Cutco Knives

[Eli Jensen]

Wasn't really sure where to post this but wanted to get some opinions. What do you guy's think about Cutco knives? They were at the Flagstaff Homeshow and I asked the poor guy questions until he asked me to leave (I think he figured out I wasn't going to buy anything). I noticed that the edge on their knives were really rough, gritwise. It looked it was done on a 36-grit belt.

[ARCustomKnives]

I did some research on the Cutco kitchen sets a while back, and to be honest, I wasn't impressed with what I found. Among other things, the knives appear to be made of inferior steel (440A IIRC) and materials (plastic handles for instance) but they charge a premium price for it. They definitely "over sell" what it actually is in my opinion, but that's what the sales reps get paid to do.

I don't believe that it's anything I'd invest MY hard earned money on, if my criteria was quality cutlery, but then again, I suppose plenty of people own them, use them, and are happy enough with them for what they are.

[Eli Jensen]

I'd agree on your assessment of the quality. Alot of people like knives like that cause they don't know any better. I used to be like that. Def overpriced too. Even for plastic, they are way ugly plastic handles. And the blades are ugly too, half mirror finish, half satin. They look like those flimsy cheap chinese knives I have to rummage through at goodwill when I treasure hunt.

The salesman showed me how the cutco scissors could cut through a penny. I was tempted to tell him "why would you purposefully abuse your knives?" but its a salesman's favorite and the poor boy is only doin his job.

Although when I asked about the edge he told me something about the angle of the grit? while pointing at the bevel?

[cbr900son]

Yeah before I got into knife makeing I was a sheep and followed in this line of thinking. Then one day I wanted to test myself and made a kitchen knife that far surpasses any Ive used! I've been wanting to make a few more to test different types of kitchen knives out. Figured Id either sell them or have a nice set of kitchen knives lol.

[Eli Jensen]

I've been wanting to do the same. I'm debating between full tang and hidden tang. I've always been a fan of full but theres wood shrinkage issues and I hear its worse for bacteria. But I've not done hidden yet. Also waiting on a bunch of money to get all the steel for a 12 piece set.

[ARCustomKnives]

You could always do a synthetic material such as micarta or G10. You won't have any shrinkage issues with those.

[Doug Lester]

A good epoxy will also seal the any gap between the scales and the tang. If you are going to be making a knife that will end up in the dishwasher, not a good practice, then you will want to make sure it is waterproof. I understand that Acraglass is impervious to water.

Doug Lester

[Eli Jensen]

I have just switched to acraglass. Wood is very dear to my heart. I feel that God's designs are the best, and not even the best synthetic material is even close to as beautiful as the simplest, plainest woods. I have thought about something like buffalo horn? How does that hold up to moisture?

[son_of_bluegras]

From what I know Cutco isn't a bad knife. Mom got a set when she was in college some 40 odd years ago and they are still going strong. (She didn't pay full retail.) She uses them almost every day. They have a lifetime warranty which includes sharpening I think. I think they are (I know they used to) using a better grade of steel than 440A. It might have been 440C. You can make a better knife but to buy a better knife you are just about going to have to go custom and will spend a lot of money either way.

As for wood and bacteria, wood is less likely to harbor bacteria than any man-made material once the man-made stuff gets scratched.

ron

[Doug Lester]

If you are sold on wood then look at the very dense, oily woods such as African blackwood, lignum vitae (probably the Argentine variety-the "real" stuff is getting very pricy), possibly osage organe, or one of the rosewoods. You might check out some of the stabilized woods that are impregnated with resins.

Doug Lester

[Eli Jensen]

Ron, if what you say about scratches are true, I'll have to look more into that. What if the wood scratches?

As far as wood goes, I was thinking cocobolo: hard, oily. Kinda cliche but hey lots of people use it for a reason I guess.

[son_of_bluegras]

My info on the wood comes from a study done (I forget where) on wood verses man-made cutting boards. The study was to see which is more likely to result in cross-contamination of food. The results showed that some man-made materials, when unused, had the least cross-contamination. Wood came in second to that and used (scratched) man-made was last. It didn't matter if the wood had beed used or not. The wood has properties that retard the growth of the bacteria, making it less likely to hold bacteria and thus less of a concern for bacterial cross-contamination.

I don't remember if the same study or a different one showed that common household dishwashers of that time were unable to sanitize well used (heavily scratched) man-made cutting boards. It was suggested that if you used man-made material for cutting food, you have separate ones for different food stuffs and replace them often.

ron

[Sgp918]

As a newbie, I can not comment on quality, construction or material.

I will say, I have a set, the small one, 8 eight piece, three kichen and five steak knives. I paid to much for them... I thought. I use them every day, every meal. I do a lot of event cooking away from home, I always take two of them with me wherever I am cooking. Once there, I have to fight to keep them in my hand. Everyone knows, I bring them, and they are good in the kitchen.

I do not care for the straight edge knives, I like the scraded ones the best.

Each to their own, I like mine. My only regret is I did not buy a bigger set.

[DLawson]

I hate to wake up a sleeping thread, but I just gotta add my .02.

My buddy bought a hunting knife from them about 6 to 8 years ago. It had a partially serrated edge. That year, we really ran through the deer and I used that knife to field dress, skin and quarter 6 deer before it needed resharpened. To say the least, I was impressed. No other knife we'd used up to that point had held up. And when I say field dressed, I mean open the brisket up to the neck and open the pelvis!

So two years later, I bought one with fully serrated edge. This thing is a beast. I can zip open the chest of the baddest Buck around. I'm able to go through 5 to 7 deer before it needs sharpened. It's all I use this knife for. I've used plenty of blades of all types, shapes and sizes. For the $65 or $70 I paid for my knife from Cutco, they can't be beat IMHO! I've paid a lot more for name brand knives and got a whole lot less in the way of performance!

[Eli Jensen]

I think that might have to do with the lower grit edge they put on. Gives a better saw action. I dont know but maybe?