Appreciation post: That $40 Victorinox paring knife I bought 3 years ago

I grabbed a Victorinox paring knife at a restaurant supply store in Denver for $40 back in 2021. Used it every day since, still sharp as hell with just a quick weekly honing. Dropped it on tile twice, no chips or cracks. Anyone else find a cheap knife that just won't quit?

4 comments

4 Comments

cameron53818d agoMost Upvoted

Ive had the exact same knife for about 5 years and honestly it lost its edge after the first year. I tried honing it weekly but even that didnt help much. Maybe I got a dud or something but mine chipped after one drop on linoleum.

valw3618d ago

Hate to hear that, man. Five years is a long time to put up with a knife that just never really worked right. Sounds like you got a lemon from the start, honestly. I had a similar thing with a different brand where the edge just would not hold no matter what I did. Dropping it on linoleum and chipping is rough too, that's just bad luck with the heat treat or something. It's really frustrating when you try to do the right thing by maintaining it and it still lets you down. You're not crazy for thinking yours was a dud, I'd be annoyed too.

brian_ramirez11d ago

Yeah "lost its edge after the first year" sounds like you two got bad ones. @cameron538, if honing didn't help at all, the edge was probably ground too thin or had a bad heat treat from the start. What I'd do is try a sharpening stone, not just a steel. A cheap King stone from Amazon, like 1000 grit, can fix that factory edge and put a real working edge on it. I've knocked the edge off mine a few times on ceramic plates, took it to the stone for two minutes, good as new. The steel just aligns the edge, it doesn't actually sharpen. If the edge is rolled or chipped, honing won't do squat.

phoenix2911d ago

That reminds me of a buddy from work who had the same thing happen with a different brand. He bought a fancy chef's knife, expensive one, and it was amazing for like six months. Then it started dulling fast no matter how much he used the steel. He finally took it to a local knife shop and the guy said the factory edge was way too thin, basically a one time use edge.