KAI Santoku review:

[jimnolimit]

i don't see many reviews on inexpensive knives, i figured this would be fun.

while shopping at a department store today i saw a KAI pure komachi 2 santoku knife (6.5"). i picked it up and looked at the price, a whole $4.99. i thought to myself "i have been teaching my 9 year old daughter how to cook lately, this thin and light 6.5" fuchsia santoku knife should be a good starting point into cutlery. and at $4.99, it cost less than the pound of coffee i was holding in my other hand." i decided i would test the knife out before letting her use it, so i made the salads for dinner tonight using the knife (to go along with pizza pie i picked up).

my initial impression of the knife was that it is thin, light and the edge came pretty sharp with no imperfections. the factory edge angle looks to be around 18-20 degree per side. i figured it would be a pretty good slicer.

weight = 3.0oz

thickness = 0.060" at the spine and 0.014"-0.015" behind the edge.

right out of the box the knife performed well. it prepped all the ingredients for the salad with ease.

after dinner i decided to cut up the pizza box with the knife. a pretty sharp knife with a thin blade makes easy work of cutting cardboard.

here is a picture of the KAI next to my favorite santoku knife. is this $5 KAI going to push aside my kobayashi? no chance. the hobayashi is 0.071" at the thickest part of the spine and tapers down to 0.008"-0.009" behind the edge (and the edge is hitachi blue @ 62HRC). also the kobayashi's handle feels great in my hand, and the handle is not slippery if wet or oily.

first use conclusion:
this KAI komachi 2 is a phenomenal value, i still can't believe i paid only $5! so far, i easily recommend this knife to the beginner home cook, or as an inexpensive but good gift for a beginner.

there are two problems i have with this knife:
1. the color. i'm not a fan of an all fuchsia knife, but the knife works well and my 9 year old daughter will ultimately be using it.
2. this is a slightly bigger problem, the handle is not rubbery and when the knife gets wet or oily, the handle becomes slippery. i plan on trying to correct this tomorrow with some coarse 60-80 grit sandpaper. i will post pics after i sand the handle and throw a 15 degree per side edge on the knife. i will use this knife to fully make dinner tomorrow and give it a better workout. i'll continue my review after i use the knife and sharpen it some, to get a better idea about it.


*added* i just want to state again: i bought this knife not as a serious kitchen knife for myself, but as something my 9 year old daughter would use to help prep ingredients for dinner. a cheap and lightweight knife that she could use to start building some skills with.

 

[stevomiller]

Awesome, I look forward to seeing how it performs on a bigger meal ~ and with a more acute edge. It really does appear to be a fantastic value.

On some plastic tools I have stippled the surface with a fine point soldering iron, and then knocking down the larger chunks of displaced material with either sand paper, or carefully trimming with a razor blade. Maybe an option?

 

[jimnolimit]

Awesome, I look forward to seeing how it performs on a bigger meal ~ and with a more acute edge. It really does appear to be a fantastic value.

On some plastic tools I have stippled the surface with a fine point soldering iron, and then knocking down the larger chunks of displaced material with either sand paper, or carefully trimming with a razor blade. Maybe an option?

my daughter currently helps me by prepping the lettuce (for salads, tacos, etc) with an all plastic knife. i bought that knife to safely see how she uses a kitchen knife and to start instilling some proper knife technique. she has been doing well so i decided that this purple KAI santoku might be a good first steel kitchen knife.

i did some quick prep work last night with this knife (after changing the edge and sanding the handle). i cut up a little onion, diced some garlic, cut lettuce, cut tomato, cut up about 1.25lbs of squid. the knife did a pretty good job.


i brought the edge down to about 15 degrees per side and i think i got a good idea about the steel from sharpening it. my impressions are: the steel is soft, probably in the low 50's HRC. all of this knife's performance basically comes from it's geometry. i doubt i would go less than 15 degrees per side, i have a feeling that the edge would be prone to rolling, but this is just an assumption. because the steel is soft, it wouldn't take/hold a fine edge. there's no need for me to try and put a fine edge on it anyway. the edge i'm using on it now is 120 grit diamond and a few light swipes on my strop.

the handle was slippery if it got wet/oily, i used some coarse (i believe is was 60 grit) sandpaper to roughen the handle. the sandpaper worked pretty well, the handle was a lot less slippery.

i'm going to sand the handle a little more. after that i'll let my daughter use it some and i will report back with how she likes it and how she does with it.

 

[resinguy]

I bought the shorter cousin to this knife, it's light blue, think it was called the Fish Knife. Purpose was the exact same as yours, for our daughter when she was about the same age. As you say, fantastic value, works great for the intended purpose.

The funny thing is, these were originally sold by Sharper Image for something like $25 or more.