Calphalon Chef's Knife 6"  Product Reviews

"A solid, hefty knife, no question and I love the way it feels in my hand. When I was buying my knives I couldn't see how anyone could possibly justify spending two to three times more for the Henckels and the Wustofs. Now that I've had it and the 10" chef's knife from the same line for about 6 months, I've noticed a few little things about them that might make it worth buying the big names if you obsess over knives or are likely to get sucked into a knife obsession in the future. 1) If I hold the blade perpendicular to my cutting board and look at it from the side, I can see a little daylight at the belly of the knife. There is about an inch of blade where it just misses making contact with the cutting board because the curve in the edge isn't quite uniform. I first noticed this when I was chopping up some mint leaves and realized that some of them were left intact unless I used a slicing motion as well as a vertical chop. I have a hunch that this wouldn't happen with a truly well-made knife. 2) They get very sharp, but they don't seem to hold their edge for more than about a month or two. I sharpen using crock sticks, and give the blades a few swipes on a steel about every fourth time I use them, and I'm not cutting anything out of the ordinary. Again, I suspect a top-drawer knife might do better. 3) Last, if you look carefully, the finish is not as nice as that on more expensive knives. You can see what I suppose are grinding marks on both sides of the blades. All in all, I think these are amazingly good for the money, but I'm no longer as mystified about the higher prices of knives with more established reputations."

"Very useful shape and size, I have two of these and also 8 and 10 inch Wusthof knives, and use these 6-inch knives more often than any other. Weight is good and the blade shape is perfect for mincing. But they rust - after just a few uses both started to get rust spots every time they're washed, unless they are dried immediately after washing. I've never had that problem with a Wusthof or Henckels knife. One also got a small chip in the blade for no apparent reason, that will probably come out with enough sharpening. Still a decent knife for about half the price of Wusthof or Henckels."

"This is a great little chef knife. I got it as part of the 2 piece set with the bird's beak parer(also vary handy). I liked it so much I went ahead and bought the 15 piece set. I haven't had any problems with it yet. It sharpens well and maintains the edge. The overall form is slightly different than the 8" traditional chef. There is also room in the 15 piece block for this knife also."