★★★★★ 5
Quality Knives At A Bargain Price
Size: Steel King 15Pcs 10.4"×7"×15.4"
I have had these knives for almost 18 months now and they have held up great Edge retention is fantastic, and as long as you treat them right and don't leave dried tomato sauce on them for 5 days, no rust to speak of or even any discoloring! The build is fantastic and they are well balanced. I still can't believe I got this set for the price I did.
I have a collection of pocket knives, I own Japanese wet stones to sharpen and understand what 8cr13mov, s30V and 14c28n is in knife production. (It's metal alloys BTW.) Having said that, I was a bit picky in finding a knife set that was quality built, had good steel and didn't cost $800.
I honestly don't know how they are producing this set and not losing their shirts. Full tang design (One piece of steel from tip through the handle to the butt), and has nice glass fiber reinforced polymer handle material. I can't find any reference to this set in particular for what steel is used, but based on using various steel through the years I have a pretty good idea what this probably is. (BTW, I hate to break to you. At this price, it's absolutely NOT German steel...and that's okay anyway.)
Brodark references Japanese VG10 steel with their other stand alone chef knives. It is common in the Chinese knife industry to copy an alloy alloy and call it by it's original name. It's NOT Japanese steel. What is commonly referred to as VG10 is 10cr15mov or 8cr15mov. Both are fine steel to use for a "general purpose" knife and perform similar to Japanese VG10, or even US made 440c stainless...perhaps even a little better than 440c.
The steel in these knives is pretty dang hard, which makes me think it is 10cr15mov. The 10 is the Chromium content in the alloy. More chromium, more hard, more hard ='s more brittle. There is a balance of how hard without being brittle. Some knife makers use super hard steel to get a wicked sharp edge that holds for a while...buuuut then after a year of use you see all the chips along the edge or perhaps even a tip has snapped off. That's hard, brittle steel. You can't fix chips unless you grind them down and create a totally new edge on the knife and start over.
These Brodark knives find a nice balance of hardness for edge retention but enough give to not chip or break off under general use. Like I said, almost 1.5 years of use and no chips, bends, or scratches.
I still can't believe I paid around $50 for them. Incredible.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2024
