Customer Reviews

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Pro S 6-Inch High Carbon Stainless-Steel Chef's Knife

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I recently purchased this knife and am overjoyed with the performance. If you don't have a well balanced professional knife you can't imagine how nice it is to work with one. I went to the local restaurant supply stores and handled several brands and sizes to see what felt best. The Henckels Pro S 8" was the best. The 10" seemed top heavy but I'm sure someone else may feel different. The blade holds an incredible edge as well. I steel the blade before each use to keep the edge in the best cutting condition.

The 8" chef knife is an absolute joy to use in the kitchen. It actually makes prep work enjoyable. Chopping, slicing, dicing, etc. are now effortless. It's razor sharp and stays honed that way for quite sometime under heavy use. I am very good at maintaing its edge by hand, and its high quality carbon steel blade lends itself perfectly to this task compared to stainless steel blades. If you purchase a quality knife such as this, it is imperative that you maintain its edge preferably via manual sharpining or with an electric sharpener.

You can spend a lot more on a knife, but you won't buy any better performance where it counts, in the kitchen. Made of sharpenable stainless with a synthetic handle that will never loosen or break apart, this knife has a nice heft and a good edge and should last most home chefs a lifetime. Give it a few strokes with the steel every time you use it and the edge will last for years without needing to see a sharpening stone.

If your cutlery drawer is full of various inexpensive supermarket blades, "miracle" knives and the like, throw them all out and buy one decent blade like this, and you may be amazed how versatile a simple, quality knife can be.

Zwilling J.A. Henckels "Pro S" cutlery is by far the most advanced on the planet. Hand-crafted in Solingen, Germany since the early 1700's. The blade is high-carbon steel, ice-hardended by Henckel's proprietary FrioDur process. The blade is then laser-honed to tolerances of less than one-thousandth of an inch. The black acrylic (?) molded handle is permanently bonded to the full tang (which is fully visible all the way around) then riveted. Not only does this create a virtually indestructible knife, it is also quite attractive. The handle is perfectly suited to how the knife should be held...even a novice can effectively use them as if by second nature. The weight is just right - not so light you can't control it, but also not so heavy that you can't work quickly. All in all, the tool feels like an extension of your own hand. The blade has a nice curve, suited to many cutting applications like dicing, slicing, chopping, etc. Cleanup is a breeze, thanks to the highly-polished blade.

Henckels may seem a bit pricy to someone who has never experienced the pleasure of their use; however, you will soon see that they quality of the craftsmanship is well worth it to pay a little extra. To sweeten the pot, they are unconditionally guaranteed for life; if you can manage to break one (and congrats if you succeed...quite impossible) they replace it. If you keep the blade properly sharpened (Sharpening Steel . . .))they last. You'll want to keep them in a block or get one of those nifty magnetic strips - throwing them in a drawer exposes their precision edge to damage.

Compared to Wusthoff, I'd say these rank a little higher. Design is more attractive, more solid feel, better reputation.

All I can say, in summation, is watch your fingers...these knives bite!

First, I'm a big guy - long arms, big hands, and I tend to favor tools that are somewhat oversized. This knife clearly fits the bill. The blade height, the handle length and the overall heft contribute to a really secure feeling. I find the Pro S handle easy to work with and more comfortable than the Gran Prix and Four Star handles.

These things said, I don't think the blades come wih a particularly good factory edge on them - I've found that even cheap stamped knives like Victorinox are better in this regard. I also find that, despite being high-carbon stainless, these knives are harder for most users to sharpen. They're slow to take an edge, in my opinion, and they hold it less time than a comparably priced knife from, say, Wusthof-Trident. You'll want to have a good steel and a good stone to keep the edge on this knife - steel it before every use, and store the knife on a magnetic rail, not in a drawer or on a block. While it's a lifetime-capable tool, you will not be able to treat this knife like a Ginsu and get high performance for very long.

Well the pros of this knife are obvious.... great balance, extremely sharp out of the box and handle has a very nice and hefty feel to it. I maintain the sharpness with a honing steel so its great. However, when i took it out of the box, there was a nick on the side of the blade, so that against the light, the nick stood out against the smooth metallic sheen of the steel. Clearly this nick was made somewhere in the factory (at least i am told this a new knife..?). While it no way compromises the function of the knife and it is great to use, but for a knife I paid $90 for... The only other gripe I have about this knife is that spine of the knife is no designed to held onto. If you were to read any decent cookbook, they will say one of the best ways to hold a knife is not really at the handle, but at the bolster. Holding it like that, it invariably means that fore and middle finger will be in contact with the spine. Now the spine of this knife is really sharp even though the "edge" is at a 90 degrees angle. My roommate using the knife in this fashion cut his forefinger accidently ON THE SPINE. Personally I find that using my fingers against this spine produces fatigue over prolonged periods. My international classic knife that I had didnt have this problem as the spine wasnt that sharp. Still, overall, I am satisfied with the knife.

This is the knife I find myself reaching for most often while working in my kitchen. Why? 1) it feels right in the hand, it is well ballanced and the grip fits my admitedly beefy hands quite well. 2)The excellent ballance makes it feel like a smaller knife in my hand, that is to say I have no touble using it even for semi-precission tasks. This makes it very versitile and I don't find myself switching knives for every task. 3) I find that a few passes across the diamond steel brings the blade up to razor sharp. Once honed on the diamond steel I can prepare meals for hours with only the occasional pass across the diamond steel to maintain the edge.

All this said, I will say that the high carbon content of the Henckels knife makes the blade quite hard and if you let the edge go entirely, you will need to find a professional to return the knife to razor sharpness as doing it yourself is very difficult.

A side note: I do not use a "regular steel" with any or my knives. They are not really intended to "sharpen" a knife but rather to straighten the edge. The diamond steel will give thes knife back its edge and does so quickly and rather gently at that.

This is the perfect knife to use for just about anything. It has perfect weight and balance, and makes life in the kitchen a whole lot easier (and more fun.) Even for a casual cook, it is worth the cost.

Well, I must tell you, I totally adore this knife! It is my best friend in the kitchen and I use it pretty much for every kind of food except bread cutting. I could not afford to buy the whole set and decided that if I could have one knife that cuts just about everything I would be a happy gal. I am totally satisfied with this knife and recommend it highly.

Henckels is definetelyone of the finest Knives made in the world today, it's name stands for durability and quality, I use their knives in my kitchen daily, and they never fail to come thru any situation I put in front of them. I highly recommend these knives for the pro, or the home kitchen.