KYOKU Chef Utility Knife - 6" - Shogun Series - Japanese VG10 Steel Core Forged Damascus Blade - with Sheath & Case

This knife was on sale for $33. It is worth more... Out of the box, the knife was shaving sharp. The fit and finish look like a very much more expensive knife. Excellent balance and decent heft: not lightweight but not too heavy. It cuts nice!! Paper thin slices are easy. The sheath is a nice plus and will keep my family and the knife safe while in the drawer. it's been in pretty constant use for a couple of weeks and so far, the edge is holding up very well. No honing at all and it still shaves hair off the back of my hand.

Absolutely gorgeous quality, meticulous details, well balanced and insanely sharp!!! Be extremely careful when using these knives they require very minimal pressure to cut. If your accident prone please have a 1st aide kit with hemostatic powder to stop bleeding on hand. That said the handles are ergonomic and help with control of the blade as well as grip fatigue. These knives make a wonderful gift that will last a lifetime if properly maintained. Might be a little costly to get the entire set all at once but will save you money in the long run and make a wonderful show piece in your kitchen. The packaging they come in is pristine and elegantly artful I almost want to keep them in the packaging!

This is an excellent boning knife for, say, taking a chicken apart. The thin tip is perfect for getting in the joints quickly and easily and is very controllable thanks to the design of the handle and blade. These knives are sharpened at 8-12 degrees, which is a very sharp, very thin edge -- so you wouldn't necessarily want to try cutting through frozen meats or bones. The fiberglass handle is fine, although a good wood would have been nice. And of course being stainless steel, it's nice not to have to worry about the blade being stained by acidic foods such as tomatoes, lemons, limes, etc. All in all a very useful, well-balanced, and operational knife for a working kitchen.

I have every one of the Daimyo Series knives. They are great knives for the money. If I were purchasing again, or if you are wanting to build a set, start with the Utility, then Kiritsuke, then Serrated. then maybe the Santoku, and stretching to the Carver. The steak knives are also great if you need those. The rest should be purely purpose based as this basic set can do almost everything. Pros: - Well balanced - Hefty in the hand. I prefer front heavier knives, and these are that - Great feel and very 'holdable'. Grip fit is excellent. I find myself resting my index finger on top of the handle when using for some reason - Crazy sharp out of the box - Look great brand new. Very 'show-able' - Full tang - Handles are excellent and very nice looking. The fancy rivets are a nice touch. - Still my favorites Cons: - I find that they sharpen very easily. Not so bad but a high quality VG10 steel should be difficult to sharpen in my experience. - After a year, the 'Damascus Hammering' marks are largely gone from my Kiritsuke and Utility. Clearly this was etched on and not really hammering marks. A year of cleaning and sharpening has left these looking like regular non-Damascus knives - There is no block that holds any real number of these knives if you want them handy or on display. I had to modify a Zwilling Pro 16 slot block to hold them all perfectly. I am reluctant to throw sharp knives into a drawer, and am not patient enough to keep putting the sleeves back on. All in all I love these knives. I see they have changed some of the verbiage to now represent these as "beautifully laminated' Damascus. That's a change from when I bought them when they were represented as 'Damascus Steel'. That's why I take away a star. Regardless, I do also have a set of Wusthof knives that I rarely ever get out anymore. These are that good. Feel safe that you are still getting great knives at a reasonable cost, just don't really expect Damascus steel hammered in Japan with real hammering marks that will hold up over time. The steel is on the harder side so they hold up very well. Oh and watch for the sale; some of the sales on these are amazing.

I’m 5’3” and have relatively small hands. This knife fits my hand perfectly. It is weighted well and this makes it very comfortable to use. It is my favorite and most used kitchen knife. It makes cooking so much more pleasurable for me. I’m not sure if it is because of the way it is made but it stays really sharp too. I use it almost every day to cook and I use a file to sharpen it. It stays super sharp for a long time. I just love this knife.

I bough this knife more than a year ago, and even my wife uses it daily still does not need to be sharpened. That is some great knife. I did buy sharpening stones, but still no need to use them on this knife. Grip on it is great, there are no visible wear marks on it and is still sharp as on first day.

So. I sliced an onion for a sandwich so far with this knife. It yielded a thin slice, with an easy cut. It is solid in the hand, and satisfyingly compact and controllable. I bought this knife because I feel like 8" chef knives are a bit too long. Comes with a storage box with fitting pads and a sheath which covers the blade, and an opportunity to contact customer service for a 10% discount on your next knife. The through tang and mosaic pins are a nice touch. Now as far folks saying it is not real Damascus... Well, the two sides of the knife differ in the patterning, and the knife is different from the model pictures. So if the Damascus is fake, they are creating unique patterns for each knife. I think the claims of fake Damascus are silly, and why anyone would even critique a $50 like it was a $200 one is absurd. I think you'll like this knife very much. I look forward to slicing tomatoes thinly so soon.

The handle simply isn’t big enough for the average man’s hand in my opinion. If you look at the two pictures, this knife is the one in the middle. The other two knives are from another manufacturer. All three are about the same length. Yet, when viewed from above the issue becomes clear. The Kyoku knife handle (in the middle) is narrow and short,and difficult to get a confident grip on. Suggestion for the retailer would be to include a view of your knives from the top such as I have in this review. Other than that, the knife is a work of art. The steel, the construction, it is a spectacular tool. I really wish I could keep it.

I use this knife every day. The knife is sharp and has the weight to allow for serious cutting—fine slicing, chopping, and carving. It’s also very beautiful.

Bueno

Good quality, very sharp, fast delivery.

great Knife cuts like butter

Nice weight, balance, size, and handle design. Disappointingly poor edge retention.