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Older Model
This is not a review for the current Wusthof 10' chef's, but for an older model. I have a wood handled 10" chef's knife. The wood is a black wood with deep red grain, and has no cracks. The tang is of a different shape then the current model, less curved along the heal of the blade. It looks more akin to the Henckels. The metal is the same percentages as the current, so this review should still be helpful. This knife is from the 60's and is still being used. They last forever. A 10" knife may seem big at first, but after a couple of days using it, the weight and length actually speed things up in the kitchen. I dont use my 8" much anymore. The steel sharpens up with a bit of effort, but does not noticably dull for several weeks. i have stopped using a steele and now just use an extra fine diamond hone every once in a while. look again... I've used this knife for 10 years, but even though I steel every use and stone sharpen, I've never been happy with the way it held an edge. This past year, I've switched from Wusthof/henkel to Globe and Kasumi both of which hold an edge much better and are actually more ergonomically designed. Kasumi is hand forged in the Damascus tradition and is a wonderful experience to work with.... Really, you can do much better than Wusthof for the price... Design - Quality - Longevity - Comfort Best 10" chef on the market: the Classic line has good handle weight and nice heft, and the scales are medium enough for small/med sized man hands to use with confidence. I find the Grand Prix to be a bit on the big side in the handle dept. Where this knife is a winner is: blade profile, steel characteristics, and edge grind. If you compare this to, say, a Henckles 10" Chef, you'll notice that the Wusthof has a deeper, rounder 'belly.'This roundness enables the knife to rock back and forth (is that 'roll' back and forth?) for dicing with *much* greater ease than the Henckles, which tends to fall to the board and need to be picked up again, again, again. The Wusthof steel, I think, has a touch more carbon than the Henckles, and a little less Chromium. It takes a second to touch up - effort that is rewarded by superior cutting performance, with a higher edge grind. That said it is not fragile. The Wosthof blade is slightly hollow ground, whereas the Henckles is slightly convex, which causes the Henckles to 'split' more than 'slice' hard vegetables like carrots and radishes. I've been using a 10" on and off since 1989. . . and I love it. The pride of my fleet!! The workhorse, this is a great knife. I use this knife on a daily basis at work, and it has always delivered. I highly recommend it!! Great Knife There are really two main competitors in the high-end mainstream kitchen knife market: Henckels and Wusthof. Those who have used both usually have a preference. My preference (and therefore bias you should know about) is for the Wusthofs. The Wusthof Classic line is the more conservative counterpart to the Grand Prix line. The only difference, however, is the handle style. I personally prefer the Grand Prix, but this is an issue of personal preference. The balance and grip of these knives are as close to perfect as I have found. For those wondering what benefits a higher priced knife provides, one benefit is that the blade (or tang) is one piece all the way through the handle. This makes the blade much stronger, and less likely to snap. This particular model, the 10 inch cook's (or chef's) knife, is a good knife. Wusthof offers four sizes of chef's knives in the Classic line, 5, 6, 8 and 10 inch. For most home cooks, I think the 8 inch knife is the best choice. This knife, the 10 inch, is a bit big for most jobs. The 5 and 6 inch are a bit small for bigger jobs. While the 8 inch isn't perfect for all uses, if you are only buying one size chef's knife (and most people only buy one), the 8 inch is the knife I would recommend. Therefore, if you are buying your first cook's knife, I would recommend the 8 inch size. This is a great knife, but I don't think the size is right for mainstream users. | |
