Kanngou 8 Inch Chef Knife Japanese Kitchen Knife, AUS-8 Alloy Steel Japanese Knife with Full-Tang Pakkawood Handle, Chef’s Knives with Premium Gift Box

A different knife for me. Thin blade makes it extremely sharp but probably fragile. So far so good. Well balanced. This knife is rather on the long side. Needs getting used to. But I enjoy having it in my collection.

Excellent couteau pour un débutant, mon premier couteau japonais et ce ne sera surement pas le dernier, très tranchant, boucher de formation je manipule des couteaux tous les jours et je suis resté bouche bée d’avoir essayer ce couteau, très content de mon chois

A great deal of effort went into the visual design of this 8″ chef knife from the brand Kanngou as well as its box presentation (which is overkill). The knife is Japanese AUS-8 forged steel with a polished black pakkawood handle, and black steel stylization on the back of the blade with brand markings. It comes in a custom-cut foam and velvet box, with a thin flexible plastic sheath, a cloth, a certification of authenticity, and an instruction manual. Notably from the instructions: this is neither acid nor dishwasher safe. If exposed to acidics like citrus fruits, the instructions say it needs to be washed immediately, and they explicitly say not to put it in the dishwasher. Instead, you must hand wash and immediately dry to avoid potential rust staining. I was a little surprised alloy steel would be so sensitive to rusting, but I’m sticking with the directions for now. The knife is solid, there is no flex at all to the blade, and it has some heft in your hand.

In terms of performance and use – I am not even close to a professional or amateur chef, but I do know how to cook and use a knife, and this one is both reasonably well balanced and incredibly sharp. We tested on tomatoes, carrots, pears, and my fingernails. It went through soft tomatoes without so much as a dent; it cut instantly and left nice clean edges. For the carrots, I sliced lengthwise and it was like I was cutting through soft butter – instead of the usual forced chop I have to do, this knife went instantly through the carrot with next to no force applied. The pear was even easier than the carrots. Lasty, I typically test knife sharpness on a fingernail and this produced a very fine shaving on each pass with no catching, jumping, or skips. It’s comfortable to hold and use, and has a long, practically-shaped blade that enables cutting of large fruits, vegetables, and meats with ease.

The washing/drying instructions are finicky and a bit tedious to follow, but rust spots are a risk and it’s hard to argue with the results. It looks quite stylish as well, if stylish kitchen utensils are your thing. Price at time of review is $50 CAD and I think it’s a good value as an entry-level kitchen knife. The construction is both beautiful and functional, and I can’t argue with the sharpness out of the box. It remains to be seen how long it will hold that edge as AUS-8 has a reputation of dulling somewhat quickly but being easy to sharpen.

Very sharp! Lightweight, balanced pretty well and comfortable to grip. Be careful on the back side of the blade where it ends having a backwards angle towards the handle. Could potentially get stabbed if not careful by the corner. Washes really well and shines nice. The engraving is spot on. My only complaint is the handle/tang connections aren’t smoothe. There is still a bit of a hangnail so to speak with the rivets where they connect and the tang along the seam of the handles as well. It’s not much, but still enough to notice when your cleaning it. The middle rivets where the small rods make one are very cool looking and that seems better quality then the others.

Very effective knife

beautifuly made super sharp…. I hope people will give the recognition they deserve because price you pay than the quality you get is amazing