misen knives

[playero]

any knowledge about these knives? any good? Misen Chef’s Knife

 

[Mikeadunne]

This is chum in the water...

 

[AT5760]

If they were $45, I’d be tempted to test drive one to evaluate as potential gifts for non-knife people that cook a lot.

 

[Moooza]

Even $45 would be too high for an aus-10 steel based knife.

 

[M1k3]

 

[KenHash]

any knowledge about these knives? any good? Misen Chef’s Knife

Kickstarter brand knives made in China.

 

[Leon.B]

I understand her point of view regarding the pinch grip. I disagree with her somehow but I understand..
I've never held a Misen in my hand. I can't say comfort is not worth 65$ for many people. My gut says the "production value" is not tho..

 

[coffeelover191919]

Fake china crap

 

[Michi]

I don't have first-hand experience with the Misen, but my first Japanese-style knife was a Kan Core, also made with AUS-10.

The Kan Core wasn't brilliant, but it was a competent knife, IMO. I expect that the Misen would be similar. In other words, better than what is kicking around in the drawers of 95%+ of kitchens. For $65, it's probably not a bad deal.

 

[lemeneid]

Misen was my first knife before I got into Japanese knives. Decent performing knife and I still have it now though it is relegated to beater duties like breaking bones and crab shells. For the price point now, I rather get a Tojiro or a Henckels/Wusthof.

 

[tostadas]

Wired did a review a while back and tested the hardness claims. They found some major inconsistencies. However, I have not personally used one.
https://www.wired.com/2016/10/review-misen-chefs-knife/

 

[daveb]

The first generation sucked. The current ones are worse.

 

[Yet-Another-Dave]

Wired did a review a while back ....

That matches my impressions of it.

Someone on here sorta' liked (the original version of) it, it looked nice, and it wasn't too expensive. So I got it to try. (I'm pretty sure I got a 2nd generation one.)

My wife likes it. It's weight, balance, and profile are very "European" being very similar to a Henckels International chef's knife we used to have. I'm sure she likes the basic style far more than this specific knife, she reverts to a Victorinox Chef's knife every so often for no apparent reason.

I'm sure this is harder to sharpen than the Henckels or Victorinox and it maybe holds an edge a little longer than the Henckels. I guess my review would be, "Meh, it looks nice."

 

[Jovidah]

Not specificially used the Misen, but my experience with Chinese made knives that 'looks good on paper' is that even factory produced serial knives had wide variation both in grinds, thickness and heat treatment. You'd have 2 supposedly identical knives but with completely different grinds. Some would be somewhat decent, others would be a mess, with a ton of overgrinds in some places while being thick as hell in others. Some would feel a lot different on the stone than others, even if it was supposed to be the same steel in the same series of knives. There just wasn't any consistency to it.
The news story about the actual HRC being significantly lower than reported doesn't surprise me in the least.

If you wanted a decent knife on the cheap I'd something like a Victorinox Fibrox or one of the cheaper Wüsthof lines any day. I'd also have a lot more faith in a cheap-ish Japanese knife made of AUS-8 or AUS-10 than a Chinese one.

 

[lucabrasi]

Seems like Aus10 steel is not the problem here. A perfectly well performing steel at much more than that price point if the knife is ground well and the steel is heat treated properly.

 

[Oshidashi]

It is difficult to trust many Chinese products because of their reputation for making cheap knock-offs rather than innovating products. Also, China is known for theft of intellectual property, unreliable quality control, and using cheap and possibly poorly skilled labor. The "Japanese" knives made in China remain suspect. It seems that quality and sophistication have generally suffered in China, where gross output is valued more than quality and innovation. I'm sure there are great products made in China, but it will take years before their reputation improves. I will not be the first to buy a Chinese car, or knife, except for perhaps a Chinese cleaver.

On the other hand, it is certainly possible to manufacture very high quality and consistent products in China, especially items designed outside China and made for export, but there must be significant investment in quality control systems and in-house full time QC personnel or corners will be cut and quality will deteriorate.

The plethora of Chinese made "Japanese" knives on Amazon is astounding. I wouldn't trust any of them.