It just doesn't feel very good. The Tramontina, on the other hand, has a more rounded and complex shape that feels just right. The least important is the look. Seen from the top, the Tramontina's tang meets the bolster by curving outward in both directions, with the handle pieces having a matching curve, so the knife is rounded in two dimensions at the bolster. It's hard to describe but it just looks like a quality product. The Calphalon's tang keep's it's flat bar shape right into the bolster, with the handle pieces cut off square to fit, so it is square in both dimensions. Again, this is a minor point. I have since bought the Tramontina 6" utility knife and I'm just as happy with it. I highly recommend this product and for me, it was worth the extra $.... If you decide to get the Tramontina make sure to get the Professional Series as they make other, cheaper knives.

I like cooking knives. I purchased this blade ... simply to play with it. It does not compete with top of the line Wustoff, Henkels or Sabatier knives (forged in Europe of course). However those knives are generally at least 3-5 times the price of this knife.

This knife has many of the benefits of the higher quality European knives. They are forged and the steel is high quality. This knives lacks the workmanship detail you'd find in top of the line knives. Only someone who is really [particular] or interested in great knives would even notice these differences IMO. Also, the knife is extremely heavy for a Chef's knife. I have a 1/2 dozen so I should know. That could be a drawback for some but on the other hand weight can aid some cutting tasks. You might like the extra weight.

It won't replace my Wustof, Henkels or Sabatier forged chef knifes but I will keep it and use it and someday give it away to a younger relative just starting out.

I wish I'd have bought a knife like this years ago instead of even trying stamped blades.

If you don't have a forged chef knife this is a great way to get started with forged knives. You won't believe how much easier a good knife can made your prep.

The knife is made in China but the steel is German. The workmanship is better than other Chinese made knives in my collection.

I am not one to write reviews. I have purchased many things from Amazon. Even though I liked the products, I just wasn't motivated to write a review. I just received this Calphalon 8" Collectors Edition Chef Knife. I am a "knife nut", as well as a very good amateur chef. I've been doing this for 40 years. I KNOW quality knives. Before buying this knife, I read the reviews on ALL the Calpholon knives in the series. The reviews ranged from "junk" to "the best". I also checked cutlery websites and found a site that stated that the Calphalon line of knives are produced by Friedrich Dick-- a German knife company that produces professional kitchen knives comparable to Henckels and Wustof,(both of which I own). Even Henckels has different qualities of steel, depending on the series and price of the product. Was this Calphalon a "low quality" steel. Some reviewers stated it was "made in China". I figured for 20 bucks I'd take a chance--it would be a "test knife". Out of the package, it was heavy and appeared well made. Holding the end of the handle with my fingers and tapping the blade, it had a solid "ring" to it- the sound of a high carbon steel blade. I took a sheet of copy paper, and with the blade at an angle to the edge of the paper, sliced the paper in half with a single cut. Very nice for a factory edge. I sharpened it with my ceramic hone and was able to "shave" the hair off my forearm. It doesn't get any better than this! Yes it is forged in China, but this is excellent German steel. Also it doesn't have the rounded and highly polished handles that the German counterparts have. But in performance, I could not tell the difference from my Henckels. I owned a retail store for 16 years, and delt with many products from China. There is a lot of "junk" from China--but there are also a lot of very high quality products from China. I'm not going to go into political or labor issues here. It is personal choice. I found some Chinese products to be far superior to U.S. or European goods at a fraction of the cost. This is a high quality item. I am definately going to buy more from this line. You will NOT find a better "forged" knife at this price! My only "objection" (if you can call it that), is that the knife is a little heavier than the Henckels or Wusthof knives, so they "handle" differently. I prefer the lighter weight, but this is a personal thing. It would not influence my decision to buy this product.

I chose this set of knives because of the Calphalon name (I love my cookware!), German steel use, and the description, "Hygienic fiberglass-reinforced poly resin handle will not absorb moisture, crack, split, or chip." I was disappointed to find that one of the sets I ordered was already showing signs of rust -- even though the set was unused and delivered in a "sealed" box, all four handles had rust marks.

After using several sets of "included" steak knives with various cutlery blocks, I finally decided to buy a set of steak knives. These are very elegant, do a great job of cutting, and feel quite nice in the hand. So far, they have retained a good edge as well.

As with any knives, hand-washing is better for the blade, but these have weathered the dishwasher with no trouble.

Overall, for the price and the look, I am highly satisfied with the set.

I just received this knife yesterday & am sending it back for a refund. Upon first use, the forked metal tip broke off when I was chopping tomatoes for a salad. It took me a few moments to notice the lost tip (as it had ended up in the salad I was preparing.) Could have been very dangerous to swallow a sharp metal tip! The knife itself is flimsy, can't imagine that it could cut a bagel very well.

I bought this knife, and was thrilled to find that it was etched on the end for easy identification (I so frequently mistakenly identify my knives), but I was very disappointed to find that it in fact was unable to cut my bagels.

All I was able to cut with this knife were doughnuts (specifically, old-fashioned - jelly doughnuts, as everyone knows, must be cut using a cheese grater held at a 29.5 degree angle).

My recommendation? unless you have an abundance of old-fashioned doughnuts to cut you'd be better off buying a seagull knife. Unfortunately, most seagull knives are not notched, so you may find yourself inadvertently selecting a bowie knife, but either will be better at cutting bagels than this atrocity.

Solid knife with a good feel. I got it as a freebie with the Chef's Knife, so the price was right for me, but I use it often and it has held up well.