Victorinox Swiss Army 5.2063.20-X4 Fibrox Straight Chef's Knife Black 8 in

This is the second time I've bought this knife. I had the first one for over a decade and eventually the blade got nicked so I had to replace it. I firmly believe that this is one of the best chefs knives available and superior to many knives many times its cost. It keeps sharp well and sharpens beautifully. It cuts and chops like a dream. It cleans easily and the handle is easy to hold and not slippery. Just a great knife all around.

Update: 4/12/20 I originally gave this product 4 starts, but 4 years later I’m updating this to 5 stars. I have both the Wusthof classic and the Bob Kramer chef’s knives, but time and time again I reach for this Victorinox one instead. Why? It’s simple, lightweight, and easy to use. I can throw it in the dishwasher after cutting raw meat and not worry about the knife rusting or damaging the handle material. I’m a Microbiologist by profession and I actually bought another one of these so I can use one for raw meat if needed. The Wusthof is heavier and after using it for multiple meal preps my hand would get tired. I use these 2 Victorinox knives for 99% of my everyday cooking needs. If I could do it over again, I would only buy these and save the $$$. ———— For starters I'm not a professional chef, but I love quality products with a great value and that is why I wanted to review this product. I bought this last August after watching America's Test Kitchen's knife set video. I bought this as a replacement primary chef's knife to replace a set of 4 stainless steel knives (Wolfgang Puck I believe and not the best knives around) that have gone dull. The knife is great and sharp right out of the box, but it does feel a bit light in comparison the the European full tang knives. It's great and agile, but at the same time it lacks a bit of weight when cutting something big like a watermelon or a butternut squash. I actually loved this knife until I bought a butternut squash to cut. It did the job but wasn't with ease. I did not end up removing my old dull set and just ended up buying a knife sharpener to see if that helps, because that European styled chef's knife had a good weight and length (9" instead of 8") to cut thing like the butternut squash or watermelon. Another downside is that this knife feels thinner than my old set. I'm assuming it's because this blade is made at a 15 degree angle and the old European chef's knife was made at a 20 degree angle. The 15 degree angle offers a sharper knife but it also makes it more prone to dents. I already see little tears along the sharp end of the blade, but I'm sure that is fixable with a good knife sharpener. I wonder if the 10" version of this knife would work better for watermelon and veggies with larger surface areas. Another thing is I was taught to fast tap chop your garlic and ginger to mince it by my Chinese mother. This knife just doesn't have the weight for that in comparison to a full tang chef's knife (I wonder if the Victorinox Santoku would be better for that purpose). I think this knife is of great value and quality and recommend it to anyone looking for a good chef's knife. I actually would recommend the set of 4 knives from Victorinox Victorinox 4-Piece Knife Set with Fibrox Handles for anyone that has a child going away to college or starting a new home. It is a good starter collection that has the essentials (at least a 10 inch bread knife, an 8 inch chef's knife, and a small pairing knife) to fulfills 99% of home cooking needs. I also read a good review on the 5" mini chef knife from Victorinox. The reviewer purchased the 10" version of this and the 7" Victorinox Santoku along with the 5" mini. That was a good review and I suggest others read that review as well to see if those 3 knives together would work better for your needs. I know a great chef who once told me that you don't need the best knife for daily cooking but you have to hold the knife in your hand to judge if it's comfortable and to know how to sharpen/maintain a knife.

I LOVE this knife. I am 26 years old and have never owned a good knife before. I have made due with cheap serrated knifes and thought that was acceptable - I was wrong. When my girlfriend (now wife) and I started dating we found ourselves cooking a lot of meals and cutting a lot of vegetables. With the knifes we had this was an onerous task. Therefore, I set off in search of a good knife. I looked at a variety of knives below $150, most of which had incredible reviews. However, I could not escape the shear price difference between this knife and its competitors and the fact that nearly all the reviews extolled the quality of the knife. I ended up purchasing 2 of these knives, 1 for myself and 1 for my girlfriend (I no longer wanted to use her awful knives :)). When I received them I was astounded. They were incredible sharp out of the packaging. To test them I started cutting carrots, celery and tomatoes. The cutting was a breeze/fun. None of the fruit could put up a fight and I was able to take sliver think cuts of each. The knife is well balanced and relatively light. The handle is comfortable and, like the specs say, it doesn't get slippery when wet. I have owned these knives for 1.5 years and they have held up. Like any knife they did grow dull (to the point of needing sharpening) after about 4-5 months of moderate use. Since purchasing these, I have used several friends "higher end knives" and found I like this one better. If you are getting good knives for the first time this is undoubtedly the brand I would recommend. It's a cost effective solid product that will not let you down. Additionally, I suggest getting a quality sharpening set because there will come a time when the knife will need sharpening and it is nice to do it at home. Personally, I own the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker Knife Sharpener 204MF . This sharpener is quick to use and quickly (less than 5 min) restores the edge to "brand new."

I own a variety of knives including Shun classics and Wusthof Classics, but this guy definitely has a place in my kitchen: First the downside: the Forschner 8" Chef's knife cannot hold an edge like its more expensive counterparts. I don't know what the steel on the knife is, but it isn't a hardness that can take a 15degree edge, and really can't hold the 18-20degree edge that the wusthof carries. There is a difference between this $30 wonder and the $150+ competitors THAT SAID, this is a beautiful knife, and I recommend it more highly than the other knives in my kitchen, here's why: - It can still hold an ably sharp edge, better than any chef's knife you'll get <$100 (way better than Henckels and Wusthof low-end lines, stay away from Wusthof Gourmet). To give you a sense, the factory edge out of the box was plenty sufficient for me, and it held for FIVE MONTHS of regular use WITHOUT honing! It dulled little by little over that time of course, but it is still a great feat for a knife this soft. I generally sharpen it to 20degrees (40 included) and it takes it no problem. - There is something to be said about having a knife that is sharp enough and hardy enough to be useful, but you don't mind beating up. If you have a good 3-stage electric sharpener, you can throw a <20degree edge on it, hone it quickly after every use (takes 10 seconds), and sharpen it every few months - it will stay fiercely sharp and you won't have to feel bad about eating away at it with constant sharpening. You can also do things with it that you would (or should) NEVER do with a knife that is either more delicate (take the hard japanese knives, prone to chipping if you expose to surfaces like glass and ceramic which you should never do) or more expensive. It's a bad idea, but I've tidied the odd chicken breast in a pyrex or sausage in a pan with this guy, and I can do it knowing that I can work out and kinks, nicks, or blunting I cause later and not feel too bad about it. - It is well designed. They went for a light knife (since compressing a dense metal would have of course been a costly endeavor and not met the cost objective), and then matched that with a nice light handle that is extremely ergonomically designed. I choke down on the hilt and enjoy total control of this guy (unlike chicago cutlery, which you should almost never buy [although I have their bread knife hah). Some examples of nice touches: the back of the hilt is rounded so it doesn't hit your wrist; the hilt at the base of the blade (where the bolster would be on a forged knife) is grooved so you can fit your fingers right into it; the hilt extends down the base of the knife (where the bolster would be) so you can comfortably get your fingers out of the way, improves clearance without widening the belly of the knife. - The knife flexes nicely. This is an added benefit to what I would *guess* but don't know is probably negative qualities of the steel, but regardless of the cause that makes this a chef's knife that is counterintuitively good at work a whole chicken with or carving around bone, especially coupled with its aforementioned cost-effectiveness that gives you more freedom with it. To sum, this is a workhorse knife, if I owned a restaurant I would throw a bunch of these in the kitchen. It's not a great steel, and doesn't hold a great edge, but *relative to its cost* it is well-made, the factory edge is sharp, the steel is pretty good (not also it resists rust well, so the carbon content probably isn't high but if you don't plan on sharpening often (but sharpen it acute when you do) then you will probably find this increases its lifespan. Finally it is very ergonomically designed for a knife at *any* price. Two final notes: 1) I have not performed any rigorous scientific analysis of the knife steel. My claims as to its hardness and what edge it will take are purely anecdotal, and I am not a professional sharpener. They may be using a harder steel or better annealing process than I give them credit for, in which case I deeply apologize to Victorinox, but frankly they've made a great knife at a great price anyway, so they have my full endorsement. 2) If you are looking to buy your first real set of knives, and are considering Shun, Miyabi, Henckels, Wusthof, etc. DO NOT BUY THEM YET. I repeat, WAIT. Buy this guy, learn how to sharpen it well, play with the edges you can put on it, and learn what you like and don't like about it. Then get a 10" Forschnor Victorinox and play with that. These are great knives that will serve you well in the kitchen at a low price, so use them to really get your taste in knives down, I promise they will already be an improvement on any off-brand or low-end knife you might use (low-end henckels or wusthof, oxo, chicago cutlery, etc. definitely included). Give these knives some time and enjoy them, play with how you can mess with them. Then when you're comfortable in your preferences, go buy another higher end knife. That will be a major step up, and will lead you to years of buying one or two knives at a time, depending on what you prefer for different tasks. Sets are rarely a truly good deal when it comes to use. Hope this is helpful, and thank you to Victorinox for making a solid, workable knife at a low price. It's not a king of knives, but it's a good standard to set, the brand certainly now has my consideration.

The articles you may have read were not exaggerating. This knife is an excellent investment if you're looking to acquire your first high-quality knife. If you enjoy cooking and have never considered purchasing a knife that isn't made in China, you should consider this one. The steel used in Chinese stainless steel blades is the lowest quality steel available. It is easy to sharpen, but it loses its edge quickly and often requires precision sharpening, which can't be done with those knife-sharpening gadgets you can buy today. If you don't know how to sharpen a blade expertly, it's best to practice on a cheap Chinese steel knife before moving on to a more expensive one. You're bound to ruin the cheap blade in your quest to acquire a new skill—that's how worthless Chinese steel knives can often be. Gone are the days when a good knife was something passed down from generation to generation. Cheap, easily-blunted knives are not a suitable replacement. However, who wants to spend $250 on one knife just to make cutting carrots a bit easier? Knives are a strange thing; ubiquitous, yet treated like a luxury. But let's face it, we as frugal chefs were either going to throw away the one we had when we couldn't chop a potato with it, or we'd keep it for so long that we ended up cutting off our ring finger. If you're serious about cooking and want to avoid such mishaps, invest in this knife. It's worth every penny. And trust me, you'll never regret it. Unless you're looking at the pile of cheap knives you used to own, in which case, you'll probably shake your head in disgust. But hey, at least you'll have a good knife now.

My requirements for a knife were simple...it needed to be able to cut things. Until recently, my view on knives were that you can pay around $100 for a decent knife that will cut better or just saw through the item with what you have. There wasn't enough of a jump in quality for the price to me...so I did a lot of sawing. Well, that has all changed now after finding this brand that has actually proved to exceed the quality of those low end Henckels or other knives I've tried in the $100 range (or even my friend Joe's Japanese folded steal one that that is priced in the $400 range). It may not be a knife capable of cutting down a tree with a single swoop, but it will very likely impress you...or at least make you begrudge the several multiples more you spent on your only very slightly better knife. I started with the 8" chef knife, and based on the quality have since purchased 3 other products from this line (7" Santoku, 5" Chef, and a 3 piece set). All of the knives arrived "scary" sharp and have maintained a solid cutting edge after a few months of use. I use a sharping steel after every few uses, and try to get them cleaned and dried quickly after each use (although I often fail in that task, sometimes leaving them overnight before getting to the cleanup). The fibrox handle is quite functional, but some could find it possibly too light for the larger blades and maybe a bit cheap if used to or expecting a rosewood handle type of feel. I do not have any complaints, the weight and feel work for me (especially at the under $30 price point). I most often reach for the 7" Santoku, and then the 5" chef if the Santoku is dirty or in use. I usually reserve the 8" Chef for bigger jobs now, since I find it is often more knife than I need for our daily cooking (butternut squash, cabbage, and trimming chicken breasts would be the only tasks I'd prefer it to a smaller blade so far). It is versatile enough to chop just about anything, but I'd likely start with something smaller than this if it was my first knife (I'd hesitate to say the Santoku if it is your only knife purchase just because the shape is only really better suited for quick chopping vegetables...maybe a 7.5" or 6" Chef although I have not yet used either blade yet). Based on the 6 knives I have tried from Victorinox with the fibrox handles, I'd easily recommend them to anyone...the question is which one will suit your needs best. You'll be hard pressed to be disappointed at this value. Update after 6 months: All the knifes are still functioning perfect WITH the use of a sharpening steel after every few uses (I notice a big difference without it). I would still highly recommend any of the Victorinox line, but would add that a sharpening steel is a must to keep them in tip top shape.

I bought this knife 2014. Still a great knife today. I'm active in the kitchen and we cook most of our meals. This knife holds a edge well and has been easy to sharpen over the years. Definitely a good buy!

I received this as a gift and have since gifted it to several others. A good, sharp knife.