Customer Reviews

Calphalon Katana 5-Inch Nakiri Knife

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found this knife while browsing on the Amazon site. I have yet to see any reference to a 5" Katana nakiri knife on the Calphalon site. This is maybe my sixth Katana knife, and I really love each of them. I have not had any of the rusting problems mentioned in several reviews. The knives out of the box are the sharpest I have seen. I really like the balance and the wide tapered bolster, which helps remind the user to grip these knives properly. I generally clean my knives fairly shortly after use, but it seems that is the best way to care for good cookware and cutlery. The size and balance of this smaller nakiri is excellent, and it is a great vegetable mini-cleaver. The nakiri lends itself to a slightly forward stroke when slicing and chopping, and it works fine. The price is way out of line on the low side compared with other Katana knives. I have been buying and using them on a piecemeal basis, and I really like each knife I have bought with the exception of the serrated slicing knife. For some reason, it seemed to shred delicate items rather than saw cleanly. I returned it. The first one I got was the 6" chef's knife, and it has been one of the best short chef knives I have ever used. It has maintained its very sharp edge for well over a year, and, again, not a hint of rust problems. Other than the serrated knife, I would recommend any of those I have bought and used, including the 8" chef knife, the 3.5" paring knife, the 9" bread knife, and the 5.5 inch honesuki.

I have the small Katana Sontoku that I bought at an outlet mall for $29.95 also so I knew this was a good price. I think both were greatly reduced because they were being discontinued. The big brother of this guy is anout 3x as much. All of that being said,I knew how good the line was from my prevoius purchase and wasn't disapointed with this one. I sharpened it on a 3000 grit Japanese water stone and it's now "the sharpeset knife in the drawer". I'll watch for Big Brother to go on sale somewhere.

This knife is a great tool for chopping veggies and herbs. I use it everyday. I love it!

I bought this knife mostly based on price to quality ratio and I can say that, based on that, I am quite pleased! I do a lot of cooking across cuisines including a significant amount of traditional Japanese food, so I was looking forward to having another more traditional style knife of decent quality with this addition to my cutlery. When I first got it I was a bit concerned as the blade edge is made in the European style rather than the Japanese style, which has a 15% bias rather than a 25% one and is edged on only one side rather than both.
The knife, however, proved to be a sturdy fusion of Japanese and western cutlery, however. The european-style handle is much nicer to hold than a traditional Japanese blade, while the specialized shape and cut work perfectly to do exactly what the original Japanese version was made to do - vegetable cutting and dicing! The weight distribution on the blade is not perfect and it feels heavier than most Japanese blades will ever feel (more like a Chinese small chef's knife), but I can say that I like the feel and have been cutting my vegetables with more ease than my Victorinox, Wusthof, and Calphalon chef's knives afforded me in the past. The only knife in my possession that does better with vegetables is my Tojiro Japanese-made hybrid chef's knife, which cost more than 3 times as much.

Concerning rusting - if you care for this knife the way you should there will be no rusting. Simply wash and dry it after use rather than leaving it sitting out in water for prolonged periods of time. I believe this care should be given to any knife you've paid more than $1 for, and it take only 1 minute to do each time. Cooking and cleaning go hand in hand, right?

Concerning the size - I cannot say that I have used the 7" version of this product (this one is no longer in production by the way, only the longer one), but I've found this to be a good size to work with a wide variety of vegetables. Sure, there may be a few things too big to cut without scrunching them a bit, but the increased dexterity with smaller items is more than worth it.

Concerning weight - for vegetables I like heavier knives, so this is perfect for me, but if you want a light-weight knife go with a more traditional Japanese steel knife made by a Japanese manufacturer rather than this knife.

Concerning sharpening - I have had and foresee no problems in this area. Make sure you sharpen at the right blade angle!

Concerning handle - the handle on this product is quite comfortable for my larger hands and the bolstered handle gives me the perfect place to rest my thumb as I dice. It does, however, make storage a bit difficult. The knife tends to stick out a bit from traditional knife blocks.

This great kitchen knife was a great "surprise" bargain ! Great quality & great performaqnce!

I bought this on a whim...glad I did. It's got a nice "feel" to it and, man, is it sharp! Very handy size...now I want the big one! It never ends...

You can buy better knives, but Katanas are nice and balanced and hold an edge well. I really enjoy using them and this model is great for chopping veggies and as a general purpose knife. Mine was about $30 shipped.

I bought this knife recently and was surprised by what I got for [...] bucks. It is aesthetically pleasing (the wood grain pattern of the steel makes it look like a much more expensive knife), solidly made, and really really sharp, like, you can shave with it. The handle flares wide at the butt-end and flattens on top to accommodate the heel of your palm. Love the design, way beyond satisfied with the quality.

I was pretty excited about getting this knife. I like the brand and I expected the best quality. It is good steel and well designed. It would be a very nice knife wxcept that the cutting edge is not straight. It is wavy which results in the edge not touching the cutting surface evenly. The knife must be drawn over the cutting surface to cut completly through the object being cut. Even though the knife is made in China, I expected better quality from Calphalon. When I registered this with the company I commented on this issue and received no response.