Enso Chef's Knife - Made in Japan - HD Series - VG10 Hammered Damascus Stainless Steel Gyuto - 8"

Nicely crafted Damascus style blade for a good price. Cuts extremely fine and so sharp it is easy to control.

My third Esno knife. Beautiful design, strong blade, exceptionally sharp out of the box. It's held a sharp edge for over a year with a decent amount of use. Ergonomics are great and the knife is well balanced. I think I prefer the handle material finish of comparable shun/miyabi knives, but nothing to complain about.Would highly recommend this or the Enso Nakiri.

So normally this knife sells for $150. When I saw that it was 33% off for under $100, I had to pull the trigger! The packaging was a little basic compared to some other knives I've bought so I just recycled it. I polished the blade right out of the box up to a Shapton 12,000 grit ceramic whetstone. I stropped it on a 1 micro diamond compound leather strop to a mirror shine. It's first test was Christmas dinner prep. The very first slice met Zero resistance! As I kept slicing and chopping, I started getting nervous. It glided through even hard root vegetables like it wasnt even there. It is the sharpest blade I've ever used and I grew up in a restaurant kitchen! I know it was overkill on how much I sharpened it but I catch and cut a lot of fish so I need it sashimi sharp. I have somewhat smaller hands but the handle felt very comfortable even after a couple of hours of use. I was a little concerned about the bolster being too thick for a pinch grip but it wasn't an issue and felt natural. VG10 isn't the best steel but for every day home cooks, it comes at a great price point. I haven't had it long enough to test the edge retention but I'm very confident that I can bring it back to a Crazy level of sharpness easily. I'm now seriously thinking about getting the same nakiri version. I absolutely love this knife and now it's a very shiny jewel on my magnetic knife block.

The media could not be loaded. This knife is amazing! Hands down, the best knife that I’ve handled in all my years of cooking. I am a simple, at home chef and this is almost too perfect for my prep, and additional everyday use. Beautiful craftsmanship, perfect weight, razor sharp. You can see the hammered top half ( which is extremely impressive as it separates meat/veg from the knife as you cut) and then the bottom half has damascus running through it, it’s just impressive. Cannot go wrong. It is a little costly, at $150.00 per knife, but you get what you pay for. It’s a great, solid knife. I would 100% recommend this to anyone in need of a knife. It makes you even more excited to get in the kitchen. That is how you know it’s a lovely piece. (wish I could get the set, but it’s $1000.. still gorgeous, just not in my budget)

Wasn’t in the market for another chef’s knife as I already have a Victorinox and a CCK Chinese chef knife that I truly love, but this came to my feed advertised for $99. After looking at the description and specs, I decided to dig deeper and research. VG10, 37 layers damascus, made in Seki Japan by Yaxell. 61HRC. Everything sounded great so I bought it. Wow, this thing did not disappoint. Out of the box, knife was beautiful, felt great in my hand and extremely sharp! sharp! sharp! I liked it soo much I ended up ordering the Enso Hizashi bunka as well, same exact blade specifications different handle also on sale for $99. What a bargain for such beautiful knives. Waiting on the Santoku to go on sale and I will definitely be buying another Enso.

I won't go into what this knife is, that's already been covered extensively.Upon getting this knife, the first thing I noticed is the tip guard was off and loose in the box. It's heavy but ha good balance and I liked it, but it wasn't as sharp as my Tojiro or my hand-made bunka (I don't expect that level up to the bunka, but it's a reference point). After using them all back and forth, the Enso felt downright dull in spots.With that uncertainty along with the tip guard that was loose, and I set up an exchange. I was really hoping for a cross ship in time where I'd have them both to compare. No dice, they wouldn't ship the replacement until I shipped the original one back.I got the replacement and immediately heard a rattle in the box. Opened it to find again, the tip guard was loose in the box. Well, I've used it a couple of times and I don't need them both to compare - this one is, without a doubt, sharper and more consistently so along the length of the entire blade.It's heavy but sharp and well balanced; all these things make it a workhorse, as a gyuto should be. I went back and forth with the bunka tonight, and while the bunka is sharper, this beats it on any heavier task like cutting raw carrots, while still having the grace to adeptly dice an onion.Other knives compliment, but you could use this for 90% or so if necessary, and the many would be happy with it