Winco 8" Heavy Duty Chinese Cleaver with Wooden Handle, 3-1/2″

This is best $10 I have ever spent on a knife. (Update, you can do better...) Better bang for the buck than many nice, upmarket knives I have picked up, or any of the many Japanese knives I have bought this year - and I have spent at least $1500 on knives.I am a professional cook, and I have several sets of knives at home and for taking to work. While this is in a completely different league than a Japanese steel knife (or even a fancy German knife), this one is not at all about the steel.I think it's perfect for a line knife. It really is perfect, the profile is great, and it's simple enough to be a good tool. It's so cheap you can really use it. Unlike aogami super, you can leave it out - wet, whatever. Though everyone will think you paid much more. The wooden handle is not ideal for the Sani but I run it. You won't get mad at anyone who picks this up, and it is beautiful enough that they will.At my work we have nakiris from Mercer, Wustof, Miyabi, a bunch of santokus from fancy brands, house knives, and personal knives with nice steel like VG-10, MBS-26 or knives from MAC and other Japanese manufacturers. While the grain of this steel seems nice, it is not hard or wear resistant, it is very tough and German style. It's will take a 1200-2000 grit edge and stay sharp through a prep session. If you are caught up in Shun marketing, or want a Japanese laser, don't buy this.The steel in this knife is Chinese garbage and it definitely won't hold a fine edge even through a bag of Brussels sprouts. That said, its price is less than the labor I would charge someone to sharpen most knives. Especially compared to harder steel this has low edge retention, but it is perfect for anyone who knows how to use a ceramic sharpening rod. This cheap steel will punch way above its weight class if you're willing to hone a knife as part of your mise en place.If you sharpen your knives all the time and are looking for a nakiri, you'll love this. You won't ever worry about chipping, you can re-profile the edge in a few minutes, and it will get razor sharp very quickly. If you don't sharpen don't bother, it will get very dull very quick and you'll have no fun. I would say it's profile is almost identical to the cheap mercer nakiris.Best $10 Nakiri out there. The best knife out there, dollar for dollar, would probably be a Mercer.

Love that its one solid piece although the vibrations may give my hand an nyquil in the future. But i love the quality and construction of the style. It also is very sharp and i can feel the edge as it can feel my dead skin off 💀. Easy to clean and pretty Heavy though. But im a guy so its not too heavy also have huge meaty hands so its not a problem but i can see how others might find this not their style of knife. But i havent used it yet on anything practical. I recommend it a lot! Super quality to its build. 👍🏼

I didn't expect too much for what I paid. What I received has surprised me. I have a serviceable piece of steel here. It came fairly sharp by my standards but some honing and stropping placed it just shy of razor sharp with little effort. It is quite light and thin which is making it very easy to use. I dice a lot of the time and this type of blade allows me to scoop up large amounts of food and keep on cutting.The fit and finish were lacking a bit. I expected a stamped steel blade with a welded on handle. I got that. I expected rough edges. I got those. I expected an uneven grind and that the blade "sweep" would not be a nice uniform arc. That, too, was received. What I did not expect was to have a relatively large chip/defect in the blade. It is serviceable because it is wide and not deep, otherwise, this would be a return. This was an obvious defect. I possess the skills to fix it and it will be fixed in my profiling the blade further to my needs anyway so it doesn't bother me as much as it might someone expecting to just use this knife with some minor honing.My rating is based on cost/benefit analysis. Unless I find that this blade dulls after every 5 cuts, I can consider this a 4 star purchase with one star deducted for the chip that should not be. I do not believe that many will be able to be that generous if the quality fails in that respect. I spent maybe 25 minutes on this blade and it can shave paper and already weighed almost nothing in my hand compared to some other knives I use. This would be an excellent product to try out and see if you like a chinese chef's knife without breaking the bank. This is about the thickness you need to glide through cuts like all the videos you may have seen.Update 15Jan2016:I took a dremel, file, diamond sharpener, stone and hone to the knife a long time ago now. It's one of the sharper knives in my set, not the sharpest yet but I haven't given it years of care like my sharpest. I still say if you can get a good one up front you won't be disappointed as long as you can sharpen the knife yourself. Otherwise, keep shopping. I might come back in a bit and report on edge retention, I really haven't payed attention to that much and I sharpen my knives a lot as a past time.

This knife is absolutely amazing for the price! The blade is sharp right out of the box, and it cuts through meat and vegetables effortlessly. It feels solid and well-balanced in the hand, with a comfortable grip.