Anyone heard of Cutco knives?

S

SVTNate

Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
31
My friend just started working for this knife company called Cutco, selling their knives. He has a set of the kitchen knives at his house, they look pretty well made and came razor sharp right out of the box. Anyone know how good this stuff really is?

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Knife newbie.
So far - CRKT Kasper (the big one), Kershaw Ken Onion Ricochet.
 
search for past threads on cutco, then
JUST SAY NO

If he's such a good friend that you feel obligated, just buy one- then give it to your mother.
 
I agree with JW,except for giving it to mom,because she deserves better.Stay away from Cutco seems to be the previous concensus among most knowledgeble knife users.
 
I've got a little cutco lockback. About 2" blade. The knife is well designed and lock up is good. The steel is very bad however. I occasionaly carry it for a beater knife.

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Brian
 
I grossly dislike Cutco as we have a distributor in this area and when I call asking them anything about knives I just get the run around or a completely knowledgless answer. Maybe get one and put it in you camping box or something if you have to buy one but I wouldn't bother.

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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
 
My Brother in Law sold Cutco for a while.I bought one of their vegetable knives,kind of like an elongated meat cleaver.Seems to be fairly well made for it`s intended purpose.They don`t seem to go out of their way to train their sales people.
 
I hate to go against the trend here but, I like these knives. I received two sets of four steak knives 16 years ago as a wedding present. These knives are great for cutting meat as they are serrated. I once used one to cut off the lower radiator hose on my truck (I just couldn't get it off). I ended up ruining the edge. I sent all the knives back to be resharpened after 10 years. I also had them replace a handle on one that had broken. The handles are made of a brown plastic. They go right in the dishwasher on the hottest setting and never a spot of rust. They are guaranteed for life and all I have ever had to pay was shipping charges. The down side is that these knives are very expensive and the serrations are sort of rectangular instead of circular which probably makes it hard to sharpen on your own. I have seen their folders and fixed blade camping knives in their catalog but I do not believe they are very good because this company really specializes in kitchen cutlery.
 
I bought one of the orange handled fixed hunters to help out my daughter's boyfriend (I think I was his only sale). Now when I tell my wife about someone buying a POS knife, she refers to it as "buying an Eric".

Honestly, for a mystery steeled, over priced knife, the handle is pretty ergonomic, and the edge came fairly sharp.
 
If you MUST buy one to help out a friend, get the bagel knife. The oval shaped, serrated edge does the best bagel slice & schmear ever.

I recently had an argument with a friend who has a set, used to sell them, and is still 'sold' on them. Told me Henkels and Forshner were no comparison.
rolleyes.gif


For the $300 block of kithen knives, I'd rather spend $75 on some no-name 440 SS knives and sharpen when needed on my Sharpmaker (which in fact is what I did).
 
Thanks for the input guys, he just started selling the knives a couple weeks ago and I was curious as to what people thought of them.

I was flipping through his sales packet, and it says that only their "special" method of serrating knives can be sharpened, other serrated knives can "never be sharpened"...

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Knife newbie.
So far - CRKT Kasper (the big one), Kershaw Ken Onion Ricochet.
 
Think: If a serrated knife can not be sharpened, then how was it made in the first place? If it was made sharp once, then it can be made sharp again.




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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
I've got nothing against Cutco knives. I generally buy them for 99 cents (used at Goodwill stores). I would never buy them at their list price. They absolutely are NOT all that special. I don't find their handle all that ergonomic, it is mostly gimick--like the rest of their promotion.
 
Cutco is part Case knives, part Alcoa Aluminum, than handles are funky and the sals shtick they give the reps is complete puckey. The building I work in/ manage had a dealership on the first floor for a little while. I had fun grabbing whatever was i the training bag and showing it to them, seeing how the Dave Beck could whack thru a piece of lumber and still slice their leather strip, which is supposed to simulate turkey. Who the hell taught these guys turkey is supposed to be dried out like that anyway? I thought the only decent knife i that office was the Case commerorative single bladed folding hunter. Very nice that was. Anyway, the Bagwell Bowie made these guys cream their jeans (uck! Immage!)

My brother used to sell and he just junked them. I bought my parents a set of Wustoff last year to replace the POS cutco set. A friend used to sell and he still thinks they are the cat's meow, but he was duly impressed when I showed him how to shave little strips off the edge of a piece of paper with my Sweetie's Lamson, Henkels, Wustof and Sabatier mixed set.

Do not buy these, with the agreed upon exception of the bagel slicer/ spreader (also caller a snack slicer and sandwhich spreader) It will have a big oval blae with the (i have to laugh at this) "double D Edge" on one side of the blade. Take the money from a cutco set, instead get a LamsonSharp 6" and 8" chef knife, a Wustoff paring knife and a Henkels paring knife, as well as a Russell bread knife and a LamsonSharp or Wustoff slicer for roasts.

Spend $30 to $100 on a set of GOOD steak knives without the serrated edge and you're in biz for less than the cost of the goofy Cutco. make your nephew happy and buy the bagel knife.

I do have a funny cutco story for you guys though...m brother was selling to a friend's parents and she was goin to go ahead and buy them. Her husband, a somehwta coarse guy, came in asking "what the hell do we need knives for?" He cut himself a week after they came in...the guy needed a few stitches as I recall.
 
I got suckered into selling Cutco back in my impoverished college days. Yuck! What a job- trying to guilt your friends and relatives into buying overpriced cutlery. Eventhough they are too expensive, I don't think they're half bad. A few family members still have theirs (it's been around 10 years) and they are all in generally good condition. Some have lost some edge, but generally they are still sharp.

I agree with the above post about the bagel knife. It's actually called the "spatula spreader" and I LOVED that knife (I somehow lost it over the years). Also got a free hunting knife that was pretty cool, although somewhat cheeply made.

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Terribilis est locus iste

JpG
 
I don't think more fuel needs to be added to this fire, but I will add some. I ALMOST got suckered into selling them. This was before I knew anything about knives. BOY was I impressed. I went to 2 days of the selling seminar and learned lots about the surgical stainless steel, the superiority of the double D edge, the extensive product line, etc. Once I heard how much they cost I couldn't bring myself to selling these to peopel I knew. Now that I am an educated knife knut, especially after making 4 knives myself already, I think that Cutco is not a good deal for the $$ at all. Ask the sales people what the steel is and what it Rockwells out at. They don't know. I like knowing. Double D edges can't be sharpened at home; the knives have to be returned to the factory to be sharpened. Serrations are NOT NEEDED on steak knives. Sharpen a plain edged blade properly and it will zip through meat with no effort. Don't believe me? Well, how many combat knives have been made with serrations? Don't these knives cut flesh well enough? Why aren't skinning knives made with serrations?

What else, ...oh yes. I did like the handles. They are nice. But that is it. A set of henkels runs cheaper than cutco I believe and you get a much higher quality knife for less $$.

Cutco is a bad deal. Buy a knife to be nice if you want, but stay away from buying a bunch of knives, unless your friend saved your life or something like that! They aren't worth it otherwise.

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"Come What May..."
 
First post here, so here it goes. About 3 years ago I answered a newspaper ad for a sales job; turns out it was for Cutco but didn't know it till the person started the presentation. The recruiter did a pretty slick presentation where she us cut rope and leather with a Cutco knife and a "regular" kitchen knife.

Being the skeptical sort I checked the edge of the "regular" knife and found it was completely dull, dull as in credit cards have sharper edges. Stuck around and found the rest of the presentation fun in a perverse way.

My impressions are similar to some expressed already, the handles seemed pretty nice and comfortable and I think the knife would be great for cutting soft fruit such as tomatoes or oranges and of course bagels as someone mentioned. However with the "mystery steel" and all it makes me feel kinda uneasy....
 
The serrations suck. I was told by Cutco that the double-D pattern wouldn't need sharpening for at least 4 years (or maybe they said 10 years). I've had mine for 2 years. Half of the time it was dull.

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Chang and the Rebels of the East
(Southern Taiwan Shall Rise Again!)
 
Darn near everything in our kitchen is Farberware. Good stuff Maynard! I have a set of Cutco that I use all the time....as butter knives.

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There are no rules- Thou shalt win at all costs.
 
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