you might notice the spyderco drop cloth a.k.a. a XXL t-shirt for myself :p . i figured i needed to get something with a spyderco logo on it (it came in a different box though..lol). the plastic knives are for my kids. they are always watching me in the kitchen chop stuff and want to help so now they have their own knives to do so. The 2 other knives are made with Japanese damascus steel, in Taiwan. I thought since Spyderco is having some great knives made over there that I might get lucky with these kitchen knives. The gyuto is 240mm with a mikata (micarta?)handle. The other to me looks like the offspring of a chinese cleaver and a santoku knife :) . I love both of those type of knives so i am hoping that i will really like this one. it has some indonesian ebony wood for the handle. intial thoughts on the knives: i know this really doesnt matter but the boxes are super nice, nicer than my Masamoto's, Shun's, Tojiro's etc...you get the point. They are made with a nice thick cardboard with a heavy plastic window and the magnetic strips that close the box, similiar to some of my 4Seven's flashlight boxes. The handles are quite comfortable. I have only cut up a few apples with the Santoku type knife so far. Using the pinch grip it cut some super thin slices, which the kids love because then there are more pieces to eat..lol. Usually with this type of grip the knife will slide a little foward after it cuts through the object but with this knife it just stuck to the cutting board. it is as sharp as my Shun's or Masamoto's out of the box. we'll see how long it stays sharp. For craftsmanship it makes the grade as well. I looked them over pretty well and i couldn't find any defects. the only con that i can find is the fact that is says Japanese steel 67 layers... on the knife, that just isnt my cup of tea, I would prefer just the Manufacturer's name on the knife. hopefully it will wear off with use. Overall the intiall impression is a definite thumbs up. Here is the guy's ebay store. I am in no way connected to him but i thought you guys might be interested in the kid's pratice knives. I emailed him and bought directly from him for a better price too and he threw in a small paring knife as well.
a few more pics
