Sunlong Nakiri Knives 6.5 inch Usuba Knives Japanese VG10 Hammered Damascus Steel Natural Rose Wooden Handle

This was a gift for my husband who is really into cooking. The knife is stylish and comfortable to hold and use.

Nice knife for cutting vegetables

The knife was well balanced. I sharpened with various grits and hold its edge very well. Perfect for a busy kitchen.

The best knife I've ever bought

There's no denying that this is an attractive knife! It's a modern, Chinese made variation of a traditional Japanese Nakiri - an ancient design of knife used for preparing vegetables. The most eye-catching part here is the decorative blade, with an upper hammered finish complementing the Damascus pattern on the lower section.The steel used by Sunlong is reputedly a VG10 core clad with a 67 layer imported Japanese Damascus. VG10 is a cutlery grade stainless steel that is very tough, and does not require the additional strength of a Damascus laminate, so in this case its use is entirely decorative. The blade is sharpened with a double bevel, set at 15 degrees, and compared to most kitchen knives on sale in the UK is exceptionally sharp. It will easily cut through soft vegetables simply by virtue of it's own weight, and with no downward pressure required, and can produce paper thin slices. This is helped somewhat by the weight of this knife, which is rather greater than a traditional Japanese made knife due to the thick 2.5mm blade and hefty handle.The handle here is a matter of taste, and is western in style, with a steel bolster and butt cap. Traditionally on a Japanese chef's knife the handle would be octagonal in cross-section and made of sandalwood with an ebony bolster and no butt cap. In line with the Japanese tradition of simplicity, lightness and strength, the blade tang would be a simple friction fit within the handle, which would itself have no metal parts or pins. Also, the use of Damascus steel was mainly practical rather than decorative, adding strength and resilience to what was usually a very brittle but exceedingly sharp core of high carbon white paper steel. The entire blade plus tang would have been a Damascus laminate, unlike here, where the Damascus is purely decorative and ends before the bolster.I'm impressed enough with the quality and looks of this knife to award it a solid four stars. It's well made and nicely finished, but at the current cost of around £120, this Nakiri is at the expensive end for a Chinese made knife from a little known brand, and not a great deal less than you would have to pay for one made by a genuine Japanese blacksmith. If it were cheaper I'd be awarding a full five stars, but at the current price I'd be tempted to also consider a traditional Japanese produced knife. There's also the issue of weight, and this Sunlong Nakiri reminds me of heftier traditional Chinese cleavers. Japanese knives tend to be lighter, with thinner blades, giving greater control and finesse to your cutting.Unless you already have experience of genuine Japanese knives you will not understand how phenomenally, mind bogglingly sharp they are. Once you experience them though, you will likely not go back to what you used before. I certainly didn't, and am honoured to own a full set of knives handmade by a Japanese master blacksmith.TIPS:* Knives like this require careful maintenance.* Never try and cut bone of hard objects with these knives* Wash by hand and dry carefully after use.* Sharpen regularly using a wetstone* Examine the blade after each use and remove any nicks by re-sharpening before using again.* Use carefully - these knives are surgically sharp!If this information has been useful I'd be hugely grateful if you could let me know by hitting the button below.Many thanks :-)

Kitchen knives, on first use, are almost impossible to review effectively, so apologies. I'll do my best!This knife is an absolute joy to use. It is weighty, thick steel, that won't suit everyone, but I love the way it simply drops through vegetables with no effort. Cutting anything from butternut squash and watermelon through to cucumber and tomatoes was precise and effortless. I really like the added weight that the slightly thicker steel gives.The blade is consistently deep, with a slightly rounded end. Again, I really like this because you can rest it against your knuckles to protect your fingers.The rose wood handle is also lovely.However, the expense in a kitchen knife is due to the quality of the forging and its longevity, particularly how long it stays sharp for, and how sharp you can get it when re-sharpening. And there is no way to know that with a new knife.As a result, I would never pay this price for this knife (around £120 at the time of review). I have never heard of the brand - they claim to use Japanese techniques of forging, but making the knife in China. There is no reason to doubt this claim but the company has no reputation to protect. If I were buying a knife I would pay more to get one from a reputable brand and retailer, so that I would have grounds to return it if it did not perform as claimed. This is just too much of an unknown quantity to recommend.

This is such a great quality knife that the rest of my kitchen has now been dismantled and thrown out as it has such shame at being so inferior to it.Make no mistake this is a very serious kitchen tool, from its beautifully outlandish display box to the stamp on the end, literally everything about this knife screams superiority over the entire kitchen utensils, it does need to be sharpened very, very carefully but rewards the due diligence required by being so utterly effortless when needed, there is almost nothing you will ever prepare in your kitchen that this blade cannot deal with, if you like cooking and like cooking well and preparing from scratch then this is definitely for you.For such amazing quality price is really not worth mentioning, this is one of those occasions where you get exactly what you paid for.

Super sharp.Comfortable to grip and cuts very well.A joy to use.