Affordable Chef’s Knife

Let me start by crushing your expectations: buying a single knife is nowhere near as affordable/economical as buying a set of knives. By-the-way, we have a set of knives and a wooden block coming next week for review, keep an eye out for that if you want really good value!

Why buy one instead of a full set?

So why bother buying a single knife? If you ask me, there are only three valid reasons to do so:

  1. It’s a specialty knife, one that doesn’t usually come in a set of knives (cleaver, Granton slicer, cheese knife, ham knife, spatula, …);
  2. You’re looking for a high-quality knife or a fancy one to stand out of your usual set;
  3. Because you can!

As for the second point, be aware that it is hard to notice a difference in quality, sharpness, or edge-retention between affordable individual knives and affordable sets of knives. You often have to go to really expensive knives to notice the difference. By then, it’s often not worth it for most people, unless your job depends on it.

I’m in the second and third categories. Because I can, because I love knives and I want mine to stand out. All while not breaking the bank. So I won’t spend multiple hundreds of dollars on a knife, but if I can find 2-3 good knives to compliment my set, I won’t pass.

That said, let us look at this knife. This one is less than 30 dollars and definitely won’t break the bank!

The review

What I like about it

It has a nice overall length of 8 inches, with a resin stabilized wooden handle that looks like micarta and fits the hand quite well. It was a little thinner than I prefer, but still usable and you should know that I have big hands so I prefer larger handles.

The blade is gorgeous with a fake (laser engraved) Damascus pattern that is simple and subtle. It’s a bit of a bummer that it is fake, but I like how subtle it is. It’s not trying to be zebra contrasted chinesium Damascus. Reminds me more of the Hamon you’d see on a katana rather than Damascus.

The blade hardness is not that impressive. The edge, however, was allegedly tempered with liquid nitrogen providing outstanding edge retention. But I have to say that I didn’t notice it to be anything out of the usual.

The Paudin chef’s knife straight out of the box

What I disliked about it

The blade is on the thin side (2mm). This makes the whole knife feel very light. The inconvenient is that the blade is flexible. Whether you like it or not is up to you, I don’t enjoy it.

The finish on the back of the blade isn’t the best. One of the square edges of the back of the blade had a small burr that could cut you if you lay your finger on the back of the blade. I fixed mine by “deburring” it with a fine sharpening stone, 400-1000 grit. Sandpaper will do the work as well.

Conclusions

All in all, a good knife for the price, particularly if you grab it now while it’s at 28$ with a discount. Definitely worth the price. But I’m looking for something of a little higher quality for myself. It has a great looks, I really like the handle pattern and colors.

Not interested in a new knife? Learn about other topics below