Cutco Knives

Anyone use Cutco knives professionally? Saw a demonstration of these knives and they were very sharp and versatile. I was just curious to know how they perform in a real professional kitchen and if they maintain their sharpness as time passes as was mentioned. They are very cost-comparable to Wustoff and Henkels.

So, what is your knife preference??

By Corey (Corey) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:07 am: Edit

never heard of them, I have used messermiester for over 10 years.

By Thebaker (Thebaker) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 06:54 pm: Edit

To me they are just knives

By Corey (Corey) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 08:17 pm: Edit

to me they are a extention of my hands.

By Chefspike (Chefspike) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:22 pm: Edit

ouch!!!!
how do you zip up ?

By Corey (Corey) on Monday, June 24, 2002 - 11:56 pm: Edit

o k

By Mbw (Mbw) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 12:37 pm: Edit

Cutco is an old pyramid sold, AMWAY style of knife.

My dad sold em over 2 years ago and still may use em. Should be ok BUT go for Chicago Cutlery if you want a good NON professional knife

By Corey (Corey) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 01:05 pm: Edit

or just use a low cost dexter/russell too.
it's the standard knive used in hotel kitchens.

By George (George) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 01:14 pm: Edit

I like the cheep knives. When I was starting out I brought my henlkes to work and one of the kitchen guys broke off the tip of my 10# chef knife opening a can. Never again.

I sat through a demo of the cutcos a week or so ago (grand son of a friend)

I hated the handles, some king of proprietary funky no slip thing, They were sharp but didn't have a regular edge on them, some kind of special thing like a micro fine serrated.

They were very expensive.

Like I said I like cheep knives.

By Peachcreek (Peachcreek) on Tuesday, July 02, 2002 - 04:22 pm: Edit

I don't think they are worth the price. For the guys in the kitchen who don't bring their own tools, they get to use the "house" Mundials..

By Andapanda (Andapanda) on Monday, July 19, 2004 - 09:07 pm: Edit

Rbasting:
It's been 2 years since you had posted your question. I hope that you saved your money instead of wasting it on CUTCO cutlery. CUTCO(Cooking UTensil COmpany) was originally developed by Wear-Ever Aluminum, a subsidiary of ALCOA(ALuminum Company Of America, if memory serves me correctly, lest I begin to sound like Chairman Kaga!)
ALCOA formed a joint venture with W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. and formed ALCAS(ALcoa/CASe) Cutlery.
Parenthetically, W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. had produced special edition daggers for American and Canadian soldiers in the 1st Special Service Force during W.W. II. The 1st S.S.F. was later disbanded at the end of the war.
Case actually manufactured the product for CUTCO. ALCOA bought Case's interest in ALCAS in 1972, and ALCAS is wholly owned by ALCOA.
I have a Case serrated slicer. It's only marginally better than my Dexter-Russell SaniSafe serrated knife, but not even comparable to my LamsonSharp serrated knives.
CUTCO is sold exclusively through their sales representatives, ergo, the extremely outrageously high prices for CUTCO cutlery. If you like CUTCO cutlery, then buy Case cutlery instead, because Case manufactured CUTCO cutlery, at least until 1972. If you like CUTCO because of their lifetime sharpening program, look into LamsonSharp's lifetime sharpening program. It's free for life, as long as you're not a professional cook. I didn't see it on their website: <http://www.lamsonsharp.com>, but it is in their catalog/brochure.
Incidentally, you asked if CUTCO was professional/commercial-grade cutlery. I do not consider CUTCO to be suitable for professional/commercial use. CUTCO is in the same category as Oneida. They both make cutlery, and flatware for the retail market, not the commercial market.
If you're impressed by cutlery demonstrations, then buy Ginsu or Miracle Blade III Perfection Series knives. You'll be able to cut through sheet rock, cement, nails, tin cans, etc., and still slice a tomato, wafer thin!
But seriously, I own many makes of kitchen cutlery: LamsonSharp, Dexter-Russell, Chicago Cutlery, R.H. Forschner, J.A. Henckels, Mundial, Tramontina, Case, Oneida, including Frosts, Cold Steel, Gerber, etc., and some Japanese cutlery made by unknown manufacturers whom I can't mention because the packaging was entirely in japanese.
LamsonSharp makes the sharpest serrated slicers I've used or seen on the market.
For example, I took a thoroughly frozen California San Francisco Sourdough bread loaf, and sliced through it with 5-6 strokes with my LamsonSharp knife, while my Case knife took 18-20 strokes, and my Dexter-Russell knife took 28-30 strokes.
I had called Lamson & Goodnow to notify them of my extreme test, and was sternly warned that that was an extremely dangerous(and foolhardy) test and that no one should ever attempt to slice through a thoroughly frozen loaf of sourdough bread! I merely did to prove a point, no pun intended. I wanted to find out which knife was the sharpest.
Save your money. Don't buy CUTCO.

By Andapanda (Andapanda) on Tuesday, July 20, 2004 - 12:23 pm: Edit

Rbasting:
Here is some interesting reading about CUTCO cutlery.
The message was previously from another forum and is quite lengthy.
http://food4.epicurious.com/HyperNews/get/archive_swap52501-52600/52584.html