Unbelievably inexpensive but very good chef knife set!

Where to buy an how to heat treat VG-10 aren't really trade secrets. It's easy enough that even the Chinese, (who are good enough to make iPhones) can manage it.
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and yet only ryusen (same folks that heat treat hattori's vg-10) and takeshi saji does REALLY great vg-10

they are masters of vg-10. only folks that know vg-10 literally by heart. only folks i know that do vg-10 perfectly right.

most vg-10 get really sharp, hard (harder than most stainless) to sharpen, edge retention is from really sharp to so-so quickly and stays so-so forever....

hattori / ryusen's vg-10.... now those are easy to sharpen and has better edge retention than the rest

at least from what i've read
 
I like kitchen knives I can abuse and not feel bad about it. I like Forschner knives. Every pattern you can think of, and quite inexpensive. Take a good edge and can be touched up with a steel easily. Plastic handles can be thrown in the dishwasher too.
You can get them with wooden handles, if that is your thing.
Their chefs and utility knives with the offset handles are great. The 10 Inch curved bread knife is the best bread knife on the market, whatever the price.
 
Got the set today. Quite nice :) Interestingly the chef's knife is shorter (by about 1/2") than my Tramontina Professional despite both described as 8 inchers. Only nit I have is the balance. This set is a bit more handle heavy than the Professional :( We'll see how well the blades / edges perform.
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Received my Damascus Taramatano's last night and was amazed with the utility's ease through an onion. Delighted with this $70 deal off amazon.
 
I bought a pair of 3 sets of these (6 knives total) as Fujimaru from Tuesday Mornings last month (april 2013) for $39.

Problems with my set... about a 45 degree per side honing angle(90 combined). Also each knife had profile problems where about 1/3 of the blade edge will not touch the cutting board along the length of the blade due to bumps and dips in the blade profile. Since I have 2 sets, they each have different dips and bumps in the profile. On the first set the chef knife would not touch the cutting board on the front third of the blade. On the second set, the knife had a bump 1 inch from the end closest to my hand, that prevented the back half of the blade from touching the cutting board, which meant that quick chopping of anything is impossible.

After spending about and hour with a aluminum oxide wet grinding wheel and managing to scar the dimascus near the tip but not moving the profile at all, I am convinced that it is indeed a vg-10 core. This prompted me to get a Harbor Freight 1x30 belt sander. Just today I got in a $60 order of belts from super grit and plan to fix the boneheadedness of the knife manufacturer.

BTW the ikea $50 Damascus VG10 chef knife looks to be from this line.
 
My set from an Amazon seller arrived today. No such indication when I ordered it but the package arrived in a Sams Club outer box and with "SAMSCLUB" in Tempe, TX listed as the return address. A division of Walmart selling on Amazon! As I believe that we are not supposed to mention non-member vendors in posts email me if you want to know the name that Sams Club used for this Amazon seller listing or have a moderator ok my listing them.

Beautiful looking knives though not as sharp as I hoped for on arrival. Any recommended sharpening angle for them from any of our sharpening experts out there?
 
That's a very good price!

In my experience vg10 is a decent steel, it can be chippy from my use (slicer not chop), holds decent edge, my only complaint is it's a pain to sharpen compared to other steels.

Not to mention it has nice presentation.

How's the fit and finish?
 
Received my set two weeks ago, and have been extensively using it in the kitchen. All knives were sharp out of the box, the chef's knife and the santoku did have a few dull spots on the blade, but nothing major. The fit and finish is excellent, the knife does state it has a VG10 core on the blade, and it holds edge for a long time (finally honed them after two weeks of continuous use on veggies). It was shipped via FedEx and arrived quickly - the size of the box was huge (well it was a box in a box). I'd say totally worth the $70 or so I spent. Shall report on the usage over time.
 
Another great set of knives for cheap are the 2-knife Santoku set by Paula Deen at W-Mart. Around $18 including tax. Take & hold a wicked edge.
 
TwinStick said:
Another great set of knives for cheap are the 2-knife Santoku set by Paula Deen at W-Mart. Around $18 including tax. Take & hold a wicked edge.
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Glad they make you happy but they are junk even compared to China made Henckles.
 
gonna buy a set of those tramontina damascus for the house. i can't take the crappy knives my family uses anymore. i got a ton of knives but they're mostly carbon steel so they'll just end up rusted out if i let them use those.
 
bluntcut said:
My inner skeptic wonders why a set of vg-10 knives cost less than a single blank vg-10 blade?
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Would your inner skeptic also wonder why Tramontina makes triply pans judged by Test Kitchen and others, as very close to All Clad (for 1/3 the price), or the non stick stuff every bit as good as the expensive stuff? I also judge thesee things to be true, from personal experience. Tramontina just does it right and for way less. Sorry if someone has mentioned this, didn't read the entire thread.
 
I finally found a set and like them very much for the under sixty dollar price tag.
I passed them over the leather belt on the 1x30 and they just became screaming sharp.
If all you have are crappy kitchen knives like me, you will find these very satisfying and a pleasure to use.
 
amazon sellers are $114 now. anywhere else i can get this set for $60 or less, or a different set with similar quality and price?
 
yeah amazon just raised the prices on the tramontina damascus. those guys are taking advantage of the demand.

where is 'anywhere else' may i ask?
 
heiNeykiN said:
amazon sellers are $114 now. anywhere else i can get this set for $60 or less, or a different set with similar quality and price?
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Just use camelcamelcamel.com -- it's a website that charts Amazon's flex-pricing over time so you can see when it's a good time to buy. You can even set up email notifications for when the price dips to where you want it.

Personally all I use is F. Dick knives--their ProDynamic and ErgoGrip lines. Crazy-ergonomic handles, tons of patterns to choose from (including some unusual and/or rare ones) and the same steel as Victorinox but with a slightly better heat treatment. Edges from the factory are sharp, but not as thin as they could be. I like to bring 'em down to around 10° per side. :)
 
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