Anyone have experience with the Cold Steel kitchen knives?

The CS kitchen knife is well worth the price. The wife and I love them. Hold an edge good, sharp, and have comfortable handles. The wood block is good also

FL-NC said:

I have used various Cold Steel knives over the years for things like EDC as well as larger fixed blades in the military. I have a roach belly in my box of knives I use to dress deer. I have been satified with all of my Cold Steel purchases so far. It has come to my attention that my kitchen knives are mostly junk. Cold Steel sells a set of kitchen knives that includes a boning knife, bread knife, chef's knife, paring knife, slicer knife, utility knife, and 6 steak knives. The set also comes with the typical oak countertop stand. Cold Steel retails the set at $270, but amazon has it for $127. Should I pull the trigger on this?

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Is this the set you were talking about?

https://www.gnarlygorilla.com/Cold-...m_term=4576511001472669&utm_content=Catch All


A long time ago I purchased a similar Cold Steel set. The chef knife is excellent. I think it is 420HC, takes a good edge and is not so hard that it is impossible to sharpen. That is an important consideration in a kitchen knife, and that has to be why Cold Steel did not make their knives out of D2 for example. Kitchen knives need to be quickly put back in service, not messing about for a half hour setting up the belt grinder.

I do not like serrated knives because they are unsharpenable for all practical purposes. The Cold Steel steak knives, and the other serrated knives have this almost saw tooth edge. Cuts cardboard good, but I prefer a smoother cutting edge. The paring knife does not have serrations, works fine. The steel in all of the non serrated blades is the same as the Chef's knife. Good stuff, properly heat treated.

In my opinion, find a knife block at a Thrift Store, and add knives to it. The Cold Steel Chef's knife is good to have, and then populate the thing with your own favorites. I have a bunch of Shun in mine.

And, find a knife one like this



$25 delivered. https://www.ebay.com/itm/LW-Stainle...ne-NEW-6711-/352287733781?hash=item5205fc3815 When I got mine, must have been 15 years ago, it was $13.00 delivered. Still a steal for what you get.

I use this Japanese version of a Chinese cleaver more than any other food prep knife. The steels are soft, like 440B, but that is fine. Onions are not that hard, I am not chopping wood. I have used the back of the cleaver for busting ice bags and frozen veggy bags.

Get a kitchen knife made from a kitchen cutlery manufacturer, cold steel is an excellent budget manufacturer of tactical combat style knives, I'm sure they're serviceable but for the money there is a million other options.

We have several CS kitchen knives. Simply- constructed robust handles, and nice steel; I'd buy them over the Spanish Henckels any day.

They are not art, but they are very nice for the money.

It is hard for me to answer that question as I never use all the knives in a set. I would base your purchase on what your needs are. For example:

I use a chefs knife, bread knife, and paring knife for 98% of my kitchen tasks. I use cheapy serrated steak knives from Target for eating and replace them as they break.

If my wife didn’t make homemade bread all the time I would not need the bread knife and would use the chefs knife if that ever came up.

I like having two of what I use most so I also have a Santoku knife that is similarly sized to my chefs knife. I prefer the chefs knife but I already had the santoku so that is my backup.

Some of these were bought piecemeal at flea markets and garage sales along with a diamond steel. I actually made the chefs knife from a kit from Hock tools.

To summarize: figure out your needs and purchase accordingly. Sometimes your needs also happen to be your wife’s needs. If a CS knife looks good then get it. Evaluate and then purchase more CS products or try something else.

hso said:

BTW, I use a santoku and a paring knife 99% of the time. I only grab another knife if the santoku isn't at hand. Heck, I even stir pots and use the santoku to deliver cut veg and meat to the pan. Best thing since...

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I have two santokus and If they went to Mars tomorrow I'd never miss them. Which just goes to prove what Chuck Berry said. The one about "You never can tell". My main using knives in the kitchen are two boning knives - one drop forged Chicago and one white handle no name. I also use chef's knives small, medium and large, paring knives, and non serrated forged Italian made steak knives. All depends on what I'm cutting and what use the end result of the cutting will be. Those steak knives I bought from A.G. are great.

At under $10 per knife I would not be expecting much. Also, I would not expect any warranty on them given CS's re-org not long ago.
So, if going in eyes wide open, then go for it.

I would buy 3 or so solid kitchen knives from one of the better makers as they will last you a lifetime.

If you're not a big cook then I would look at Tramotina as mentioned above. Good value for the money.

I've never warmed up to CS knives. Probably just me though.

Here I am wanting the Opinel Kitchen set in their carbon steel.