With its Asian influence and Japanese steel blades, the Chikara knife set not only looks stunning, but it just beckons to be tested. This set won a 'Best in Category' design award at the 2008 Housewares Design Awards - that makes me even more curious to see how it performs. Can you really get a professional quality block set at this price?
Product Description
- Ginsu® Chikara Series 12-Pc Cutlery Set Model 7112 includes:
- 3.5" Paring Knife
- 5" Utility Knife
- 5" Serrated Utility Knife
- Four steak knives
- 7" Santoku
- 8" Chef's Knife
- Sharpening Rod
- Shears
Traditional Japanese-style handles made of heat and water resistant resin with full tang Japanese steel blades
Knives should be hand washed only.
Manufacturer recommends professional sharpening at least once a year and use of a honing steel for regular maintenance.
This set comes with free lifetime sharpening and a limited lifetime warranty.
Custom engraving is available
Knife block is made of richly grained bamboo
Learn more from the manufacturer
How the Ginsu Chikara Series Cutlery Performed
September 25, 2009 This set looked good on paper, but out of the box it's absolutely stunning. The Japanese style handles, rich (darker) grain of the block and its slanted and stepped design, all enhance the look of the set. The whole cutlery set is well-balanced - it includes the common variety of knives as well as steak knives, a Santoku, a steel and utility shears.Handles are slightly tapered easy-care resin with a modified oval design that is well scaled to the size and weight of the knife blades, and that gives them very good balance and control. There's a smooth transition from handle to bolster to blade, with no sharp edges. I was very surprised at how comfortable these handles actually are and they're not slippery when wet.
Blades are quality forged steel, extremely sharp with full tang. All knives except one utility knife, have fine straight edges, including the steak knives. The nice keen edged steak knives sliced cleanly and easily through even tough cuts of meat and easily doubled as utility knives. As far as performance, all knives in this set exceeded our expectations. We were able to easily slice a tomato with any of them. The Santoku is tops for chopping and dicing. It and the paring knife quickly became favorites.
The steel rod is of reasonable quality with an adequate finger guard. The block actually has a kinder-on-the blades softwood center with a Bamboo veneer and slots that are open through to the bottom which is good - it allows residue or dust to flow through, rather than build up in the slots.
Overall Impression
The Ginsu Chikara cutlery not only looks beautiful but performs much better than expected. It has the makings of a durable, high-quality knife set with blades that will hold their edges well and look nice for a long time. The entire set is a very convenient mix of common practical knives as well as specialty cutlery.The 12-pc Chikara Set is ideal as a quality starter cutlery set because it includes most essential kitchen knives, plus a few extras. It's also a good choice if you want to upgrade your assorted older knives to an affordable large block set. It presents well and would make a lovely affordable gift.
I like the look, feel and efficiency of these knives. You can't beat the value, quality and variety you get with this set for the price. The free lifetime sharpening is also very nice.
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