Victorinox 40520 Fibrox 8-Inch Chef's Knife

The Forschner 40520 was rated as "best overall" in Cooks magazine in Fall 2004. Pretty good report card from "the" chefs magazine. It took top honors over several high end ($80 -$100+) Wusthofs and Henckel models. While they didn't claim that the Forschner was better at any one specific task or that the craftsmanship can stand up to the others (its blade is cut from a blank ribbon of steel, instead of a hand-forged one piece) they did say that its lighter weight was preferred by some of their testers and that it handled the basics just as well as more expensive models. I just took delivery of mine last week and I am putting it to the test. I can say that it arrives razor sharp...nice... and that it's fairly well balanced. The handle is made of a grippy composite that allows you to securely hold firm if wet or in akward positions. The handle is a little longer than others I've owned, maybe too long for small hands, but it is contoured so you can move up towards the blade for better control. The blade does have a nice rocked contour, which makes chopping & dicing easier. I've grown to prefer ligher weight blades and you don't sacrifice much when it's this sharp. Overall I would say that for the price, this is a great chef knife..time will tell if any problems develop. Definitely doesn't have the same craftsmenship or allure of one of the high end Germans, but if your looking for a highly functional, lightweight, standard chef, it's hard to go wrong here.

This knife is such a value. I have always had a hard time accepting the high-prices on Wuesthoff or Henckel knives because I never felt the VALUE was worth it. Boy am I glad I held out for the Victorinox knife! This knife, also known as Forschner, is consistently sharp. Just a few swipes of the sharpening steel and its good as new again. I use this knife and a 6" every day. The handles are comfortable and do not get slippery when wet. They are practically the only knives I use. I wash and wipe dry after each use (NEVER put in the dishwasher). I think you'll be as pleased as I if you try this knife.

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I liked the knife at first but after only a few months of light use, about 1/4" of the tip seems to have broken off. This doesn't surprise me, as the blade is thin compared to the better knives.

Update on this review: I was beyond the Amazon 30-day return period, but Victorinox was more than happy to replace it, emphasizing that all their products have a lifetime guarantee.

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I to bought this knife because of the rating in Cook's Illustrated. I have Henckels and was interested in something to use in more utilitarian situations. I didn't want to baby it; I wanted to use it and then put it in the dishwasher and forget about it. After using this knife I realized that I made a mistake in ever buying the Henckels. They now seem heavy and clumsy in my hand. Every time I reach for a knife I grab this one. I only bought one knife because I wanted to see if it would hold an edge and to see how hard it would be to re-sharpen. Well after a year of constant use I still don't know how hard it will be to re-sharpen because I haven't had to do that yet. It was yesterday while slicing tomatoes that I realized just how fantastic this knife was. Here I had a knife that hadn't been sharpened in a year and I was slicing tomatoes like I was using a seriated utility knife! The only reason I don't have more than one is because my magnet is full of Henckels that I don't like to use. Anybody want to buy a set of totally babied Henckels? I need more knives I like to use.

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This is the chef's knife I've been looking for. The blade is the right balance between stiff and flexible. The perfectly curved shape automatically starts that rocking motion that makes chopping a breeze. I've been skeptical about ever developing the ability to chop like the chefs on cooking shows. No longer. And to think -it was my bad knives to blame all this time! I'm buying several of these to give as Christmas gifts this year.

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