Best Chef Knives Testing — Malarky
Although I own all six chef knives on this best chef knives list and have used them to chop onions, quarter cantaloupes, slice tomatoes, and more—I have not officially “tested” them. Huh?
Yep. I have declined to put these knives through a series of, supposedly, quantifiable kitchenistic tasks and use their perceived performance as a basis of rating each knife. Why? Because I don’t think it’s accurate or, in the long-run, truly useful to the consumer. Because, in the end, the main thing you’re testing is just how sharp the factory edge is. And, while it is more than nice to buy a chef knife with a razor-sharp factory edge—on average, the factory sharpitude of your new knife, even if you hone it religiously, will probably only last a year or two max. Not 25 years. Not even five.
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So why make the sharpness of the factory edge the end-all criteria for whether or not a chef knife works for you? Especially if there’s another blade you love in every other way except that it doesn’t happen to be quite as out-of-the-box sharp.
No matter where you live, you can ship your favorite chef knife off to a top-notch professional sharpener and they will give you an edge sharper than most factories. There, problem solved. But other, more permanent, characteristics can’t be so easily tweaked. Like the feel of the handle. The weight. The size of the blade. The look and style of the knife. These you can’t change. . .so why not be happy with them?
Don’t get me wrong, some kind of testing, including sharpness, can be useful. A quick perusal of Reviews of Professional Knife Sharpening Services will demonstrate I can be a manic tester. And don’t get me wrong again—you definitely want a chef knife that can take a fine edge and hold it. But in a review designed to help you choose a life-long kitchen partner (i.e. chef knife), absolute sharpitude from the factory shouldn’t be the only event, the prime criteria, for choosing one knife over another. Especially since razor sharpness can so easily be gained later on if necessary.
(Nevertheless, I do address the odds of maximum factory sharpitude near the bottom of this article under the heading Best Chef Knives Mostly Likely to Emerge from the Box Scary Sharp.)
Stainless Steel vs. High-Carbon Stainless Steel vs. Carbon Steel
All of the knives I recommend are stainless steel or as current marketers love to declare, “high-carbon stainless steel.” Is there a difference? Not much. All steel has carbon and all stainless steels have very similar amounts of carbon that might vary only by .5 percent. There’s not a dramatic difference (as far as the carbon’s concerned) between stainless steel and high-carbon stainless steel. . .it’s more in the name.
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On the other hand. . .there is a huge difference between “high-carbon stainless steel” and just plain “carbon steel.” Carbon steel lacks a healthy dose of chromium (10.5 to 30%)—which is the element that allows stainless steel to resist corrosion. Thus, carbon steel can rust pretty darn easy while stainless cannot. On the other, other hand. . .high-caliber carbon steel can take a finer/sharper edge and hold it for a longer time than most stainless steels.
Soooo, as in most things in life (except chocolate), there are always trade offs. . .
OK. . .off we go!
• • •
Zwilling J.A. Henckels Professional S Chef Knife, 8-Inch
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Zwilling J.A. Henckels is one of the largest knifemakers in the world and has been around since the 1700s. They produce over 24 different lines of knives (if you include Henckels Classic and others), so it’s especially important to be clear what model you’re buying.
Like most of Zwilling’s top-tier lines, the Professional S is manufactured in Solingen, Germany where their core factories are located. Zwilling/Henckels also has factories in Spain and, as a newer development, in Japan as well. It’s in Japan where they produce one of their latest creations, knives designed by Bob Kramer, the American bladesmith who has set the bar high for kitchen-knife quality.
The Professional S is forged from one hunk of steel—and with a bolster, a full-tang, and a three-rivet handle, it’s as classic as it gets. Although the handle’s been made to look and feel like wood, it’s not. Wood handles are no longer the norm (although they’re making a comeback!) and most manufacturers assume customers would rather have the longevity offered by a synthetic material. (Below: the Professional S handle close-up)
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I inherited a Professional S chef knife from my Mom and it has been one of the mainstays of our kitchen. I’ve always loved the feel—nicely balanced with a little heft, but nothing that tires my hand out (for the record, I don’t spend hours prepping). I got it professionally sharpened many moons ago and with regular honing its kept it’s edge. Believe it not, it can still slice tomatoes. This is proof the steel (though by no means the hardest out there) has been properly heat-treated.
In order to be up-to-date for this review, I took a close look at a brand new Professional S to compare to my older one. No surprise, Zwilling has upgraded in the intervening years, converting the finish on the handle to matte (much hipper) and making and the blade thickness a touch thinner (to compete with the Japanese invasion). Otherwise, everything else seems unchanged—same blade shape, same handle, same great feel.
I confess, I was curious about mildly testing the factory-edge sharpitude of this new Professional S because, to the touch, it appeared quite decent. So I ran it through my newsprint magazine cutting test (see Reviews of Professional Knife Sharpening Services) which it passed with flying colors, easily slicing full half moons. While this is only one, solitary knife, it’s definitely a good sign.
The Professional S comes in two sizes, an 8-inch and 10. (There’s also a 6-inch, but that’s too small for an all-purpose blade.)
Please be aware that Zwilling/Henckels makes a very, very similar model of chef knife, the Henckels Classic, which is manufactured in Spain and goes for less than half the price of the Professional S. (To add to the confusion, it used to be called the Henckels International.) Although it’s a respectable forged knife, it’s not hewn in Soligen, Germany, does not go through the same heat treatment, and isn’t as beautifully finished. (Below: Henckels Classic chef knife—in a photo it appears identical to the Professional S.)
The Henckels Classic has garnered some positive press because it’s an especially good bang for the buck. It deserves it. Nevertheless, for the long-term, and if you appreciate finer finishing, I think the Professional S is a better investment. And rest assured, if you were to compare them side by side, handle them both in your hands, you would be able to tell them apart.
FEEL FACTOR | Handle girth: average / Weight: 8.75 oz / Total length: 13.25 inches
The Zwilling J.A. Henckels Professional S is the heaviest and thickest of the roster of knives in this review (it pretty much ties with the Messermeister Meridian Elite Stealth in weight)—but it’s really not all that heavy or thick. Most home cooks are accustomed to this weight and enjoy the way its gentle, gravitational pull helps them when they slice downward. But some may opt for lighter and nimbler. The only time I’ve noticed the thickness of the blade slowing things down a tad is when doing horizontal slices into an onion (the first series of cuts out of three when dicing an onion like a pro). For the remaining, vertical, slices, it’s not much of an issue.
See my Best Chef Knives Specs chart at the end of the reviews to compare specs for all the knives. (Note: All specs listed for Zwilling/Henckels are for the latest model.)
Source: https://gardencourte.com
Categories: Kitchens
