Cutco Knives

[Free Range Lobster]

If you're gonna drop $800 on a set of knives get a set of Boker ceramics.

[Viva]

I just had a peekypoo at the Cutco web site.

Very underwhelming. Numerous pithy assertions about how great their product is without anything to back up the hype. I don't like it.

Just one little rat's opinion...


Oh, here's another thing. If you're looking at German knives, check out the base of the blade for the "Solingen" stamp. This, essentially, means that it was forged in Solingen, Germany and that it's good shit. Likewise, many of the good Japanese knives have "Seki" stamped om them. Seki, I believe was the center of samurai sword making back in the old days.

DTM made a good comment in that there are really 3 or 4 critical knives. Invest in those and buy the rest from Costco if you're on a budget.

[summit]

Cutco knives are the best I've ever come across. Wustoff doesnt compete and Henkle's competing quality is more expensive.

Cutco is also made in the USA

that spatula thing is freaking awesome

[Stikki]

i purposely have dull knives so that i don't lose a digit.

Dull knife = more force required = greater chance of slipping and injury.

[fridge]

Vector Mktg are the insane ones.

These guys have an office right above mine in our building. The manager is always yelling and clapping, I guess you have to get real pumped up to sell knives. I do like the product, but (it's probably just exclusive to this office) I wouldn't let most of the people doing the selling anywhere near my house, let alone in it to sell me knives.

[warthog]

These guys have an office right above mine in our building. The manager is always yelling and clapping, I guess you have to get real pumped up to sell knives. I do like the product, but (it's probably just exclusive to this office) I wouldn't let most of the people doing the selling anywhere near my house, let alone in it to sell me knives.

Yeah- I am in sales. I sell a great product. I don't feel the need to dry hump it though. You can portray enthusiasm without being a kook. Shit, if one of my distributor guys high fives me, I avoid him for months. I hate that shit.

"Jerry- High Five" -Puddy

[fridge]

"Jerry- High Five" -Puddy

George: You didn't agree to anything did you??!
Jerry: NO! We both just saw the same monkey.

[summit]

Dull knife = more force required = greater chance of slipping and injury.

+1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spats]

Anthony Bourdin has a great rant in "Kitchen Confidential":

"No con foisted on ther general public is so atrocious, so wrongheaded, or so widely believed as the one that tells you you need a full set of specialized cutlery in various sizes. I wish sometimes I could go through the kitchens of amateur cooks everywhere just throwing knives out from their drawers. [...] Please believe me, here's all you will ever need in the knife department; ONE good chef's knife, as large as is comfortable for your hand.

Brand name? Okay, most talented amateurs get a boner buying one of the old-school professional high-carbon stainless knives from Germany or Austria, like a Henckel or Wusthof, and those are fine knives, if heavy [...] But do you really need something so heavy? So expensive? So difficult to maintain (which you probably won't)? Unless you are really and truly going to spend fifteen minutes every couple of days working that blade on an oiled carborundum stone, followed by careful honing on a diamond steel, I'd forgo the Germans.

Most of the professionals I know have for years been retiring their Wusthofs and replacing them with the lightweight, easy-to-sharpen and relatively inexpensive, vanadium steel Global knives, a very good Japanese product which has -- in addition to its many other fine qualities -- the added attraction of looking really cool."

[snocat]

I bought a cutco knife probably 15 years ago, it's the only knife I ever use. It's about 12" long with a serrated edge and it cuts through anything. Use it for food, opening packages, everything. I've had it replaced twice, once when it fell onto the heating element in the dishwasher and melted part of the handle, and once when a roomate somehow broke the blade, and I've sharpened it once, so I'm assuming it should last forever. One of the best things I've ever bought.

[Evil E]

I sold cutco knives in high school for a few months. It has a multi level marketing base and you get xtra cash for dragging your friends into the fold. It paid a lot better than the nathans franks i was working at and although I missed my free dog and fries at lunch I was making better money. I did sell the stuff to everyone in my family and they still thank me for the knives when i see them. When I go back to jersey the sandwich knife always comes out for bagel cutting.

the sales pitch is in a binder and you sit down and explain "planned obsolecence" which is a fancy term for shit that breaks so you have to buy it again. Cutco has the lifetime warranty / last knife set you will buy etc. Then you get their knives out and have them cut a piece of leather. It usually takes them about 7 or so passes before they even come close to cutting it. Then you pull out a steak knive and it cleanly cuts it in two. that was pretty much the cincher, showing them how much their knives suck.

I still remember when I sold an 800 dollar set of knives to a friends mom. I was sooooo stoked on that commission. then a month later she returned the set cause it was "too sharp". the company wanted their commission back so i quit. In retrospect i should have kept going, but i was a little embarrased asking my friends parents for their money. Learned a lot about sales though. I remember my dad saying that when he retires he would sell cutco cause he liked the product so much. Thats saying a lot, my dad was a hell of a salesman and started a great company that is still running today very profitably.

who knew i could ramble on so much about a part time job from 15 years ago?

[jump]

I've got a set of 8 made by a local craftsman, and holy crap, am I glad I did. I even shaved with one of them once, to prove a point (not kidding)

Nice, now that is a sign of power.

[Sublime]

Actually, the Japanese have always made better knives. Look, if you want a nice sports sedan, go German; chocolate, Belgian or Swiss; poncho, can't beat the Mexicans; and the Russians make a mean furry hat.

But if you want a superior quality knife, I say go with the country that for a thousand years perfected the art of making a sword that can cut a human being cleanly in two.

I own a bunch of the Shun knives, made by KAI and imported by Kershaw. These are affordable for me and I love how they feel in my hands (They have right and left-handed-specific models). I think that the Damascus finish is mondo cool, too. I forget which steel they use; I think it's an amalgamate which would be consistent with the Damascus motif.

Another nice thing is the look of the Shun knives. With the Damascus finish coupled with the large Japanese lettering, if anyone makes fun of your cooking, just swing one of these babies at them and yell SHINJUKU MOTHERFUCKER!

What he said. Kershaw blades are amazing. My pocket knife is Kershaw and i've only sharpened it once in 8 years of having it. Held an edge amazingly good.

[Lurch]

So difficult to maintain (which you probably won't)? Unless you are really and truly going to spend fifteen minutes every couple of days working that blade on an oiled carborundum stone, followed by careful honing on a diamond steel, I'd forgo the Germans.

That is total B.S. all you need to do with a high quality knife is hone it quickly , 20 seconds if you are slow, on a steel before each use. Once a year or depending on usage take it to get sharpened professionally.

[Viva]

What he said. Kershaw blades are amazing. My pocket knife is Kershaw and i've only sharpened it once in 8 years of having it. Held an edge amazingly good.

Shun's aren't made by Kershaw, just imported by them. But I think Kershaw does make a line of kitchen knives. Don't know how good they are, though.

On a final note, regardless how some of you feel about your Cutco knives and, apparently, they can't be too bad with all of these glowing recomendations, they are still way overpriced for what they are. I.E., don't pay a BMW price for a Neon. Lesson over, class dismissed. Bye now!

[chaka]

Great thread! Thanks for the suggestions, fez and Viva. I'm gonna have to check those out.

This is a damn good thread. Thanks for the info. Being a happy owner of about 8 Wustof classics and a single Gran Prix, I think I can come up with about 1000 higher priority things to think of spending $$$ on (like uber-fat skis, or a ham sandwich for lunch tomorrow, or a christmas present for my dog). But, hey, those Japanese knives sound sweet.

Anyone know anything about the Japanese ceramic knives?

[Lurch]

Anyone know anything about the Japanese ceramic knives?

They are very sharp but their downfall is that they chip easily. You have to be careful of the cutting surface you are working with and never use them on bone.

[altachic]

Unless of course you buy the cheap Henckels. I can't remember if Wusthof makes a budget line also, I don't think they do.

Dantheman here...

Yeah, Wusthof makes a cheap line called Wusthof Gourmet or something. Definitely have to watch out for them.

And I really like Anthony Bourdain, but I'll second the comment that what he says about maintaing a German knife is BS. I lightly hone mine once or twice a week and it still glides through carrots like butter after more than a year of heavy use.

[The AD]

Knives are one of those things people tend to have strong opinions about. If you buy a set of Chicago Cutlery knives people will tell you those are crap and you need Henckels. Then if you buy Henckels someone else will tell you those suck compared to some other brand. It never ends!

[warthog]

Knives are one of those things people tend to have strong opinions about. If you buy a set of Chicago Cutlery knives people will tell you those are crap and you need Henckels. Then if you buy Henckels someone else will tell you those suck compared to some other brand. It never ends!

As I have learned from this thread.

All I know is:
a. I cook more because of these new knives
b. I look forward to cooking more cause of these knives
c. These things are "cut your finger off without even knowing it" sweet.

It still amazes me how much knowledge the mags have about so many things. I really never thought this thread would get past day one.

[Viva]

d. It will probably hurt like Hell if you stick one of these knives up your ass.

[Snow Dog]

d. It will probably hurt like Hell if you stick one of these knives up your ass.

Good safety tip.

[vinnay]

Didnt even read the whole thread, but global knives are amazing. try them and you wont want to use other knives again.

[altachic]

Knives are one of those things people tend to have strong opinions about. If you buy a set of Chicago Cutlery knives people will tell you those are crap and you need Henckels. Then if you buy Henckels someone else will tell you those suck compared to some other brand. It never ends!

Yeah, one thing that has been forgotten in this thread is that the best knife is the one that you are most comfortable using.

edit: This is DTM again, I can't get Liz logged out.

[Shin-to-Win]

I actually joined the Cutco cult for a summer after high school. It was actually quite fun and I made some good money vs my other job making airplane food on the graveyard shift (worst job EVER). This was Pittsburgh PA in the late eighties and jobs for college kids were hard to come by and mostly staffed by laid off steel workers.

Every few weeks, the region manager for Cultco would hold a sales rally in an exotic location like Erie PA to remind us how incredible the product was and what a great job selling knives could be. For a recent high school grad, getting away from the family and raging with a bunch of outgoing co-eds was top shelf.

Luckily, my friends parents and parents friends had a fair amount of disposable income, so I sold more than my fair share of homemaker sets at $800 a pop, of which I kept about 25%. Not bad for an hours work.

I still use two chefs knives and the steak knives to this day and all of my old customers still rave about them. With that said, I probably wouldn't buy them today, except maybe the steaks knives and spatula spreader that Arty mentioned. I have some Henkels that I really love now, just watch out for the cheap "international" Henkels and go for the good stuff.

One of my favorites is a cheap Chicago cutlery wooden handled knife that is high carbon but with less stainless in the blade than the high end Wustof/Henckels models. It doesn't stay sharp as long as the fancy knives, but it sharpens up faster with a rod and, once sharp, cuts better than any of the others.