Dexter Russell S5198, Chinese Chef’s Knife, 8" High Carbon Steel Blade

I purchased this to replace the 70-year-old Hong Kong-made Dexter chef's knife I inherited 15 years ago. It is not stainless steel, but it holds a very sharp edge. It required special care to prevent rusting, having to dry in immediately after washing. Thinking that more is better, I ordered and tested a knife with 4-inch wide with 3/32" thick blade. I didn't like it because it was too heavy and the extra blade thickness slowed slicing juicy or sugary vegetables, like tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, etc. This knife, out of the box felt better than the 4-inch wide bladed knife, but not as good as the knife I was replacing. Its 1/16" thick blade is very sharp, and its high carbon content should make it easy to sharpen when that time eventually arrives. For me, out of the box. it rates 4 stars. After my modifications, I give it 5. My modifications involved two things. First, because the proper and most comfortable and eficient way to hold and use Chinese chef's knives is by holding them with thumb and index finger at the back of the blade, letting the handle rest in the center of your palm, the back of the top edge was rubbing my index finger, threatening to form calluses. I rectified this by filing the sharp top edges for the first 1.5 inches (almost 4 cm) next to the handle, rounding the edges. This made it comfortable to hold for long sessions of cutting and chopping vegetables and meat. The rounded edges don't rub against my finger. Next, to reduce weight, I used a small rotary tool with 1.5 inch grinding wheel to cut off a half inch from the end of the blade. This took 3 minutes, followed by another 5 minutes of smoothing with file and sandpaper. This reduced the weight to nearly my original, old knife. At this point the knife felt good enough to rate 5 stars.

This knife was a splurge for me. I picked it up because of "Daddy Lau" on YouTube. It's a whole new style relative to that which I'm accustomed, but it's a pretty great knife. Don't be fooled by its appearance - it's not a chopping cleaver. This is a slicing knife, but with cleaver-like proportions. It's certainly stout enough for breaking chicken joints, etc, but I wouldn't try to chop through a large beef bone with it... It's a Dexter knife. Dexter is huge, perhaps one of the largest US knife makers. They seem relatively unknown to home chefs, but very well known in the cooking industry (in part because they are much less expensive than fancy brands). That said, they do not trail in quality. This knife will take an edge and hold an edge. It's very much like German steel - softer and tougher than Japanese knives, but falling just short of Japanese knives in terms of potential sharpness. Don't get me wrong, you can get this razor sharp, just not quite as sharp. But you weren't shopping for a shaver, were you? The blade is first rate. The handle leaves a bit to be desired. It's not bad, but it doesn't exactly scream "superlative quality" either. In any case, I think it's acceptable, and my knives are for use, not for show, so I'm not going to lower my rating even if the handle seems a little "mass produced". My only gripe about this knife, and I'm certainly not going to knock it for it, is that its odd (by western standards) geometry makes it hard to find a place to put it. It's too tall for my knife drawer. I'd probably use it more if I had one of those magnetic strips over my range. In any case, this is a great knife, for a very reasonable price. It has no brand cache, but for those who just want to prep dinner that doesn't matter.

I guess first things first: I see a number of reviews saying that their knife arrived improperly packaged. I am not sure sure why that would happen but mine arrived in a box, with the nice in plastic packaging securing and protecting the blade. The packaging was nothing fancy but more than enough. For people looking for a Chinese chef knife, this is a decent option. Just make sure you want a chef knife and not a cleaver - this is NOT a cleaver and this is meant primarily for slicing vegetables and similar. This style is NOT made for chopping / hammering down on the cutting board and going through things like bone. You WILL damage the blade if you try to use it as a cleaver or to cut through bone. On arrival, mine was nice and sharp with no nicks or other defects on the blade. As a matter of fact it arrived this afternoon and I already put it to work prepping a stir fry and some fried rice ingredient for dinner. I didn't even have to hit it with a honing stick. Another thing worth mentioning is that in general it appears to be well balanced. I do see a few reviews talking about balance and / or the handle being small but that is by design. With this type of knife you should grip it with the handle "cupped" in your palm with your thumb actually on one of the blade itself, your index finger on the other side of the blade and your middle finger pressed against the back of the blade. You will find that holding it this way provides a lot more control of the blade and more balanced.

Although it is billed as a cleaver, I would not use it that way. It is a beautifully weighted versatile knife with a comfortable handle. This is a wonderful implement for rapidly chopping, pressing garlic quickly, etc. It is very easy to care for. We keep the handle out of the water & wash it with warm, soapy water. It is then left either to air dry or wipe dry with a soft cloth. We've used this knife for 35 years & it has held up well. The handle NEVER became loose. The original one was bought in Chinatown in NYC for about $5.00 (1981). I've seen this same knife in stores for $58, so this price here is quite good. We thought we had left the knife somewhere, & decided to check with Amazon if they had it. Great news, it was there! After 28 years, we didn't expect it to be $5. Got it to Alaska for additional S&H-about $51 all together. Still less than the price in the store, no gas, no poking around looking for it. Well, the original knife turned up after all, so now we have two & are happy for that-it is that good a knife! Actually-gave the new knife away as a present. It is a beloved, useful accompaniment-now, A NECESSITY in that household, too. The knife was shipped all the way to Alaska in great condition. It was well packaged. NO problems. You'll certainly be glad to own this knife. Yes, if you have access quickly to a Chinese grocery, you may find it. But absent that, this is a great alternative! This is just simply a great versatile knife-good for bluntly chopping meats (thru bones, too), finely chopping herbs, etc. NO complaints. Would buy again. (If the one from the 80's ever falls apart).

Ice blade. Stays sharp and it’s easier to use than I expected when using a pinch grip.

Daddy Lau from Cooking With Lau led me to buy this. Just received it today and I’m quite impressed with it. It was bigger and heavier than I expected though very manageable. I was pleased to find that the large face of the knife helps with faster chopping. Handle is a good length. Overall, I’d buy it again.

It's sharp, it's heavy, and it's a bench scraper, too! I use this every day in a professional kitchen, and I can say it puts up with that pretty well. Is it a pain to learn to use? Yes. Is it extremely blade heavy? Yes. But for under $50, I use it more than pretty much any other knife daily for veggies and meat, even medium precision work (halving cherry tomatoes is a breeze!). Even hard AND soft cheeses are reduceable to shreds (make sure that your dishwasher doesn't hide the box grater and microplanes, kids). I don't work at a place getting stuff from a bag, I'm constantly prepping and firing dishes. This thing holds up. The only other knives I really need are my kiritsuke (I use a Myabi Black series, but any 8-10 inch/200-260 mm thinnish chefs/filet for finer somewhat bigger work that needs less drag (butchery, filleting fish, delicate herbs, etc.) and a petty/paring knife for extreme precision. Get this, maintain it properly, and you're good for about 85% of what most households will need to do.

I found out about this knife from an elder Chinese chef on YouTube who recommended this exact cleaver. He had been using and re-sharoening his same knife for decades. So I gave it a whirl. NOT. DISAPPOINTED. For me, a woman of hands with long skinny fingers, this knife is well-balanced, not too heavy, but heavy enough to do most of the work when chopping and slicing. This cleaver is a JOY to work with when slicing vegetables very finely. Our household has a large set of Cutco knives, but I niw find myself reaching for this cleaver to do pretty much all my chopping, mincing (don't get me started how amazing this thing is for mincing), and fine slicing. Because of the larger, heavier, VERY SHARP blade, I find that slicing fruits and vegetables very thinly (even roots like carrots, radishes and potatoes) is a JOY. I prefer this knife now over the $140 Cutco chef knife for the same intended functions. It's also easy to sharpen! Slight drawback - if you have very large hans, the lovely wooden handle might be a bit small, but I think it's a decent size for most hands. Highly recommend this cleaver.