Men in Aprons: Chicago Cutlery Reprieve: Print This

After writing a review of J.A. Henckel's 8" Chef's Knife, I was struck by thoughts of guilt for verbally casting aside my trusty Chicago Cutlery Chef's Knife. How low of me to do so against a set of knives that has sentimental value as well as having served me for almost 9 years. I may have been buying into Cook's Illustrated panning of my trusty set in their often-scathing product reviews. TheWife often reminds me of Cook's review every time I talk about my Henckels.

That set you see in the thumbnail is my set, my babies. The only difference there is that mine has a set of 8 steak knives built into the block. The Walnut Tradition set is good, no matter what I may have said in my Henckel's review.

Chicago Cutlery� Walnut� Tradition collection features the classic styling of beautiful wood handles. Our exclusive Taper Grind� edge technology stays sharper longer and is easy to resharpen. High-carbon stainless steel blades resist stains and rust for lasting beauty. Triple compression brass rivets hold the handles securely to blade for safety and stability.

I think that wood handles are nicer than the stainless steel handles with grips or the cold plastic that comes on the Henckels. Wood speaks of fanciness, especially Chicago Cutlery's walnut wood handles. Provided that you take care of the knives and keep the wood oiled, it will last a lifetime, and get better with age.

Cook's Illustrated reviewed "inexpensive" knives in its August 2005 Equipment Corner. Of course, you can't access that review online unless you pay money. It was concluded that the Walnut Tradition set was the worst of all "inexpensive" cutlery sets.

Not having much experience with anything else, I didn't agree with it. I still don't agree with 100% of the opinion, but I do know that there are better blades out there, such as my J.A. Henckel's.

If you are limited on budget and you need a quality set of knives, I think that Chicago Cutlery's Walnut Tradition Set is just fine. If anyone has any thoughts on this, please feel free to comment using the link above. I'd like to see what everyone else uses.