Are Japanese kitchen knives made in China any good?

You can find Chinese-made knives, made with Japanese steel, all over the place, but are they any good? This week I compared true Japanese knives, Miyabi, to a newcomer made in China.
You can see our Miyabi knives here: www.cookcultur...

[@格温德琳野兔]

64-63 for a western knife ? 54-58 is much more typical, Victorinox heat treats to 56, wusthof to 58, sabatier can be as low as

[@Cook-Culture]

Hi, yes, my screw up. even Zwilling pro is 57

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

If a knife is made in China, it cannot be a Japanese knife, simple as that. No matter how great the quality of a Chinese knife may be, and some excellent knives do come from China, it will always be a Chinese knife.

[@thiago.assumpcao]

If you grind and polish the Damascus pattern should still be visible. Its easy to test. My 56 HRC knife lasts shaving sharp for about 3 months cooking once a week without any touch up. A Xituo VG10 on 60 HRC lasts over 8 months shaving sharp. Probably Japanese steel at 65HRC would last even longer but at this point I don't even care about better edge retention. My main concern is ergonomics and cutting performance. Unfortunately most Chinese knives follow European standard and leave a thick edge or a bad overall geometry. Most of them still cut better than Zwilling but don't expect them to have same cutting performance as a good Japanese knife. Xituo Butcher had a great bang for your buck. It had an embossed surface that is great to avoid food sticking. Too bad they stopped making it.

[@neilmac4730]

Looks like I'll be purchasing a Miyabe for my son for Christmas. He's been talking about getting a chef's knife. Hopefully you'll have a sale by then. Great review 👏

[@lisamelting]

It’s not a Japanese knife if it’s made in china. Japanese style maybe. Japanese type? Japanese clone? Counterfeit? I see a lot of misleading terminology whereas Chinese companies are trying to mislead consumers into thinking they’re buying a knife made in Japan, when in fact it’s made in China. I’m not against buying items made in china, but I’m not supporting companies that try to mislead consumers.

[@tacticalcenter8658]

True 1000%

[@thinborne]

Totally agree with you. Just be transparent with customers.

[@MichaelE.Douroux]

With your heavy usage of the Miyabi birch, how often do you have to take it to the stones, assuming you're doing regular maintenance with either a honing rod or strop in between sharpening sessions? Thanks!

[@Cook-Culture]

It's used in our teaching kitchen so it's sharpened often. Use use ceramic rods in the kitchen

[@MichaelE.Douroux]

@@Cook-Culture Thanks!

[@4tCa4mzUPqRZZo]

What about Japanese knifes made in English?

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

... knives*

[@qifgt]

Even if steel is good ,& heattreat is bad ,it sucks. Allso miyabi is way overpriced. U can get real handmade japanese knife which have way better edge geometry and heattreat. Toss that shit and start offer tojiro vg10(budget) and some real japanese artisan knife. U can get very good fully handmade knife with 100€ (think sum like munetoshi) 150-500€ have really fuckin amazing stuff. Gyus do ur research befo buying overpriced stuff.

[@tacticalcenter8658]

Depends on the heat treatment. Most of them are garbage.

[@franzb69]

fauxmascus. etched, lasered on fauxmascus.

[@LXT43]

If you buy unknown brand Chinese knife mimicking Japanese knife, most likely you will be disappointed. That's kind of obvious. Not everyone can afford high end Japanese, French or German knife. If you don't have the $$$, buy German brand knife that's made in China. At least the quality will be very decent.

[@nikolajc7617]

Knives made in Chinese.🤣😂 Nice headline.

[@Cook-Culture]

Thanks for the heads up!

[@sanduliaka]

Your fake demascus doesn't improve food release

[@Cook-Culture]

Yes, I was quite clear about that

[@sanduliaka]

You literally say "things will fall away easier if you have a layered knife"...

[@Cook-Culture]

@arcanetrickster01 yes, the Miyabi is a truly layered knife, the other one, not so much.

[@sanduliaka]

Yea the layering has 0% performance value. What you are talking about is the surface finish which has nothing to do with 100x layers. Just sandpaper/grit/sandblasting

[@sanduliaka]

They are just Chinese knives made in China. You can buy a legitimate Japanese knives for the same price. Where are your choil shots?

[@roberttaylor9259]

I'm not sure the question is are Chinese knives good, I think the question is how do you narrow down the trash from the treasure? There's a lot of great artisans in China, as in other countries, the problem is China has a historical issue with producing things that pass the eye test but falter in performance. Kenji and many professional chefs recommend Kan Knives, they are Chinese knives. The company behind Established Titles also had a knife company that was Chinese. People said they were good but it seems like at best they were mediocre and overselling their status. Again, I think the problem is just verifying you're getting what is advertised.

[@Cook-Culture]

Precisely

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

There are* a lot of great artisans ...

[@thorwaldjohanson2526]

Kamikoto knives, huusk and so on are all utter trash and basically scams. Don't buy knives from China. The only exception could be big established brands manufacturing there, but even then the QC can be significantly lacking.

[@shigemorif1066]

I just don’t appreciate misleading advertising. Everything is marketed as Japan and in the fine print you find out it’s made in China.

[@i95smuggler]

14:16 definitely a big deal for me. I took a chance on purchasing Cangshan knives which are made in China & wasn't impressed. That edging seems like a fake Damascus edge. Thanks Jed! Always a great review bro.

[@huyduong7202]

Simply put a Japanese made knife have a historical Samurai katana to lean on whereas a Chinese knife does not. Plus Japanese meticulous craftsmanship is second to none that was passed down to generations.

[@bryanooi8815]

For me, I just buy the Chinese knives and save the money for high end cast iron skillet.

[@lorrinkim2274]

That Miyabi knife looks fantastic. Never heard of the brand. I really need to get to the Wet Coast and wander around your store.

[@einundsiebenziger5488]

Any coast is wet. I guess you need West Coast. And Miyabi is owned by Zwilling, so they're available throughout the states, no need to travel that far.

[@hristov71]

I've bought Global knife GS-3 for 100e ,recently , I doubt chinese knife gets close to it

[@franzb69]

japanese steel makers have long since stopped selling vg10 to anyone outside of their country. this is why they came out with vg max steel and vg xeos. vg10 isn't made anymore in japan. they phased it out. anyone that says their knives are made with vg10 in 2023 that's not japanese are lying out of their asses.

[@Cook-Culture]

What about Japanese companies stating that they their knives are VG10?

[@sanduliaka]

You are out of your depth. VG10 is made by Takefu Special Steel Co. Ltd in Japan. Your VG10 knives from China are the no-name knock off versions, sold at the same price as a Tojiro DP (a VG10 knife, made in japan)

[@Cook-Culture]

@@sanduliaka Lots more digging to do

[@LXT43]

You have your info wrong. 1st, VG10 was NEVER exported outside of Japan. 2nd, VG10 is still produced in Japan right now!. They still make knives out of it but they have to be made in Japan. Fallkniven (Swedish knife company) still have their knives made out of VG10 in Japan.

[@TheCyberMantis]

@@LXT43 True, I just bought a brand-new Yaxell RAN santoku, and it is made with a VG10 core. Yaxell is in Seki City, Gifu. It says right on the blade "VG10".

[@TheCyberMantis]

If you want a Chinese knife, buy a Chinese knife. If you want a Japanese knife, don't buy a Chinese knife.

[@seenenough1200]

This guy is total hack, he couldn't tell the difference between a hand crafted Masamoto from a mass produced Dalstrong with stamped Chinquism in a prison labor camp.

[@Cook-Culture]

In can always spot a Dalstrong. Those are great knives

[@varoneantonio633]

try #chefpanko