Victorinox Cutlery 8-Inch Chef's Knife, Blue Fibrox Handle

My favorite knife is the Victorinox eight inch chef' knife.  I have se the same knife as my mainstay kitchen utensil for the past ten years.  It still maintains a reasonabley sharp edge.  The knife continues to remain perfectly balanced.  The 8 inch knife is perfect for my smaller hands.  The narrow blade allows you to control the knife while you are slicing and dicing.  THe antibacterial handle is nice since I use this knife for most of my cutting needs.  I purchase my knife from a restaurant supply store for less than thirty dollars.  I have several more expensive knifes, but don't care for their weight or the deeper blades which make them ackward to use.  The biggest problem I have is that my guest tend to abuse the knife becuase it doesn't like like an expensive chef's knife.  It is by far my favorite kitchen tool.

I bought this knife based on the review from Cooks Country TV.  They admitted it wasn't the best knife on the market, but felt it was the best knife for the majority of uses for the price.  Price was certainly a determining factor, especially since this is the most expensive knife I own (to date).

As far as I can tell, the color of the handle is the only difference between this and the other fibrox handled knives. 

When I opened the packaging, the knife readily shaved hair off my arm, so it certainly came in nice and sharp.  The knife has a stamped blade (not forged) so it's lighter than other forged knives.  I find that it fits my hand well, I like the textured grip, and it does everything I want a knife to do.

There are a couple of things that I would change, but these are fundamental issues with me buying the knife from a tv show review.  First, I'm a large guy, big hands, etc.  I find 8" to feel a bit small when going after a whole onion.  I believe I would have liked a 10" better.  The second thing I'm having to adjust to is the angle of the tip section.  I'm trying to learn the "Alton Brown" slicing method (or maybe it's the chop method), where the tip of the knife never leaves the cutting board and use an orbital motion.  I think a longer knife would also improve this aspect as well.  Therefore, I think the only gripe I have about my 8" knife is that it's 8" instead of 10" -- hardly the manufacturer's fault.