Shocked at the Quality of these Paula Dean Knives from WalMart.com

[StriperGuy]

Needed a few extra parers, and my utility knife needed an upgrade.

Like the Chicago Cutlery Centurion knives I have praised in the past, these made in china knives look like my Wusthofs at 1/10 the price and hold an edge just as well. Seriously stunned at the quality. Other web sites had the same knives for 3X the dough.

Both the Santoku (which I bought first) and the parers (which I picked up based on the quality of the Santokus) are superb value for the money:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Paula-Deen-2pc-Santoku-Knife-Set-Black/16816442

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Paula-Deen-...

[Chemicalkinetics]

........

I was really expecting you to tell me they are shockingly bad.

[Dave5440]

Would't the fact they can rust indicate it's some type of carbon steel?

[StriperGuy]

The ones I have have not rusted even with several trips through the dish machine (which is admittedly not great for knives in general).

With stainless if they don't get the mix of metals right you can get stainless that (rusts) isn't quite so stainless.

[Antilope]

I look for 18/10 and 18/8 when buying stainless steel kitchen items. 18/10 has a bright, shiny finish and does not rust. 18/8 has a duller finish, but still does not rust. Stay away from 18/0, it rusts. If the item doesn't state its content somewhere in the ad or on the label it is probably 18/0.

[StriperGuy]

Of course the tradeoff is that 18/0 holds a better edge.

[Antilope]

Carbon steel holds a good edge, but it's ugly and needs extra care, so it is a trade off.

[StriperGuy]

Yah, and 18/0 stainless leans in the carbon steel direction.

[Chemicalkinetics]

If we are talking cookware... then sure. However, if we are talking about kitchen knives... I am not sure if 18/10 or 18/8 is any good.

[Dave5440]

Also carbon steel is ugly!!
See how ugly it is

[petek]

ya!! who you callin' ugly?? :-D

[Dave5440]

5 posts up

[Chemicalkinetics]

Pete, you know I love the raw natural kurouchi appearance, but let's face it.... many people especially find "kurouchi" ugly.

[TeRReT]

Its plain revolting!

[Chemicalkinetics]

You.... know.... you are the only one does not have to attach a photo :P

-- because your icon is this knife.

[TeRReT]

For now! Just wait until I change my profile to a different knife then you'll need it! I am finishing packing now and leave for Japan tomorrow at noon! With my new fiancee ;P Wonder if she'll have any problem with the entire gift registry being knives? I will be on the look out for a new knife or two or three. I am only taking Miyabi which I changed to 15 degree edge today after a huge amount of work, and my Japanese utility knife so can always use more :P

Also, I'm not taking edge pro and left my 200 grit stone at her parents house so will pick up at least a 1000 grit while i'm there if not something else too.

[Chemicalkinetics]

"With my new fiancee ;P"

When did this happen? :) Last I heard you referred her as a girlfriend. Congratulation to you two.

Let us know if you buy any interesting stones or knives or cookware from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Have a safe trip.

[TeRReT]

Thanks, and happened 3 days ago, so pretty recent hehe, though I still have to ask her parents permission, ugh.

[Chemicalkinetics]

So you asked her? I thought she proposed to you. :P

Just kidding.

[cowboyardee]

Congrats, TeRReT

[Chemicalkinetics]

You should totally prep TeRReT on the baby thing.

[cowboyardee]

"You should totally prep TeRReT on the baby thing."
________
If you have a knife magnet, mount it up very high on the wall.

[cowboyardee]

"If we are talking cookware... then sure. However, if we are talking about kitchen knives... I am not sure if 18/10 or 18/8 is any good."
________
Agreed. Neither is a good steel for a knife. Unless we're talking about a butter knife that's not supposed to be sharp at all.

As for 18/0 - I'm actually not certain whether that is inclusive enough to refer to steels like 440a-c, etc. I suspect it can. Not my favorite stainless steels, but passable.

[Chemicalkinetics]

cowboyardee and others,

I understand high quality (or what to be considered as high quality) flatware are usually made in 18/10 and 18/8 stainless steel. 18/0 is really the cheap ones. Most of the Walmart flatware are in 18/0. However, I do want to point out one thing. Even if your expensive flatware is claimed to be made of 18/10 stainless steel, the blades of the knives are not. The reason is that 18/10 stainless steel cannot really hold an edge.

For those who has 18/10 stainless steel flatware.. try this:
18/10 is fairly non magnetic. So you won't feel any attraction when the flatware is placed near a refrigerator magnet or the feeling is very faint.
When you place a refrigerator magnet next to the 18/10 spoons, 18/10 forks or even the knife handles, you won't feel much.
However, you will feel the pull when the magnet is placed next to that knife blade.

[cowboyardee]

I agree with your distinctions with respect to flatware.

What I'm not 100% sure about is whether, say, 18/0 refers specifically to the kind of steel that they typically use to make low quality flatware, or if it can also technically refer to any stainless steel that has 18% chromium and no nickel. When knife steels fall into that basic category (as the 440 family can), I've never seen them referred to as 18/0, but I couldn't say for certain that it would be incorrect to refer to them as such.

In other words, I'm not sure if the 18/whatever designation ONLY applies to austenitic stainless steel or if it can technically also apply to ferritic stainless steel.

[Chemicalkinetics]

That is an excellent point. I think those terms are really old and only exist for flatware and cookware now. I think 18/0 does not point to one single low quality steel, but a range of stainless steels in the 400 series. However, it would be very strange to call 440C knife a 18/0 knife....

"18/0 means that there is 18% chromium but zero nickel. When there is no nickel the stainless grade family is the "400 series". 400 series are not as corrosion resistant as the 300 series and are magnetic, where the 300 series are non-magnetic."

http://www.ssina.com/faq/index.html#2

[Antilope]

You should check them with a Geiger counter just to be on the safe side. ;-)

[kagemusha49]

Walmart sells good stuff. I bought some Wolfgang Puck Santoku knives (4 in a block) from Sams for a ridiculously low price and they were more than adequate for my needs - sharp and efficient.

[pine time]

Glad you had a good experience with these knives. I got a set (gifted), and they rusted straight away (hand-washed).

[mojoeater]

When I first saw the title of your post, I thought: Oh dear. He's shocked that Walmart gave him something low quality? Glad to see it is just the opposite. I would be shocked too!

[StriperGuy]

I've paid more for a single paring knife than I did for either of these sets, and the quality is comparable. Hard for Solingen Germany to compete with Chinese manufacturing. And knife manufacture isn't exactly high tech.