These knives are very sharp. Have not seen any rust. Hopefully they will last. I hand wash only. Good buy.
1. Professional chefs in kitchens don't get fancy expensive knives. If the knives gets stolen, the restaurant is out a lot of money. This doesn't mean they're bad knives, but it does mean you don't need to spend a lot of money.
2. I don't trust any knife which says it doesn't need sharpening.
3. You want full tang.
Now, here is my take on these as a beginner, these aren't full tang but are sturdy. When they fall apart I can get to the bottom of it but for now, they're doing a great job for the price. I got mine at woot for far less. I test full tang by performing a conductivity test from the knife tip to the hilt. It failed there. A test from the tip of the blade to the back end of the blade where it meets the hilt succeeded. Now the set is great, I would've liked kitchen shears. The main reason this is getting four stars and not five is because the Santoku length is small. Everything else I can deal with.
The best information I can give is I have a $10 Mainstays (i.e. Walmart) 7" Santoku knife. It's full tang, loses it's edge fast but when I need it, it works and is a knife size.
