Customer Reviews

Pure Komachi by Kai 6 1/2 Inch Stainless-Steel Vegetable Santoku Knife

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great knife for the money. I have an $80 Santoku knife, and yes, it is better, but not 4 times better. In fact, only marginally better. I bought this knife as a back up and use it nearly as much.

The knife looks bizarre, all green from stem to stern. Its appearance made me think it was very cheaply made.

But as I have used it, I have come to appreciate how effective, sharp and easy to clean it is. It is truly a great product, but I can't give it five stars, I will reserve that for the $80 knife. :-)

Puchased this due to the popularity here on Amazon. Now it is the only knife in the drawer (and I got plenty) that is used, so now I'm going to throw my others away. It is so sharp and comfortable --it is a pleasure! The first thing I cut with this were two artichoke tops-it was a breeze! I am going to buy all of these knives.

A truly amazing performer! This knife is truly SHARP! It is like a miniature Samuri sword in that when used with a slicing motion (as opposed to a chopping motion) it cuts through foods effortlessly. You really can cut wafer-thin slices off tomatoes! It is very comfortable to use and it weighs almost nothing. What a great value.
It does require honing, as do all quality knives. This in not a Ginsu piece of junk. I'm not sure if it will ever really require actual sharpening. The blade is so thin that I suspect honing may be all that is required as long as the edge is not abused. I have used mine for two months now and honing is all it has required.
It is NOT a CHOPPING knife or a BONING type of knife. It is not designed for cutting hard stuff. The blade is very thin and can't take that kind of abuse. Use your old knives for this sort of thing. You will use the Komachi for everything else!
While the resin coating is non-stick and does keep the blade from staining, it doesn't keep the thin-sliced stuff from sticking and accumulating on the blade while you are slicing them, but I haven't found a knife yet that really prevents that. There might be a $100-plus knife out there that handles this better, but I'm not a pro and buying high-end cutlery like that would be foolish.
I always feel obliged to warn my friends about the sharpness of this knife. They give me a funny look, but when they use it they see immediately what I was talking about. And, needless to say, I never let anyone that is not very experienced with cutlery use this knife.
The last comment I have is about the lack of a bolster. The part of the blade that is close to your finger is just as sharp as any other part of the blade, i.e., very sharp, and if you poke yourself with it you will bleed! So, either be very careful, or, dull that little point with a stone or file, like I did. A bolster would be a nice touch for Komachi to add, but it would undoubtedly increase the price considerably. Personally, I don't need a bolster that much.
Did I say I really like this knife?

I have waited to review this knife to see if the protective colored surface lasts repeated use, dishwashing, and sharpening. I am glad to say that though it shows a little sign of wear it is still fully intact after about 6 months of use. This knife is easily as good as a German knife of twice the price, and is a fine instrument for cutting both soft and hard vegetables. This is the best knife I have found in this price range.
I should add that this knife is quite light weight, it is perfectly strong and solidly built, but the lack of heft might not appeal to everyone.
Still going strong after 4 years. The protective colored surface now has more than a few scratches, but I'm not sure how many of those were from poor sharpening technique and careless dishwasher placement. For a knife you just use and don't fuss over this is still great.

I've had this knife for nearly about a year, purchased at the same time as a name brand chef's knife, which cost 5x more. I've used the Komachi much more often--twice daily, and it has kept its sharp edge much better than the other knife! So I give this 5 stars for function and price. It has become my favorite knife. When it finally goes, I won't hesitate to buy another one.

This knife is not only cool looking, but it is lethally sharp. The thin blade allows you to cut vegetables thinner which is especially useful when mincing onions, etc. One of the best knives I've ever purchased.

I am a former chef and ordered the knife more out of curiosity. I think the weight of the knife is too light. My small and large chef knives cut through the same things like butter compared to this knife. Its a mediocre knife that actually takes some effort to cut through simple vegetables. I suggest you take the money and put it toward a good quality chef knife.

I am exceptionally pleased with this vegetable knife.

I purchased this through Amazons website for $20 some five months ago and have used it every day since then. The blade steel is an example of why Japan is among a half dozen countries that are rated as technologically superior to the U.S.; it arrived razor sharp and a few passes over a fine ceramic stone since has kept it that way. This is in spite of its being my favorite and most used knife. I have got an eclectic collection of over thirty knives but I use this one at least twice as much as all my other knives combined with the exception of my Henkles Bread Knife; making my own bread from scratch for the last two months requires the daily use of a knife for slicing them up and the Henkles does this better than any non-serrated blade could.

The blade has a special green fluorinated-resin coating that has remained as it was when I received it with the exception of a few minor spots on the top edge where I banged it against something and, unless you are looking closely at it, it appears uniformly light green; a unique appearance that blends right into the high-tech resin handle. This is a smooth surfaced material and the lack of texture here is my only quibble with this otherwise best-bang-for-the-bucks piece of cutlery. A textured handle would make it "all that" but so far I have not had any problems with holding onto it so that is only a minor fault.

For the price there is no way you can beat this knife.

The knife works very nicely with vegetables. I haven't tried the other knives in the series, but I already use a set of Wusthof knives for meat and such.
A note of caution: The back edge of the blade next to the handle does NOT have a hand guard, and I cut one of my fingers when I was cutting a large veggie. The design of a lot of the Santoku knives have no back guard, however, some do. I suppose you can look closely at the pictures to see if they have one when you're evaluating which knife to get. A hand guard helps with safety, but it could also interfere when cutting a large veggie.
For ~$20, this is a pretty good knife.

This knife is incredible. Sharp, ergonomic, easy to use and clean.
Our fav knife - the $100 German blades we own stay in the block unused. Everyone who comes over and uses it wants to buy one. We should get a referral fee for the dozen we sold already. Very impressive. You won't find a better knife dollar for dollar.