Enso Chef's Knife - Made in Japan - HD Series - VG10 Hammered Damascus Stainless Steel Gyuto - 8"

TL:DR version: this is a rebadged Yaxell Zen knife, superbly sharp, edge responds to a ceramic rod well, well-balanced and handles well, well-made, the handle itself could stand to be slightly more shaped to be truly perfect. Better/sharper and prettier than Shuns, blows German knives out of the water, costs less. 4.75 / 5 if I could be that specific.First off, an e-mail to Cutlery and More (the seller of these knives) confirmed that the Enso HD line of knives are manufactured in Japan by Yaxell to be sold under a trademark name belonging to C&M. The other side of the blade (not pictured here) even says Yaxell on it. The hammered + damascus blade style and shapes/sizes available indicates these Enso HD knives are re-handled and re-named Yaxell Zen knives.I've had the knife about a week now and used it plenty. I enjoy great kitchen cutlery but am a price-conscious shopper.Cutting performance: Fantastic. After some head-to-head comparisons on the same food, it is noticeably sharper than my Shun Sora chef's knife. It blows away a Wusthof Classic and Henckels International (that's the cheaper Henckels with the man-with-stick logo, I don't own any of true Henckels with the twins logo) . Can easily do the tomato trick: cut the top off, set the tomato upside down on the board, and the knife can slice the tomato very thin without even having to touch the tomato to hold it in place with your other hand. It also easily shaves arm hair.Edge retention: again a little better than my Shuns so far. I haven't had to really re-sharpen it yet obviously, and a ceramic honing rod works really well at keeping this knife super sharp. I highly recommend ceramic rods/"steels", they work much better than the steel ones. Kyocera offers a ceramic rod at a reasonable price. I wish there was a knife that was this sharp that I didn't have to regularly hone to keep the edge perfect, but to my knowledge no such knife exists - an edge this sharp, if you actually use the knife, will require some maintenance. You should be doing this with all your knives anyway.Handling: the knife is lighter than I thought it might be. The spine is a bit thinner than German knives like Wusthof and Henckels, but the blade doesn't flex or feel flimsy at all. The hammered section is less dramatic/bumpy/ridge-y in person than it looks in the product photos, which I like. The balance point is slightly in front of the very heel, right about where I pinch grip the knife. This assists the blade in cutting. The knife feels comfortable and well-balanced in use, even at the larger 10" size. The handle is also not as fat as I feared -- it's a reasonable handle for which you don't need to have big hands. That said, the profile of the handle is classic rather than asymmetrical or especially ergonomic, and that's really the only realistic room for improvement here -- it's by no means bad, but I've held knives where the handle was a bit more engineered and better for it.Fit and Finish: excellent. handle and rivets and bolster are all flush. Everything is straight and well-ground. There were a few specs of black dust or debris of some sort on the blade that washed off easily out of the box.Also, I want to recommend the 10" size over the more typical 8". The knife is still light and manageable, and more blade means it is easier to cut more stuff more quickly. It's a big sharp piece of equipment that can be intimidating, but I'm definitely a convert after using a 10" knife, and my kitchen is medium-small. I would say only customers in very small kitchens with small cutting boards should favor 8" chef's knives. And maybe those who refuse to pinch-grip a knife by the bolster/balance point and insist on holding the entire handle.

The media could not be loaded. This knife is amazing! Hands down, the best knife that I’ve handled in all my years of cooking. I am a simple, at home chef and this is almost too perfect for my prep, and additional everyday use. Beautiful craftsmanship, perfect weight, razor sharp. You can see the hammered top half ( which is extremely impressive as it separates meat/veg from the knife as you cut) and then the bottom half has damascus running through it, it’s just impressive. Cannot go wrong. It is a little costly, at $150.00 per knife, but you get what you pay for. It’s a great, solid knife. I would 100% recommend this to anyone in need of a knife. It makes you even more excited to get in the kitchen. That is how you know it’s a lovely piece. (wish I could get the set, but it’s $1000.. still gorgeous, just not in my budget)

So normally this knife sells for $150. When I saw that it was 33% off for under $100, I had to pull the trigger! The packaging was a little basic compared to some other knives I've bought so I just recycled it. I polished the blade right out of the box up to a Shapton 12,000 grit ceramic whetstone. I stropped it on a 1 micro diamond compound leather strop to a mirror shine. It's first test was Christmas dinner prep. The very first slice met Zero resistance! As I kept slicing and chopping, I started getting nervous. It glided through even hard root vegetables like it wasnt even there. It is the sharpest blade I've ever used and I grew up in a restaurant kitchen! I know it was overkill on how much I sharpened it but I catch and cut a lot of fish so I need it sashimi sharp. I have somewhat smaller hands but the handle felt very comfortable even after a couple of hours of use. I was a little concerned about the bolster being too thick for a pinch grip but it wasn't an issue and felt natural. VG10 isn't the best steel but for every day home cooks, it comes at a great price point. I haven't had it long enough to test the edge retention but I'm very confident that I can bring it back to a Crazy level of sharpness easily. I'm now seriously thinking about getting the same nakiri version. I absolutely love this knife and now it's a very shiny jewel on my magnetic knife block.

Wasn’t in the market for another chef’s knife as I already have a Victorinox and a CCK Chinese chef knife that I truly love, but this came to my feed advertised for $99. After looking at the description and specs, I decided to dig deeper and research. VG10, 37 layers damascus, made in Seki Japan by Yaxell. 61HRC. Everything sounded great so I bought it. Wow, this thing did not disappoint. Out of the box, knife was beautiful, felt great in my hand and extremely sharp! sharp! sharp! I liked it soo much I ended up ordering the Enso Hizashi bunka as well, same exact blade specifications different handle also on sale for $99. What a bargain for such beautiful knives. Waiting on the Santoku to go on sale and I will definitely be buying another Enso.

Upgraded my chef knife game per a recommendation from a friend and since it's the knife I use for 95% of my food prep needs. Selected this one as the value and style seemed to fit in my range as a layman home cook that appreciates high quality and having the right tool for the right job. Now the only thing I can think about is how I've gone so many years without this... better late than never I guess.Thing is absolutely gorgeous. As other reviews have noted, the tip protector was loose in the packaging when it arrived, but the blade is still perfect to my untrained eye.