Cangshan V2 Series 1022520 German Steel Forged 5-Piece Starter Knife Block Set, Acacia

Do yourself a favor and just pull the trigger on this one! You won't regret it. I got mine on a black Friday deal and highly recommend you do the same, unless there is a flash deal or just sale on them. Plenty of amazing knives for any use (I bought the 23 piece set V2 series). Even to this day after 2 years of fairly heavy use, these are not only in mint condition but sharp as can be. Very little wear down on the blades - even constantly slicing through tendons or melon rinds frequently when butchering meat or prepping citrus. This set really does have a knife for everything you will most likely need to do in everyday use in the kitchen, shy of being a full-on restaurant! I will say this, watch a scour pad scrubber or dishwasher. I never have and never will use either on a nice knife set (even though they are dishwasher safe). This is typically how most sets eventually rust or have the finish scratched which in-turn will then lead to a possible defect in craftsmanship as well. Just take my advice and clean with care you will have a set that lasts easily 10 to 15 years. I did see some customers had a cracked wood block on arrival. I luckily had a perfect condition set. Each knife and even block were packaged with over-the-top protection, so I truly do wonder if it's your mail delivery/package delivery company abusing the item on the way??

Holy macaroni are these sharp!!! I'm over 40, from a farm, so I have been cooking & cutting from my teens all the way until now. I know what I'm doing when it comes to normal everyday kitchen knives...but these things! Wowza! I cut myself on 3 fingers on the first project with them! 2 of the cuts were on the hand that was HOLDING the knife!!! - Don't ask me how I did that....I'm special that way. Uff. I think I was just so nervous with them that I lost my mind for a few minutes.These seem to be a wonderful set. I am very happy with them. I have never had so many options when it comes to knives. They send a cheat sheet with the package to tell you which knife goes with what food. KEEP IT...shove it in a cookbook or something. You'll want to know which knife does what in the future, and where it goes in the block so they're not just in there all willy nilly.I have never put them thru the dishwasher. I always wash by hand, right after I'm done using them, and put them back in the block. They're too sharp to be sitting in the sink & little fingers/hands reaching in unknowingly. We don't need a trip to the ER stating the kid grabbed a knife! Social services would LOVE that...I would definitely recommend this set. It's heavy, and seem to be good quality. Nice thick blades, yet nicely balanced. This set isn't for rookies though. You'll end up in the ER. BE CAREFUL!!!!

This is a top quality set of knives and I've waited to review so I could test them thoroughly. They are well made, with a thickness all the way through the tang. The handles are comfortable, and after long periods of cutting, chopping, my hands do not hurt. The block is beautiful, and having read other reviews before my purchase, I understand some concerns about its size but the set I bought is a large set, a block size that is consistent with the number of knives is to be expected. Having had other top quality brands and been happy with them, I was reluctant to try something less well known but these impressed me, they're extremely sharp, and probably the sharpest knives I've ever owned. I've cut carrots so thin they were transparent, this surprised me and as ridiculous as this sounds, it made me curious if I could shave with them. I can. I can't say which knife is my favorite, but all of the knives have held their edge well, if the steel was sub par, this would have revealed itself right away. But even the bread knife continues to slice bread so thin it will surprise you. Others in the house use knives as tools, and even under these circumstances, the knives are holding their edge. I am very pleased and expect this set will continue to impress.

I love these knives, they are unbelievably sharp (just ask my fingers).However, the block angle doesn't work for my cabinets and potentially yours. As shown in the picture, if you place the block against the backsplash (which you would do) be careful of the clearance from the uppers as the top row of two knives is inaccessible and the second tier of two knives only barely clear and I need to be conscious and slow every time I remove them.The bottom of my light rail is 16" above the countertop and 12" off the wall. Sure, I could pull the block off the wall an inch (and I tried this) but it looks ridiculous. And I could slide it out every time but.... I'm happy with the knives, but the block is a disappointment and negatively impacts the daily functionality. I'm really more lazy than happy and can't be bothered swapping them out especially when I only found out this was an issue after unwrapping 22 knives. I'm not sure if other knife blocks/manufacturers have a similar angle problem. The set I replaced did not have this problem.I also wish they offered a proper walnut colored block like the smaller (17pc) Cangshan set I bought for my parents. The shade of this one is weird and doesn't really match anything.Lastly, you will need to add your own thin rubber feet as this thing slides around like a MoFo being wood against granite. I'm surprised it doesn't come with them.

I've only have these a few days. Some are sharper than others. The utility knives in particular are too blunt for my needs. The steak knives are OK. The paring knife is really sharp, and opens packaging particularly well. Haven't tried the Santoku or Nikiri, but managed to ding the handle of one while I was putting the other in the block, so guess they are sharp enough.However, on the down side, I washed the paring knife shown in my photo in the dishwasher, once. (The advice is to hand wash, but I don't have time for that, and the guides say that these knives can withstand the dishwasher, they'll just last longer if you hand wash.)There were some water spots and mico-dots of rust on the paring knife after dishwashing. So I used a plastic scourer very gently, for about 3-5 seconds. On other kitchen knives, this removes small spots without damaging the blade. But as you can see, even that small amount of hand cleaning caused the paring knife to have ugly scratches along its length. If the metal used in the blade deforms this much under light plastic scouring, how badly do you think the cutting edge is getting deformed each time you cut? These are meant to be made of high-grade, hardened, German steel. But the metal acts more like chocolate.I was very impressed with how these knives looked and cut out of the box. (Overly-blunt Utility Knives excepted.) But am not impressed with how well they've stood up to some light use in the first few days. Lesson learned: don't using anything even mildly abrasive to clean the metal surface.

When I unpacked my knife set and found it defective. I contacted Amazon UK and Cangshan.It was left to Amazon UK to resolve the issue as Cangshan customer service told me that they would offer no support, informing me that Cangshan's no hassle lifetime warranty does not cover the UK.Something I wish I'd had known beforehand. Cangshan knives are not cheap and a very risky investment with zero warranty.

Great set of knives, in a wonderful knife block. I have wanted a sharp knife set that looks good for a long time. This one ticks all the boxes.