Matsato knife for Christmas


 
Timothy F. Lewis

Timothy F. Lewis

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
My wife gave me a Matsato knife (and scabbard) for Christmas, I wanted to use it a bit before offering a review. I’m a month in with it and here are some observations,
1- It’s interesting looking, the “rough surface” is susceptible to collecting grease so, you need to take extra care getting that clean.
2- The hole is superflous unless you want to play “Spinny Gunfighter” games.
3- Extreme blade arc forces much more wrist action than a traditional design.
4- That arc renders the blade much less efficient than a Santoku or chefs knife.
5- Sharpness is OK nothing earth shattering.
6- It’s heavy for its size.

In conclusion:
Thank you my loving wife!
It will have a spot in the grill shack but, I don’t know how much use it will get.
I would have spent that $80.00 on steaks which I can cut perfectly well with my 8” Forschner chefs knife.

In short, I would not bother with their hype, it’s an Edsel, as my father would have said, “There’s nothing wrong with it, just nothing exceptional.”
 
Thanks for offering up your opinions on that knife. I have a decent chef's knife, and santoku knife. Sometimes I think about adding a cleaver or something like I'm showing here below to the arsenal. Woiuld be interested in some thoughts on how useful these knives are.... I've been resisting this for quite some time but maybe I'm missing out??

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I am one of those guys that has to “think” about what job I need the too for. I have some very nice OLD high carbon cleavers and, I good Chinese pattern cleaver. If I’m breaking down something with bones, the heavy old cleavers do the job, the Chinese pattern, is really much more a “knife” for slicing not hacking. The one you show is kind of a hybrid and I really don’t see any design advantages unless you use it as a bench scraper. Everyone likes and uses different tools for different projects. If there was one knife to do everything in my kitchen, the affordable 8” Forschner would be it. I’ve got three8”, three 10”, a 12” chefs knives, old fashioned “Old Hickory” butcher knives 12” and 10”. Brisket slicing knife, bread knife, fillet knives, utility knives, paring knives, birds beak parers, myriad knives, I have spent years and stupid amounts collecting them, and to be honest, I use maybe three out of the whole collection!
One day I will haul them out and shoot an inventory picture! I must have ditched the old one, probably have more since then!
Some of the larger ones have been removed from the kitchen to be available but not taking up counter space in an aluminum shotgun case! Some also in two “porta kitchen” tool boxes!
 
So it looks like it might be a somewhat "unwieldly" knife. Not criticizing just observing how "heavy" it appears to be.
 
timothy said:
And they are also rather thick.
Takes some practice to get used to the extra heft.
Click to expand...
For me it’s not the weight, it’s the blade design. The radical sweep makes for a lot more wrist action on a longer cut even more fiddling about to cut a carrot. Get a $20 chefs knife and learn classic technique and your wrist will thank you!
 
Not surprised one bit that those knives rated so poorly. IMO, they look silly and cartoonish.

I’m old school. I just stick to the German stuff, that’s made in Germany, that comes with a lifetime warranty and are proven in the world and marketplace.
 
Well, will wonders never cease! Guess what was in my inbox this morning? “Please take our two question survey…”
I gave it a 4 and cut and pasted my initial post!
They are still available for $29.95 (regular price is now $99.95)
We shall see if they ask any further questions.
 
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