Premium Sushi & Sashimi Chef’s Knives – Set of 4 Knives - Ultra High Carbon Steel Blades

Long story shot I have been using these knives for over a month they have been great for meats, fruits, vegetables, breads, and herbs. For this price the steel is definitely harder and more resilient than kiwi knives(which i also love BTW). Don't confuse this set with very high end Japanese steel but these are a fraction of the price and if you aren't looking to spend $300 for one knife these get the job done.Over the years I have accumulated and given away variety of kitchen knives, and still have more than I will ever need. Prior to buying this set I was using a two hand forged Japanese high carbon steel knives as well as some other high end German, American, and Japanese knives. All that to say is I have experience with knives that are much more expensive than this set. But if you have experience with high carbon steel you know that it is very hard/brittle and is at risk of rusting.We recently hired a nanny to take care of our child and we wanted to let her use knives that she wouldn't have to worry about following specific cleaning protocols. If any damage happened we could just replace the knife with out concern of sentimental or financial loss. The knives are definitely not ultra high carbon but they are stainless and they are solid knives. I saw some other people had issues with the handles I'm not sure how that happened but I have noticed that the knives can get water down the handles when washing them so I always invert mine after washing to make sure they dry out.

$15 for high carbon steel 🤯.Just got em but so far, and for the price, they feel solid, good steel to handle connectiin and feel, good Japanese style knives.I wanna thank Christopher for all of the info he posted, he helped me make the decision to buy.They were sharp but not SHARP. through a magnifying glass, I could see tool marks or groves on the beveled edge. They were small enough you could barely see them without a mag glass, and catching the light just right. I'm in the process of getting some stones so I pulled out my Japanese, #800 grit diamond stone that I have for my Timber Framing chisles, and made passes.Christopher mentioned 12° on the sharpened edge, mine seemed to be closer to 14°. I posted a pic of the blade angle made by resting on the handle, right around 12°. As I sharpened at this angle I was catching the transition point and not the blade edge. I lifted the knife a couple degrees and started catching the edge.#800 is rough I know but right now its what I got and after 50 passes (or so) on each side, it is much sharper then how they came. Again #800 is rough I know, but I was planning on a couple hundred passes both sides based on what I thought the hardness was...hoping its the rough stone and not soft steel. Also hoping as I get the right stones down to #8000 grit, it'll keep an edge.My daughter just returned home from Japan and even with a good exchange rate I could only have her bring me back 5 kitchen knives - she stoked a shop owner somewhere in Tokyo.Obviiusly the Japanese craftsmanship, finish is much MUCH better on the Japanese knives BUT is it 10X better???I don't mind paying more for the history, experience, craftsmanship of what I consider the best knife makers in the world - Tha Japanese - but I like the ides of having what would call a "rough" set of knives I can pull if I have company and they mistakenly dishwasher wash it.Like I said, I just gottem, but these look like fantastic knives for their/my purpose and I don't mind putting a little sharp on em, makes them feel their more mine, invested.I got them 2-8-24, I'll be using them a lot so I'll try and remember to post a follow up in a year or so.Thanks Christopher, Thanks All

Make no mistake - these are Chinese manufactured - NOT Japanese as some reviewers believe (unless the earlier foam packaged ones were).Mine arrived today - box says Made in China. Knives were in a plastic tray - not foam. Markings on the blades are on one side in English. No Japanese markings anywhere.Blades do seem like they are laminated and not a monosteel - the main reason I got them. But I can't be sure. The outer lamination arequite thin, But looking down the handle at the back edge, there does seem to be a core of grayer steel - a good indicator that it really is harder high carbon - not the 420/420J/420J2 monosteel typical of most of low end Japanese-style knives, like the Sekiryu. (Which I have and like, but wish they were a bit harder).I am hoping that if the core really is hard carbon, I can sharpen to perhaps 12-degrees or so, and still have an edge that will not fold overplus reasonable durability. We shall see. As of now, I haven't determined the factory bevel angle(s).Anyway, at $5 a knife, they should at least be good sharpening practice knives. And possibly they will prove to be a worthwhile knife.Anyone already tried sharpening in the traditional waterstone manner to see if these things will take a really sharp, low-angle edge and hold it?I paid the full $20 set price. No discounts. No promise to review.UPDATE 3/11/2016I wanted to confirm that this was indeed a laminated knife with a relatively harder core inside softer cladding. I took the Santoku and ground a bevel on the blade heel until I could definitely see a lamination line between the core and skin. I then used a set of HRC testing files (the Grizzy T10277 set here on Amazon) to test both the skin and the core. Using the back end of the spine for the skin test, the 55 HRC file was the first (starting from HRC 45) to slightly score the skin edge. The HRC 60 file cut it easily. The lower HRC files skipped right over. This test, if correct, shows the skin to be around HRC 55 - which is what you might expect from an inexpensive SS - perhaps 420 or similar.Next, I tried the files on the heel bevel - for testing the core. The 55 HRC skipped right over, Not a scratch. The 60 HRC did scratch it just very, very slightly (less than the 55 did on the skin). The 65 gave a good scratch, but not as deep as the 60 did on the skin. Call the core HRC 60.I then decided to resharpen the entire edge - which to me looked pretty ratty under a 40x scope. (In fact - in places I don't think it reached the core - the edge was formed on the skins) I used my Apex Edge clone ((RUIXIN) and its cheap supplied 320, 600 and 1500 stones. I definitely ground off enough so that the core provided the entire edge (at 15-degrees each side). It easily sliced newspaper without shredding, shaved a bit of my arm, and I can't see the edge - the simple sharpness tests.How will edge retention be? I'll need to use it a bit - in alteration with my Sekiryu 420J2 Santoku to hopefully see a difference.My conclusion - if you can get over the marketing hype for these things, and resharpen them - I think you can end up with a decent knife for $5.