Gunter Wilhelm Knives... A Review by a Picky Bastard

Spending many years working in kitchens, I have learned the most important tool is your knife kit. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of gadgets out there sold by Pampered Chef and those mall gourmet cooking stores that just take up room in your drawers and you never use but on rare occasions. Almost all of these can easily be replaced by a comprehensive set of quality knives and some decent knife skills.

During my cooking education and career, I have used many different brands of knives; Wusthof, Henkels, F. Dick, Cutco, Cuisinart, and Chicago Cutlery to name a few. After learning what makes a good knife simply through experience, I have found that I am a huge fanboy of Wusthof; they use excellent steel, hold an edge, and take a beating. They are really great knives.

Recently, I was walking around Costco planning my Thanksgiving meal and noticed they had a booth set up with some guys peddling some brand of cutlery that I never heard of before, Gunter Wilhelm. From a distance they looked pretty neat so I decided to walk over and take a look. To be perfectly honest, the salesman pissed me off right off the bat. He began giving me a pitch about the balance of the knife and showed me he could balance it on one finger. Because, yea, that is what I do with my knives, I balance them on my finger. I smelled bullshit and I told him so, and I wanted to know immediately why this gentleman deserved taking up any more of my time. He then began talking about the steel they use, and showed me a knife sharpener, and how its different from a steel, and yadda yadda yadda. Finally I just said to him "Just give me a sharp knife and something to cut, and I will tell you if you have shit or not." So from under the table he produced a demo knife, an 8" chef's knife, a tomato, and a carrot. I effortlessly julienned the carrot. Then he dared me to slice the tomato as thin as possible, so I began slicing paper thin slices of tomato. I was impressed. The knives were solid. He then started on the balance thing again and about how the balance lets you cut a tomato that thin, and we commenced another argument about the role balance plays when cutting. I have to say, I admired his insistence..... So, while the used car salesman pitch was irritating, I was impressed by the knives. They were offering them for $40 a piece, and had some pretty good prices on sets, and being Costco with the awesome return policy I figured I couldn't go wrong. I walked out with a 12" slicer and an 8" chef's knife.

That night I got home and the wife brought the nieces over, so I decided to make a London broil on the grill. I usually use an electric carver for London broil because you can get nice thin pieces without much effort, but I was dying to try out my new knives. I pulled out the slicer and went to town on the steak, and it sliced through the meat as if it were butter. There was no tugging at all, it didn't catch on the crusty parts, and none of the slices stuck to the blade. I was definitely impressed. I was able to cut super thin or nice and thick with ease. I then proceeded to cut up some asparagus to grill with the chef's knife, again, an effortless affair. Asparagus is tough and when cutting even a couple of pounds can make a blade noticeably less sharp, particularly on a cheap knife. This one held its edge and I was still able to shave hair off of my arm with it after cutting the tough vegetable fibers.

The next day I had to go back to Costco for something I forgot, and the salesman saw me and called me over and asked about how I liked my knives. I told him I was impressed and really liked them. As we were talking, a lady and her daughter came up looking for a sushi knife. Of course, the salesman suggested the complete wrong knife for sushi, but I stepped in and told her what she would really need, and they ended up buying the big set with the knife block. The salesman gave me an offset slicer as payment for selling a whole block..... Not too shabby.....

Things I really like about these knives:

• They look great - The are a full tang of stainless steel with a high density plastic (Like Wusthof Trident handles) made to look like rosewood. Very classy looking. 
• They are solid - These knives have some weight to them. The blades are a bit wider than my Wusthofs, and the extra metal in the handles give the knives a very solid feel. 
• Large handles - These handles don't look terribly comfortable, but I found them to actually be quite comfortable to use. They are large enough where I can really grip it with my ogre hands for tough jobs, let still slim enough for use with fast chopping. 
• They are well balanced - While I know the guy was all hyped up on the balance, he was pitching it for all the wrong reasons. The balance makes tough cutting jobs easier, like cutting bunches of asparagus.
• The heel of the Chef's knife doesn't go all the way to the edge of the blade. While it can be argued it makes the edge more likely to break, it makes cutting bulky items easier, as you don't have that small dull patch at the back of the blade. Plus, it will take many more sharpenings before you have to send it back for a new blade. 
• It comes with a ballistic nylon sheath - Putting knives in drawers just ruins them. The blades get dinged up and lose their edge, and you are playing Russian roulette every time you reach into your drawer to find something. These really protect the knives, and even have a loop so you can put them on a belt if you need to. A nice touch for the pro's out there....
• 440 Stainless Steel Blades - This is the same type of steel used by Wusthof and Henkels. It is strong, holds a good edge, and stays looking nice. While its not Japanese steel capable of honing to a razor's edge, it requires much less special care and is perfect for most any situation. 
• Lifetime Warranty - I read up on this company after purchasing my two knives, and with any product as personal as a cooking knife, there are lovers and there are haters. But one thing I found universally was they had great customer service and responded quickly to customers. Henkels and Wusthof also have lifetime warranties on their high end knives, but you have to send your knife in and wait for them to send it back after it is fixed, which can take weeks or even months. 
• The blade is honed to a true "V" from the factory. Most knives from Wusthof, Henkels, and others come with an offset "V" or "y" shape to the blades edge, where one side of the blade is honed shorter than the other, which makes it difficult to get consistently straight cuts. Typically the first thing I do with new knives is resharpen them to a true "V" so I can always get straight, true cuts. 

Things I don't like about these knives:

• The handles get slippery when your hards are wet or greasy - honestly, the only knives I used where this wasn't an issue was with my Wusthof Grand Prix which have a bulbous, textured handle. 
• They are a bit bulky. The wider blades are nice for weight, but the extra 1/2 inch or so of width makes them a bit more difficult for precision work. 

All in all, these knives are really, really good, especially so for the price. For this quality, I would expect to pay $100 or more per knife. The price tag of $40 per knife at Costco, or even $69 on their website is a bargain for what you get. These will last a very long time and perform great. I look forward to them coming back to Costco so I can grab a couple more.