kIWI knife still cutting well after six years

[zw359]

After an half year use of a Masamoto Gyuto together with my six years old kiwi knife, I have to admit these two knives perform comparably well in my home cooking :O

I upgraded my whetstones and sharpening skill after I bought the gyuto so the kiwi knife works even better than he did.

 

[Noodle Soup]

A couple of months ago in Thailand I noticed that, while most of the street food cart people were using Kiwi knives, the pros in the more conventional market stalls seemed to favor the Penguin brand. They are a little heavier and better finished.. I brought back a half dozen assorted patterns and have been very happy with them in my kitchen. Hard to find in the U.S. but you can order some patterns off e-bay.

 

[gic]

And the upscale kom kom brand is also worth looking for, there are kom koms in thailand that haven't made it to the US. For example, I bought a 240mm kom kom chef's knife when I was there for under $10 and it is a pretty nice knife, well ground and a very easy to sharpen (if softer than ideal) stainless...

 

[spoiledbroth]

supposedly there is widespread counterfeiting of these kiwi knives. They sell a pretty decent selection plus some kom kom cleavers (kom kom is the same brand as kiwi, kom kom is their "nsf" line, ie for commercial use). I have a few nakiri and cleavers kicking around the kitchen at work, mostly in other people's kits. They like the knives because they are very very thin to begin with, however they are nigh on impossible to sharpen because of their flexibility and I believe any perceived performance is due primarily to how thin they are overall. I would hate to know what kind of steel these knives are made of... 410? hehe

 

[gic]

When I get a chance, I'll use my HRC files to test my kom kom and report, based on how they fell on the stones and report, I'd be surprised if they are even 55hrc

 

[preizzo]

Some pictures please 😄

 

[Noodle Soup]

I've never had any problem sharpening Kiwi, Kom-Kom, Penguin, Laughing Bird or the other Thai cleaver brands. But most of them are very thin. If you need something a little stiffer, most of the "rhino" style cleavers work great. My lastest is a "Butterfly" brand I bought from a guy peddling cutlery and garden tools out of his pickup bed in a little village south of Chiang Mai. 8-inch blade of just the right thickness for slicing and light chopping but not for chicken bone whacking.

 

[zw359]

Some pictures please 😄

I don't know how to put photo here. :rofl2: kiwi knife just looks flimsy with cheap handle. It has no chance over the gyuto by just looking at it.
It has good food release, very thin blade around 10mm above the edge, which makes it a great vegetable cleaver.

The gyuto is better for meat, as its name suggests. Its tip glides through the meat.
The thing really bothers me is its food release. It's terrible when I slice pumpkins.
The gyuto steel is definitely better but doesn't make much difference when I touch both knives on whetstones weekly.

 

[LKH9]

KIWI knives, here in Malaysia, you will see it all over the place. I have a few kiwi knives that's over 10 years, one broke off from the handle due to rust inside the handle. I've sharpened a few different knives from this brand, some get a better edge, some a just crap, inconsistent quality?

My aunt keeps complaining about how her kiwi knife dulls that quickly, despite how frequent I sharpen it, now it retired because of the rust. There are better brands than Kiwi, PROBUS knife from Japan has a way better steel in the world of cheap SS, harder, just as cheap, more brittle and gets a wicked edge very easily. I've stopped putting microbevel on these crap SS, just give it a full V-grind and leave the edge rough. I use a worn out grinding wheel laid flat on table to sharpen these cheap SS.

From household, food stalls to food courts, KIWI everywhere.

 

[Noodle Soup]

Like a Thai on another forum I used to frequent stated. "How can 50,000,000 Thais be wrong?" Cheap stainless knives do most of the food prep the world round. That said, I really like my Thai Penguin knives for the price.

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

Sorry to dig up old threads, but have you done the Kiwi HRC test in the meantime?