Ken Onion Cutlery by Chef Works

Nice! All of my Ken Onion knives are very high quality. Too bad I just bought a new set of kitchen knives, I’d be all over this. And Made In USA! The knives I got are German…
I also just got the ‘Ken Onion knife sharpener’. All my knives are like razors now…

If these knifes are exclusive to Woot, how is the retail price different than the price at which Woot is selling them?

I wanted a chef’s knife, but alas… All these knives have non-traditional blade profiles, which is ok, as long as it was done for the sake of something other than being non-traditional…

And what the heck is a santilly knife? Looks like an Asian veggie chopper or something. Would be nice if the descriptions said a little about the actual knife…

[edit] Oh, I get it! San-tility! Like Santoku + utility! That is unique.

If you could get only one everyday cooking use knife, which would it be ?

For me, it would be a Santoku knife which, unfortunately, is not offered here.

8" chef’s knife or a 6-8" Santoku (which is essentially a Japanese style chef’s knife).

Made by ‘Chef works’??? What happened, did Ken Onion ** shun ** the other company?

Ummm…Ken Onion does his own thing.
http://www.kenonionknives.com/

Shun Ken Onion has been a retired line for some time now. Not news. Nothing lasts forever.

8" Chef’s knife. Decent quality ones can be had for under $40.

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-Classic-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0061SWV8Y/

http://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-40520-Fibrox-8-Inch-Chefs/dp/B000638D32

Really, the most used knife is that which has a straight edge. None of these have that.

Chopping has to otherwise reach a precise stopping point on all of these curved blades styles, which is hard to locate and ‘feel’.
This is why a chefs knife works so flawlessly in it’s design. It’s length works with the slight curve of the blade, and you always end the cut, even if your technique isn’t perfect.

I use knives all day, nearly every day in my work.
While I don’t have any actual experience with these, I don’t really feel any great desire to try them out either.
These seem a little gimmicky. It’s like they’re all based on looks. Aesthetics above function.

Seeing that these are mainly curved blades, they are used mainly for slicing or paring, though that said, the bread knife looks a little under serrated.

Answering your question, from this selection, the filet knife seems to be the most traditional and useful if you needed a filleting knife.

These look like they have a stamped blade rather than a traditional forged blade. I have a few Ken Onion knives by Shun which are outstanding. These have a similarly shaped ergonomic handle, although different material. Blade is completely different. Seems very pricey for a stamped blade though.

I don’t agree. Looking carefully at the reverse paring knife, I see thickness tapering from heel to tip and from spine to edge. That’s not something you normally see in stamped blades, which have roughly uniform thickness throughout. I’m gonna go with these being forged blades.

As far as I can tell these are the Chef Works Ken Onion Rain Knives without the blade surface treated to make the rain pattern. The pattern is supposed to make the knife almost non stick and provide better cutting. The handles on the original knives also look like they have a nicer finish on them.

http://www.chefworks.com/?page=shop/browse_ken_onion_knives&category=cutlery_kenonionrainseriesknives&PHPSESSID=3a0sa7ibgck3l6ub2usjf0nha7

So I guess the question I have is: are the knives still the great deal they seem even though they are missing some features that made the original prices so high?

So, since these are Woot knives, we should be able to get answers.

Stamped or forged…or??

Are these BDZ1 high-carbon stainless steel, if not what ?

Ok guys, lets start with the steel. it is 420HC american made.
The handle is a textured G10, which is fiber glass suspended in resin. Also American made It is the only dishwasher safe material I have ever seen.
There is a huge confusion on the term forged. All steel is forged. forging is the process of hitting the metal to align the molecular structure. These days it is done at the rolling mill. What people mean to say is that it is drop forged which is the process the high end German knife makers use, which usually has a full bolster and tang, and is ground to three dimensions, as opposed to stamped knives which as the one person pointed out is flat. These knives are neither. They are laser cut out of a very thick stock, then ground like a drop forged knife.

I find it interesting that the comment was made that a straight edge knife is the best for chopping. Especially when they admit they have never used any knife with a good curve on the blade. Knife use is subjective, but as you have probably now guessed, I am the project developer for these knives and worked with both Ken and the manufacturer to make these. the truth about the staigt edge knife is that it is simply easier and cheaper to make, as it requires less tooling and steel. Ken spent two years studying the chefs and how they used knives and came up with the curves and angles used in these designs.

These knives are a derrivation of the rain series now being offered in high end stores. Woot wanted to offer great value, but still offer superior Ken Onion design. I am happy to answer any other questions you may have.

The santility is the Ken Onion of the Santoku. Ken adusted it so it had more belly curve for better gliding. It is wider for better scooping. The spine of the blade is not distilled tapered adding extra weight so it can go through chicken joints. The hande is set at six inches and leveraged so you can pinch grip more comfortably and and have better leverage for cutting through difficult item like squash.

I have heard many chefs make similar comments to the ones made here. It is unfortunate that you would choose to trash an item before you actually try it. Why you are not wrong for your cooking, I am sure that I can show you 2,000,000 grandmas who are a better cook than you and would use a paring knife to skin a cow if you would let them.

What traditionalists like you always forget, is that they are trained, and the normal home cook isn’t. So Ken and Chef works created shapes that honored tradition, like the fillet knife, but also shapes that solved every day problems like the supreme utility, which will cut everything on a sandwhich plus the sanwich itself. In other words a multifunction knife. It is interesting that you mention design. I agree with you that most design is simply cosmetic. However these knives are designed to be the most ergonomic knives ever created. the curves you don’t like are specifically designed to be used with the curves of your body. Interesting how the body has no truely straight lines.

Just because you wouldn’t use one of the new shapes, doesn’t mean they don’t work and are only a gimmick. I feel your comments would be a lot more valuable if you actually tied them first.

This is unrelated, so forgive me, but I never had the chance to speak with a knife guru before. What super-steel do you favor most, for both kitchen (IE VG-10) and EDC (IE ELMAX) knives? Thanks for your input!

I have to say, the 7-piece set looks pretty interesting… I didn’t see that when I made my earlier comment. The 8-inch cook’s knife, especially. I think I would really like the shape and feel. Too bad you aren’t offering that one individually.

My problem with new / non-traditional blade profiles is that I don’t understand how I would use them. I spent a large part of my 20’s in the kitchen of a large gourmet cater - chopping, boning, and peeling. Now, I find that a chef’s knife, a couple of boning knifes, and a paring knife are all I think to use.

I am thinking that 7-piece set might be right up my alley. The reverse paring knife looks pretty useful too.

I’m going to give the Santility a try. I noticed there is a 8" and 10" Rain Cook’s Knife. Do you know if these will be offered individually as Woot versions as well? I see the 8" in the block sets, but I don’t really need a set. Thanks.