Calphalon Katana kitchen knives

J.Marsillo

J.Marsillo

Joined
Nov 8, 2000
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Has anyone handled these knives? I just bought a set for my wife and am a little confused.Reading everything they say its vg-1 steel in a stainless damascus.Looking at them up close looks more like a damascus "etch" to me... Katanas
 
Their decent little knives for the money ( I picked up 2 for $40)

I doubt their damascus cladded, but it is a cladded core of vg-1

I tried to etch one with ferric chloride and it did nothing
 
If they're like Shun, which the description makes them out to be, they have a center layer of good/decent steel (VG-1 here, VG-10 in the Shuns) layered on either side with several layers of non-blade-grade stainless (410, 303, something like that) welded on either side. As I recall, from looking at the Shuns I've seen in person and the Katana series online, it's a VERY shallow etch.

Technically, if you laminate several layers of steel, even if all the layers are perfectly flat, it's still "damascus"...
 
The VG-10 blades with stainless damascus are very different....and a lot higher priced.
Stacy
 
Oh...I get it...its a 33 layer etch :jerkit:
wtf...I know you get what you pay for but seriously.... that is a little misleading.Its so misleading that you have to be a knifemaker to tell the difference :thumbdn:
Some lady made it all the way to federal court because she thought there was real berries in the crunch berries...:yawn:

Oh well the wife loves them...( she needs stainless knives :eek:)
 
I forget the Japanese name for the material, but it is a powdered metal-cladding process with two different stainless powders. Not an etched pattern. At least on the SHun Classics.
 
the japanese term is suminagashi for the 33layer cladded steel with a hard steel core
 
Last edited:
J.Marsillo said:
Oh...I get it...its a 33 layer etch :jerkit:
wtf...I know you get what you pay for but seriously.... that is a little misleading.Its so misleading that you have to be a knifemaker to tell the difference :thumbdn:
Some lady made it all the way to federal court because she thought there was real berries in the crunch berries...:yawn:

Oh well the wife loves them...( she needs stainless knives :eek:)
Click to expand...

ya, mine were pretty cheap on closeout at "Linnens and things"

I thought it was a bit odd myself, thats why I put it in ferric chloride which usually etches damascus in about 5min. Literally, it did nothing.
The knives do take a nice edge though:)
 
I don't know the exact specifycations of it, but my brother does some pretty intense cooking, and he likes them.
 
Funny - someone is asking about these knives in another part of the forum.

Here's a re-writing of what I posted there:

I bought a katana a few years ago and the edge or "core" steel rusted, pitted and actually cracked faster than you can say "waste of money".

I complained to the company and they did not offer to replace the knife.

I've heard that they finally admitted that early runs had faulty "VG" steel, but the whole experience has made me never and I mean NEVER buy a Calphalon product again.

I switched to Shuns and those will soon be replace with knives of my own design.
 
Don't know about those particular knives, but I love my Wusthof Cordon Bleu set. Very well balanced and sharp for a retail grade set.

--nathan
 
Wow I wish I hadn't read this thread :(

A year and a half ago I got married. I bougt a titanium damascus wedding band, because I really love damascus patterns. More than gold and silver lol...

So when we went to register and Bed,Bath, and Beyond I saw the Calphalon Katanas and fell in love with them. I do a LOT of cooking I guess. Anyway it was the one thing I picked out to register for - and several of my family member got together and bought us the big set. Pretty expensive from what I remember. A couple even got us the bamboo cutting boards to protect the edges.

The other day my wife says "your damascus kitchen knives have a couple of rust spots from the dishwasher"! Sure enought two of them had a couple tiny spots near the cutting edges. I know I shouldn't put good knives in the dishwasher (just got lazy that day) but I was shocked that a knife advertised as "stainless damascus" got tiny spots.

I am pretty sad to find out it isn't the real deal... I went over and started looking at them as soon as I read the thread, and yup - I have a feeling they are fakes. I think I'm going over to BB&B this weekend with a box full of knives and a VERY angry wife.
 
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