Wusthof Ikon 6-Inch Cook's Knife with Blackwood Handle 4996/16

I added this knife along with 2 other prep knives from Amazon (Yoshihiro's 5.3" petty knife & Wusthof's 5" Santoku) to my arsenal of kitchen knives and I'm now all set...Forever. I have an old Wusthof 8" Chef's knife and it always seemed too big for the style of prep work I like to do at home. So, I spent a month here researching all of Amazon's kitchen cutlery and settled on the 3 prep knives I'll ever need for prep work. This 6" Chef's knife is exactly what I thought it would be....perfect in terms of balance and ergonomics. Finally, this has got to be the best value for money in terms of the Ikon line of knives at $80 and its size will fit the bill for any household that needs a high quality & great all-around kitchen knife.

I received this knife yesterday and it is beautiful, balanced and sharp. I knew Wusthofs were quality but I had no Idea. Compared to the knifes I have, this is worlds above. I am investing in the rest of the set. The delivery was super fast! I didn't think I would get it in time for Thanksgiving but it was here in two days and all the uninvited cooks were fighting over this knife!

Buy Wusthof Ikon 6-Inch Cook's Knife with Blackwood Handle 4996/16 Now

{Scroll down for the review}

There's a lot of hoopla out there about knives in general. There are fanboys aplenty for every brand from Ronco "Never-dulls" to the Shun culinaryphiles. Here's what you really need to know:

Mainstream knife blades are one of two types: European or Japanese. European style knives have a 20 degree edge and are designed for "Rocking." Additionally, the knife is weighted at towards the blade. Rocking is a style of cutting where the user doesn't let the knife leave the cutting board but allows it to pivot up and down. This is similar to kneading dough but not letting your hands leave the dough. Japanese style knives have a 10 degree edge angle and are designed for "Chopping." Chopping is where the user incorporates a quick "chopping" action to dice food. Conversely from the European style, these knives are balanced. This helps with the feel and quick movement needed for chopping. From here, it is easy to see why Japanese style knives would need a 10 degree edge as it allows for this type of action. Because of the blade angle, these knives tend to stay sharper for a longer period of time. However, they are a pain to sharpen.

With that said, this knife is European. I came from a Santoku Calphalon Katana series where I chopped everything (not that I knew what I was doing, but because it felt right). Switching to this knife, the chopping action did not work very well. When I switched to the rocking motion, this knife was amazing. Also, sharpening this knife is much easier to do (as compared to the Japanese style) as conventional pull sharpeners work really well. I also got a honing rod J.A. Henckels 9-Inch Poly Sharpening Steel. This is a MUST as it allows you to straiten the blade edge and keep your knife sharper for longer. You can also get Wusthof 10-Inch Sharpening Steel which I believe is sold by Amazon (at the time of post).

{REVIEW}

In short, this is a great little knife. It is balanced toward the bladed. This is sharp and has remained sharp even though I use it 3 days out of the week. I attribute this to the honing steel that I use every time I use it. It should be noted that the handle is almost as long as the blade. If you have small hands, you'll find yourself choking up on the handle. Additionally, the blade itself is not that wide. I would have thought that a chef's knife would be a little wider than this. As a reference, this would probably be 70% Chef and 30% slicer. Because of the width, I'm a bit more careful when smashing garlic cloves than I normally am, but this still gets the job done. The Blackwood handle isn't anything special. It's nice, but it's treated so that you really can't tell if it really is wood or not. This is because the handle can't be absorbent as it would foster bacteria. All in all, this is a great knife that has remained sharp.

Read Best Reviews of Wusthof Ikon 6-Inch Cook's Knife with Blackwood Handle 4996/16 Here