SHAN ZUJapanese Steak Knives Set of 4, High Carbon Super Sharp German Stainless Steel Knives with 15° Double Sides Edge & Ergonomic Pakkawood Handle

The media could not be loaded. After reading "Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper" by Fuchsia Dunlop (which is a staggeringly good book), I had a sudden urge for a cai dao cleaver. I found this knife on Amazon and couldn't believe the price, and took a punt. It arrived nicely packaged, and looked to be superb quality. Quite obviously a very sharp knife, even before trying it earnest.Tomatoes slice as thin as you can imagine, with no effort. Sweet potato dices with ease. And for herbs, the curve of the knife at the nose makes for a perfect chopping motion. The balance is perfect, and the weight much more user-friendly than a full cleaver; this is a working knife, not one to be left on show and rarely used.I'm a tool user, a wood turner and woodworker, so I know all about sharp tools, and this was properly sharp right out of the box. If you're unused to very sharp knives, treat it with respect, maybe buy a cut resistant glove on Amazon (they make them for food use), and you'll be fine. It's a joy to use. The wood handle is beautifully made and fitted, and the tool steel is high quality. I'm genuinely shocked that they can sell this knife at this price.I liked it so much, that they day after it arrived, and I first used it, I took a little time out at the workshop and made it its own stand to keep that edge safely out of the way, and appropriately stored. You don't want this sitting in a drawer unguarded!It's not a traditional carbon steel cai dao, but it's a superb stainless steel version, and I already love it. And if you buy the book, and read it, you'll get an idea of its versatility and popularity with traditional Chinese chefs.

I'm very happy with this purchase, I recently bought a rolling knife sharpener which makes sharpening knives really easy to do as the magnetic blocks holds the knife at the perfect angle with the choice of 20 or 15 degrees and then you grind both sides till its mirror sharp, but then though my knives were really sharp I wanted better knives - so I bought this set of 3 german steel knives, they have a good rockwell hardness rating (HRC) of 57 - japanese folded steel knives have the highest rating at 62 and keep their sharp edge for longer but these at 57 arent far off and the edge is advertised as 15 degrees so I know which angle to use when they do need sharpening which won't be for quite awhile, after using the chefs knife first time - when I cleaned the sharp edge it went straight through the washing up sponge as you can see by the picture - these are ultra sharp so be careful but look into getting a rolling knife sharpener too, there are cheaper ones out there and mine only cost £40, these knives are very well made and a joy to own making cooking much easier and slicing things like a swede a breeze (work smart not hard😉)

We bought a set of these knives and have been using them for nearly a year, The knife block looks great as do the knives. They are sharp and easy to re-sharpen with the supplied sharpener (not sure what it's called). A quality product. However, after around 6 to 9 months some of the knives started to rust in places. We contacted the supplier as we thought this was not in keeping with the quality of the knives and they we shocked that this had happened. Even though the knives were well outside of the Amazon return window the supplier has provided us with a set of replacement knives. In communication with the supplier it is clear that they care about their product and their customers. They are to be commended for their customer service.Would I deal with this company again. Most certainly yes.

Some people seem to have bought this Chinese/Japanese design kitchen knife as a UK cleaver. It is not - it is a knife. If you want a (UK) butchers' cleaver, look elsewhere - they are MASSIVE compared to this knife.Not had this long, but arrived very sharp and well-packaged. Sits well in the hand, and I prefer wood-handled knives.If it lets me down, I'll report back here.4 stars only because I haven't used it much as yet - could be a 5.

Review of "SHAN ZU Kitchen Knife, Japanese Santoku Knife 18 cm Professional Chef Knives Ultra Sharp Carving Knife High Carbon German Stainless Steel Utility Knife with Ergonomic Pakkawood Handle":There are some things in life you shouldn't cheap out on, and kitchen knives are one of them, cheap knives are a lot more dangerous than quality sharp ones.This knive is excellent, is very sharp and feels premium. The only thing I would criticise is the metal mid section of the handle is about 0.1mm proud of the wood grip, so you notice it feels a bit sharp in the palm of your hand when using it, but it isn't sharp enough to cut you, just annoy you a bit.Overall good product, and decent value at the reduced £22.44 price I ordered it for. I liked it so much I ordered a second one!

Was looking for some steak knives that didn't have a sarated blade , as that seems to rip the steak . With these very sharp knives cuts through with ease, easy to use and the right size, good grip and very functional. Haven't put in dishwasher yet so cannot comment on that. But very sharp edge so please take care.

Super sharp.. good steel. Solid handles. Very pleased with them.

Bread knife slices remarkably wellClean slices no rugged edgesAlso purchased Set of 3 Shan Zu kitchen knives different sizes which are also brilliantComfortable to useExcellent productsGreat seller no issues packaging superbDelivery super fast & this was during the holidays!!Highly recommendedThank you