I’m looking to upgrade my chef knife and have some SLT gift cards that can be used so the price does not concern me. What are thoughts on the quality of the knife? It feels very good in my hands and I love the look of the knife. I have not seen many reviews of the knife outside of brief SLT customer reviews. I will hone it and plan to have it professionally Sharpened annually.
How does pakkawood hold up in the long run? Would this become a longevity problem?
This is new, right? I know Henckels already has made the Kramer Euroline. This Meiji line is more Asian (in comparison).
If the previous Henckels Kramer knives are to be indications, then this should be a good knife. I have no hands-on experience what so ever. I don’t think it is a bad knife. The real question is “does the quality justifies the price?” The 8" one has an ok price, I think the $350 price tag for the 10" version is a bit high. It claims to use FC61 steel which maybe a VG-10 of sort. Good steel, but nothing crazy unique.
Sorry, just my two cents for now. I would love to read more reviews on this knife as well.
Thoughts on quality:
I think it should hold up just as well as any Damascus-clad ‘VG-10 family’ steel knife would. (weren’t these powdered steel knives originally? and now they’re “ice hardened”? hmmmm…)
The Pakkawood should hold up very well, since it’s basically epoxy-saturated wood. You have the long-term durability of a polymer handle, but with the added attractiveness of a wood handle. Since you’ll never put it in the dishwasher, you should never have to worry about the Pakkawood.
Thoughts on comfort:
Since you’ve had the chance to hold/use the knife, I’d think it would be a great knife for you. Comfort & attractiveness are important aspects in this type of purchase. It sounds like a great selection that you’ll be happy with for years to come!
I bought this knife for my wife for Christmas. She is a chef and is on her knife 4 to 6 hours a day 5 days a week. First of all it is a beautiful knife from tip to butthe. The handle is smooth and perfectly shaped, I have big hands and it fits me perfect. The knife is very balanced and light if held correctly. There are a few things that I’ve noticed worth mentioning… it needs to be hand sharpened out of the box for me to consider it truly sharp, I didn’t do it with this one and my wife came home on day 2 and made me sharpen it. It gets dull fast and the blade is a little thick. When sharpened though it is laser sharp and has a mirror finish. Be prepared to put some time on the stone to keep it sharp.
I played around with it at Sur La Table and it was indeed light. I didn’t feel the blade was particularly thick, but you were probably comparing to some thinner blade knives. It is a good information to know that its edge does not hold well. Hmm. It has a VG-10 core steel. I was hoping that it will behave just like any other VG-10 knives.
