Zwilling Pro: Y You Do Dis?

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ermghoti

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What's the thought behind the high tip on the current Pro? It looks like you lose usable length, with a more obtuse tip, traded for the nonsensical ability to rock chop uncomfortably high.

What am I missing, if anything, given that nobody else really makes a chef knife with this profile?
 
ermghoti said:
What's the thought behind the high tip on the current Pro? It looks like you lose usable length, with a more obtuse tip, traded for the nonsensical ability to rock chop uncomfortably high.

What am I missing, if anything, given that nobody else really makes a chef knife with this profile?
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I'm strongly biased. I'm a short guy and can't use the tip without raising the elbow beyond what's comfortable. It looks like it's made for very tall people behind far too low a counter.
 
Benuser said:
I'm strongly biased. I'm a short guy and can't use the tip without raising the elbow beyond what's comfortable. It looks like it's made for very tall people behind far too low a counter.
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I think I've seen the idea it's to accomodate rock chopping/tip slicing for tall people floated elsewhere. It seems utterly bizarre that the default design for their flagship model would discriminate against 95%+ of the population. Maybe a C level somewhere is a failed basketball player, and insisted on it.

Has Europe started making countertops crotch high?
 
They're mass-marketed to non-knife people. Looking cool/fancy/professional/different will be as much if not more important than the performance of the design.

In fact, I feel like I remember these being designed by an architect or something.
 
Justinv said:
The video shows cutting onions with the skin still on.
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See my post below:

HumbleHomeCook said:
They're mass-marketed to non-knife people. Looking cool/fancy/professional/different will be as much if not more important than the performance of the design.

In fact, I feel like I remember these being designed by an architect or something.
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:)
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
Yep, here it is:

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They seem to be talking about the angled half-bolster, which is in fact great. I didn't see anything about the profile.

The orignal Pro released 10+ years ago had the profile of a normal German knife, they changes a few years back and renamed the "normal" profile "Traditional."

All the clips of cutting show the disadavntage of the high tip, they are milimeters away from incomplete cuts.
 
I remember right before I got into this hobby, its gotten to the point where after 8 years of excusive service, my Zwilling 4 stars was about 3 mm shorter and thick as hell.

I was going to upgrade to these. Finally I can get afford some professional good knives. I remember getting them from amazon, using once and instantly putting back in the box to return. That day I went online to see what was available.

Thank you zwilling pro series for sending me on this journey.
 
This designer (Matteo Thun) is the one that designed the famous espresso cup for Italian coffee company illy, not sure what he knows about knives. He’s more of an artsy guy, lines and feel and stuff.
 
This was a tea pot he did for Allessi.
 

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Such a lot of pretentious sneering going on here. Fact is, Thun's soft half bolster is comfortable for long-term use. So far, only Misen has copied it (and claims it's unique!). My Pro 8" is 10 yrs old. Wide blade (2-1\4" at the heel) is great for sweeping food from board to pot. Frequent steeling (forward AND backward) plus occasional licks on an oiled leather belt mean I've never once had to have it sharpened. So maybe show a little respect for other folks' choices. Sneering at them is not such a good look as you may think.
 
^ Hurry Hurry bring the fire and the acid. Troll is near.
 
onasram said:
Such a lot of pretentious sneering going on here.
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Haven't seen yet "a lot of pretentious sneering". Rather surprise about the tip in line with with the spine. A high tip is indeed common with modern German makers, and for sure they have tall rock-choppers in mind, but no one went as far as Zwilling with this series. That was the reason for OP's thread. Even from you I haven't heard any advantage of this extreme belly and high tip. As Zwilling is emphatically referring to his Milanese top-designer, one may suspect other than practical reasons for this innovation.
 
onasram said:
Such a lot of pretentious sneering going on here. Fact is, Thun's soft half bolster is comfortable for long-term use. So far, only Misen has copied it (and claims it's unique!). My Pro 8" is 10 yrs old. Wide blade (2-1\4" at the heel) is great for sweeping food from board to pot. Frequent steeling (forward AND backward) plus occasional licks on an oiled leather belt mean I've never once had to have it sharpened. So maybe show a little respect for other folks' choices. Sneering at them is not such a good look as you may think.
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If you bought a Pro 10 years ago like I did, you don't have the high tip I'm asking about.
 
ermghoti said:
What's the thought behind the high tip on the current Pro? It looks like you lose usable length, with a more obtuse tip, traded for the nonsensical ability to rock chop uncomfortably high.

What am I missing, if anything, given that nobody else really makes a chef knife with this profile?
Click to expand...
As others have said it's purely aesthethics. Which is a bit of a shame, since the bolster design is actually quite nice.
It's honestly not that different from modern day Wüsthof in the shorter lengths...which also have way too much belly.

IMO there is no real use / need for that much belly regardless of how tall or short you are.
As mentioned, they did at some point release a version with a more normal profile. They also have plenty of other knives that have more acceptable profiles - Four Star series is a lot better, and Diplôme series looked great, but that was actually a Miyabi knife.
 
And to be fair, there are at least a few decent knives in the lineup; I think the utility knives and slicers in the series at least have a usable profile. The bolster design really is nice... I have an Arcos knife where they did the same thing and it's really comfortable, especially if you round the spine a bit. If the Zwilling pro came with a better profile it might have become a really popular knife even among more discerning knife users.
 
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