Product test: Edge of Belgravia Ceramic Lime Santoku knife (26 May 2013)

http://edgeofbelgravia.com.au

Getting to the point

Thanks to Palina Antonova from The Trish Nicol Agency for providing a 5 inch Ceramic Lime Santoku knife ($88 RRP) for product testing. I'm a novice when it comes to cooking but I welcome any opportunity of finding a super sharp knife to make things easier in the kitchen. I decided on three tests to see how it performed. Cutting a semi-ripe cherry tomato was the first test. If the knife was used in a slicing motion it performed well although when used in a very slow downward vertical motion without a slicing motion it had trouble cutting the skin of the tomato. I tried this with my current stainless steal knifes which failed as well although they weren't as sharp as this new knife. Second test was holding a piece of paper and slicing. It did a pretty good job of this and most sharp knives should do the same. The final test was cutting a carrot. It did a pretty good job although I noticed I kept producing a curved slice each time. I'm not quite sure if this might be the intention of the blade design but I think it shouldn't be. My preference would be a straight cut which happens with my other knives. Maybe it's not the right knife for the job.

In terms of the ergonomics and design it's quite a comfortable knife to hold in the hand. Feels quite light although my preference would be for a knife that has a bit more weight which I think would also help in cutting. The 5 inch knife is slightly larger than my paring knife but smaller than my utility knife so size wise it's probably a bit too small for maybe an all purpose knife. I think their Chef's Knife looks more ideal both in size and shape. I generally use the back edge of a knife to scrap cuttings off the chopping board but the curved design of the Santoku sits above the surface which isn't ideal to do this. I use a wall mounted magnetic holder for my knives for easy access and to save on bench space but you won't be able to do this with a ceramic knife. I'm suspecting the Damascus Chef's Knife would be a better choice for me from what I can see with its blade design, size, being metallic and having more weight.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Comfortable grip, Nice packaging, Blade supposedly stays sharp for years without the need for stone grinding

CONS: Ceramic knife not compatible with magnetic holder, Curved back edge doesn't sit flat to a chopping board for scrapping, Seems to chop with a curved slice for some reason

MUST TRY: I need to test dicing an onion, thin slicing meat and chopping herbs

VERDICT: Initial testing hasn't been favourable although I'll keep using to see if sharpness is retained over time and test on other ingredients

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Nice packaging 

Number 074 of 999 made in series 

Quite nice to hold although for most cutting I ended up positioning my index finger on the top of the handle to make room underneath to slicing  

5 inches is a rather short blade and prefer a longer blade for general kitchen preparation

Back edge of blade is curved so leaves a gap underneath which can make it less effective in scrapping cuttings off the board 

Being a ceramic blade it's not compatible with magnetic wall holders 

Performed well when thinly slicing tomato 

Didn't perform well with very slow downward vertical motion on tomato for some reason

Performed well with paper slicing. This would be my main text over time to see how the blade retains its sharpness 

Carrot cutting OK except the blade seemed to what to cut with a curve 

Cutting with right hand created a curved edge favouring a direction towards the right 

Forged under 300 tons of pressure and 1400ºC apparently renders the blade almost as hard as diamond. “The blade remains sharp for years of use without need for sharpening” — sounds good to me!