Fine Cutlery!!

Looks cheap to me... I won't go with these Knifes.

Found on Wikipedia:

CUTCO is a brand of cutlery and kitchen accessories directly marketed to customers through in-home consultations with sales representatives who are usually college-aged.

Cutco - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Neil Armstrong sold them while in College...) :lol:

I just checked out the Amazon Site, and they are expencive- I never used one, but there must be a reason why they are not popular as Chef Tools. I never saw them in a Pro- Kitchen. I'm sure that you go better with something else....

The whole company,their Products and their way of marketing and selling Products don't look very serious at all to me.

:smiles:

I've had my Cutco for over 15 yrs. and they have served me well. They come with a lifetime guarantee. Cutco will replace anything that was damaged so it is an investment for life. My daughter, when she was about 13 stuck a Cutco steak knife in my champion juicer in order to push some fruit through the chute. The juicer mangled the knife. My husband reminded me that those knives came with a lifetime guarantee. I called Cutco and they told me to send it in. THey replaced it free of charge. Their policy usually is that the customer pays 50% of the replacement cost if the customer is at fault (which we were), or 100% if it's Cutco's fault.

You can even send your knives to them to be sharpened. All you do is pay the s/h and they will sharpen them for free and return them to you in a timely manner.

I don't think they would be in a professional kitchen because they are pricey to begin with, and the owner of the establishment runs the risk of an employee walking off with one of them. But for home, they are great!

To me as a pro cook the only fine cutlery in my kitchen is a well maintained knife. A very sharp dexter-russle is way more valuable then a dull wustoff.

My personal chef knife is a 50 year old sabatier. Its made of virgin carbon steel and takes a nice edge on a sharpening steel without much effort. You can still buy carbon steel sabatiers at

Sabatier Elephant Logo Carbon-Steel Kitchen Knives

The French make a good knife.

Those knives you see on t.v. that say they never need sharpening are not as sharp as a properly stone sharpened real knife. Nothing stays sharp forever.

If you do a search on this site, you'll find plenty about Cutco.

They're overpriced for what they are. A good knife will out cut them and outlast them.

For lots of the nitty gritty that makes sense only to knife nuts see Is Cutco A Scam Please Tell Me - BladeForums.com

Cutco

the one I have, and I got it cheap and abused,

has some of the best steel I have ever sharpened!

I don't know if this rare or what they always sell.

But I do know that with reasonable care, and keeping my 14yo from widdling with it, it will cut more then any other knife I own between sharpening's.

The handle is also as ergonomic as the sanisafe knives a bought for my kitchen, and to me it balances better.

At the time I got this Chefs knife I could have picked up a butcher knife to match, I started kicking myself after I got the one workable, I should have had 2 great knifes, or I would know if the one is an odd ball!:look:

Al

I bought a Cutco bread knife some years back, and it is the best bread knife I've ever owned. I don't know about their other knives-I pick and chose my knives, I don't buy all one brand so they will match-I buy what will match my needs. I will say they are a bit pricey, but then so are the other knives I have. The bread knife/slicer is an excellent knife!

About 6mos ago I switched to a Japanese Guyto/Chef's knife, 240mm/9 1/2", it's very thin, extremely sharp and holds that edge well, it's very light which took some getting used to at first, having used Henkels, Wustof and Eberhard Schaff previously. But I've fallen in love, it has less rocker than the German Chef's knives, The Sabatier however, which is a heavier and very sharp knife, has an edge more similar to the Japanese/western version which they call the Guyto, Gyuto and other spellings. Mine came as the result of good advice as being very inexpensive - $58, as the best bang for the buck. I purchased it, in an effort to try out these knives, expecting to get something fancier if I loved it and, well, I'm still using it.

All I use now is that Guyto, a Tojiro DP and a 3 1/2" Wustof Classic paring knife. I'm still considering a more expensive "Blazen" Guyto but haven't been able to convince myself that I need to spend the $200. The knife I have, came with a rather squared off blocky handle which wasn't bad but I took a file and sandpaper and made it more comfortable to my hand. They have a heck of a blade and way sharper than enything I could even imagine with my German knives. One of the tests I always like to use to seen how well I've sharpened my knives is how easily they'll slice up tomato's.

At first I also wasn't sure the advice I'd recieved about getting a 9 1/2" over an 8" was a good idea. But today I love it, even mincing garlic if it's already on the board instead of my paring knife.

I cook for one, sometimes for two, I have a food processor but with the improvement of my knife use skills, it's quicker and frankly a lot more fun with my Guyto!
Jannie:bounce:

hi jannie good to see you here I am chefjohn from Foodieforums

I want the best knife money can buy...

There are those few basic pieces of equipment in my kitchen that I insist must be the BEST quality and a knife is one of them. My extensive research has led me on two paths: Sabatier or a Japanese knife. However, anyone who can use google will find three sites selling what they call the "original and oldest" brand of sabatier knives (diamond, K, and elephant) and then a bunch selling knives that have the name Sabatier on it. I can't find too many people who agree on what kind of Japanese knife to get. I just want a very very high quality 10" (or in that area) chef's knife. This knife will get an immense amount of use. Does anyone have experience with high quality knives that can help me choose? Thank you!!!!

I bought a Cutco chef knife many, many years ago. I didn't realize it when I bought it, but it didn't fit my hand very well- no wonder I stopped using it. It's been useful for cutting sod when I wanted to enlarge a flower bed, though. :D

I've got a few Cutco's and I LOVE them!! As stated in above posts, they DO hold an edge well and any other knives I look at, I always compare them to my Cutco's.

Kershaw Shun are my favorite so far.. and the fav of Alton Brown:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer...00188336&hl=en

I don't think Cutco is all that bad. For the home cook, they can do a fine job.
My gripe with their knives is about the handles. They are the worst I have ever held.
They are vastly overpriced.

Wusthof
U
S
T
H
O
F

I've had a couple for many years. They do have a great edge, and the company does sharpen them for free (you pay postage) but boy, are they expensive. Tha handles are durable, but pretty skimpy.

Mike

Knives with serrated blades are typically made from an inferior grade of stainless steel. This type of stainless steel contains less carbon that high quality knives, resulting in a metal that is too hard to be effective re-sharpened. That's why these blades are serrated - because serrated blades cut better when they are dull than non-serrated blades do. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with these types of knives, but I think it’s important to know what you’re getting and what you're possibly paying big bucks for. And, in fact, if you don’t want to bother keeping your knives sharp, these types of blades may be perfect for you because they’ll continue to cut, although somewhat roughly, with almost no maintenance.

So, these knives may be the the perfect choice for you - just know that you're paying top-of-the-line prices for knives that aren't.

I was bought my Gustav emils as a prezzy when i started my training. But I'm still using my 25 year old Sabatiers. I'd love to try a Japenese style, but so much choice.Thanks for all the info, It'll save me buying a crock

I had a friend who went through the whole routine of trying to sell them to be but they were quite out of my price range, I was heading for school soon after so I thought I'd at least hear the guy out. I was impressed, handled and cut almost as good as my mom's old Henckels but I remembered at the time, someone telling me to stay away from pressed knives which was evident through the single piece of uniformed metal blade running through the handle. I figured that for the same price, I could get a decent set of forged high carbons so I turned him down. Back then, they looked and felt pretty cheap and flimsy but I don't know how much Cutco has changed over the past 6 years.

MaryE, your metallurgy needs some correction and there are times and places serrations are superior and used in quality steel as well. Lower carbon steels are softer and more rust resistant. High carbon steels are harder and make better cutting tools.

Knife steels and heat treat are a trade-off between hardness and brittleness. As the hardness increases (higher heat treat), they become more brittle. However, hard steels hold their edges better and longer but at the risk of chips or breaking. High grade steels are alloys of special additives (molybdenum, vanadium and so on) to improve their toughness at higher heat treats. But those additives, the higher heat treat and the extra work it takes to shape and sharpen those steels makes them an expensive niche market for kitchen sales.

Most serrated knife sets are from a soft steel, not a hard ones. Hard ones cost more. Soft steels are easy to sharpen and fabricate but they won't hold the edges well. Serrations are often used to cover up the soft steel. Serrations in simple terms add to the effective cutting length of any cutting stroke plus they add some sawing and tearing effects, the latter more so as they dull. They'll still tear after they're dull, but many people don't notice the difference.

However, most all high quality knife makers make some knives with serrated edges as there are materials that cut better with serrations.

Cutco uses 440A, a comparatively low carbon steel. This is a somewhat soft steel but very tough and highly stain resistant. Most saltwater dive knives are made from 440A They can take a lot of abuse which is important for lowering their warranty costs. Serrations cover up the quick dulling of the knives. Their chef's knife isn't serrated and cuts well. Even Wusthof and Henkels temper their big knives soft to improve the knives' toughness, usually in the mid 50s on the RC scale, similar to where Cutco hardness is.

Now, Benchmade made a three piece set of kitchen knives in 440C, a higher carbon steel otherwise very similar to 440A, thus the same naming convention. Notice their higher hardness, around 60 RC. This gives a stronger edge that is still very durable. While 440C could be tempered to even higher hardness, it becomes too brittle.
Product Details - Benchmade Knife Company "Specialty Cutlery, Knives, and Rescue Tools"

A boutique cutlery steel and very expensive is ZDP189 that is usually hardened to 67 and is very tough at that hardness, but is difficult for the average user to sharpen because it's so hard. If you have good technique, it's not bad, but most people would have these professional sharpened.

"THE BEST" is not exactly easy when it comes to knives. Aside from a sharp blade, it is very much a personal thing...

hold some knives and see what is comfortable to you. this doesn't tell you the whole story, but it is a good start... 
 
and don't get too caught up in brands... I love the Shun Classic Santoku, but I can't use their Paring Knife. (the "D" shaped handle doesn't feel right with a choke grip traditionally used for paring)

My daughter sold CUTCO until she tried MAC, enough said!

 

Cutco knives aren't so much bad as overpriced for what they are. 

 

Compared to the brands mentioned by the Cutco spammer they're made from a type of 440A, an inferior but very corrosion resitant alloy not used by many knife manufacturers anymore; and certainly not by any quality makers.  Don't let Cutco marketing fool you.  440A is crap.

 

Most of Cutco's knives have "Double D" edges.  That's serration with a fairly coarse, saw-tooth set on the bevel.  They cut a very ragged kerf and are absolutely incapable of making fine cuts.  The good news is that the bevels continue to function efficiently even after the edge has become extremely dull. 

 

On the one hand, it's nice having a knife that you can be confident will actually cut.  On the other, a saw edge is not the right way to make fine cuts (like julienne and small dice), it is especially bad for onions -- makes them stink and you cry.  All of you who have "chopped" onions with a steak knife know what I mean.  In fact, if you think of a Cutco Double D as a very aggressive steak knife, you've got the idea.

 

Because of the alloy chosen, the few non-serrated knives in the catalog have lousy edge holding characteristics.    

 

While Cutco will offers lifetime sharpening, you still have to pay to have your knives shipped to the factory.  The wait alone would drive me nuts.

 

Getting and keeping your own knives sharp isn't that big a deal.  You just need to be aware that they do need sharpening and purchase a system that actually works, and which you can and will actually use.

 

No one who actually knows how to cook wants a "10 piece knife set." 
 

All in all, the vast majority of cooks interested enough to participate here are better off with decent knives and some sort of mid-grade sharpening setup than Cutco.

 

BDL

 

I hate having to repeat this stuff about Cutco -- especially when it comes on the board as spam.

I first off have to say i dont understand how voicing my opinion is spam?

isnt that what everyone else is doing? if its because of the second post of only one word that was a complete sincere accident and i couldnt figure how to delete it.

 

And just to keep on topic of the discussion, your opinions dont sound like they are from first hand experience. 

My experience IS first hand and I concur with BDL's remarks.

 

My daughter sold CUTCO while in college. That is, until we ran a small comparison (CUTCO vs. MAC) in my kitchen preparing a meal. She now uses MACs

 

I have three friends that have CUTCO sets that they no longer use, why? Because they tried what, IMHO, is a knife, not a "saw".

 

As BDL points out, any "serious cook" does not need or want a "set of knives".

Oh, BTW, my "set" (hand selected) of MACs in my knife roll were less than half of the $992 you quoted.

 

They're spam because you're quite obviously selling Cutco.  Enthusiastic Cutco posts are one of those sadly recurring events you experience hanging out in cooking and knife forums.  The deduction that they're sales pitches isn't much of a reach.  It's a life lesson along the lines of, "If she comes to your door to give you a copy of the "Watchtower" she's a Jehovah's Witness."

 

If that's too nuanced, there's your nic.  The "Cutco" part contained within could be taken as a subtle clue.

 

My opinions regarding Cutco are drawn from personal experience and from research including the experiences and opinions of others.  My nephew and DIL both sold Cutco, I know many people who have bought and owned for some small time complete sets, including my parents; and have used Cutco on many (too many) occasions.  I cooked for awhile in a couple of pretty good restaurants, and later owned and operated a small catering company.  Additionally, I've taught cooking and knife skills classes.

 

Speaking of background, what's your experience as a "professional chef?"

 

If my writing sounds like it comes from a "knife expert" rather than just some guy... oh well.

 

BDL

Edited by boar_d_laze - 7/24/10 at 2:55pm

Never bought one.  But I have seen them at various trade shows and have examined them thoroughly.

 

I'm a cook, not a metalulrgist.  I hold the knife in my hands, and flex the blade--it flexes, bad.

 

I look at the edge, I see a hollow grind, bad.  I see course grinding marks from the factory, bad.  I see serrations on a Chef's knife. Bad. Why t.f. are there serrations on a Chef's knife?

 

I look at the handle, two plastic scales riveted onto the blade. Bad.  Lots of grooves and places for grunge and bacteria to hide.

 

I look at the price, and laugh.  No single prices, only come as sets.  Seems like every Nigerin e-mail is a scam, an it seems like everything sold in sets (cookware, tupperware, knives) are a scam.

 

Give me a Victorinox or a Mac anyday and I'll out cut (chopping is for firewood), out bone-out, and out dice anyone in the kitchen.

We've NEVER had someone come plug Cutco complete with the spiel in your first post who wasn't a rep. Putting a brand in your name is usually also a sign of  drumming up business.

 

You're welcome to voice an opinion that is not spam. I'll defend your right to post such non-spam opinions within the limits of the user agreement. However, I'll also defend the right of other people to debate your stated opinion. If your opinion doesn't hold up to scrutiny of others, you would be well advised to reconsider your opinion.

 

So, defend your claim with facts and I'll request the admins get in touch with you to change your board name and we'll see how this develops.

MMMmmmmm....

Just reading through the whole thread.

 

All started off by a new poster, "totopanda".

 

If there's one thing I learned in the 15 years as a caterer, it was to be highly suspicious of "party planners".....................

Since I went the Cutco route recently and then changed over to MAC I'll share my experience.

 

Cutco seemed like a decent enough knife but the handles are made of plastic/resin (think bowling ball) and they have a great marketing campaign but something about knowing they sell door to door made me decide to research them after we had already purchased both a set of steak knives and also their smaller Santoku.  After coming here and reading about Cutco and what else is available at similar pricing we decided to give MAC a try.  The Cutco Santoku knife was decent but the MAC outclassed it.  So we returned the Cutco Santoku but kept the Cutco steak knives because of the strong warranty and the abuse they may suffer.