901Memphis wrote:For those of you whiners who say $50 a knife is a lot i guess its safe to assume you know nothing about cutler or knifes in general.

How about you get down off your high horse for a while and not just assume that people don't know good cutlery or fine steel. Jerk.

901Memphis wrote:
Knifes are one of those things in life where you pretty much get exactly what you pay for.

Uh, yeah, not so much. I have several Gerber kitchen knives that I bought based on a Consumer Reports recommendation that they were just as good as the much more expensive Wusthoffs or whatever was in vogue at the time. 20 years later they're still slicing and dicing and looking great for me.

Then there's the question of whether you actually NEED a $50 knife to cut your steak. Certainly enjoying the feel of a fine piece of cutlery can enhance the experience, IF you can even recognize and appreciate the feel of a fine knife. I suspect most who buy these don't.

I've had RONCOS "SHOWTIME SIX STAR CUTLERY" for the past 7 years and I absolutely love them. For the price of one Shun steak knife you get with ronco 25 professional knives (8 steak knives within the set). It is buy one get one free now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roncos knives are the perfect gift. I bought one for my mom, aunt, mother-in-law and they all LOVE the set.

Will pass on this set.

http://roncocutlery.com/?linkId=2348&source=google&custom=ronco%20knives

How many steaks would I need to eat on a monthly basis to justify buying high quality steak knives?

badxmaru wrote:you gotta be kidding.

whoever buys these better give the same amount to a homeless shelter - it's just egregious to spend this much on these. At a certain point the whole idea of quality and price come into play - this is waaay past that point. Any additional amount you spend past $15 per knife (cutting cooked and prepared food btw) might as well be spent on a very nice dining table or china. I would give my friends heck for buying these - i mean seriously, you really have to have just absolutely nothing to do with your liquid assets if you're going to waste it on these.

if you haven't used a ken onion shun, you should try it. there is alot to be said for a good knife. i've owned tons of "decent" knives and my ken onion's blow them away. the blades on the other knives don't stay sharp or straight.

in the case of knives, you pay for the craftsmanship and you get what you pay for.


cheers.

901Memphis wrote:For those of you whiners who say $50 a knife is a lot i guess its safe to assume you know nothing about cutler or knifes in general.

Knifes are one of those things in life where you pretty much get exactly what you pay for. Kershaw has been in the business a long time and they make many many products including pocket knifes, bowie knifes, boot/neck knifes, Daggers, Rapiers, Shamsirs, Machetes, cutlery, samurai swords, and a lot of other variations. They are not overcharging for this.

Sure you can go buy a cheap set of steak knifes at walmart for $20 and they will cut your steak for you many times but these knives will last 50x longer and do it with ease every time.

The simple fact is there are many variations of steel used to make knives. I can list them if you'd like....

VG-1 steel, 4116 Krupp Stainless, AUS 8A Stainless, SAN MAI III, 1055 Carbon, SK-5 High Carbon.... and those are just some of Kershaws more popular metals.

Simply put you get what you pay for and not all steel is created equal. Higher quality metals hold their edge better and last longer. This is a heck of a deal for a quality product if your rich. I can't afford this crap but someone can.

Also remember these are $100 a knife anywhere else!


To the guy who needs 5 knifes, i suggest you buy 2 sets and list the other 3 in a buy it now or individually on a auction site to someone else who may be looking to another odd quantity. These are very good price to performance knifes and should sell within just a couple weeks on fleabay.

You can tell yourself that it's worth the money because of the quality, but I found something that (in my opinion) proves that hypothesis wrong. In the catalog for these things, they have a whetstone listed for $145. Are you telling me the whetstone is worth that much, or do you think they're catering to a class of people that pay too much for things for the exclusivity?

First sucker: rwmertz
Speed to first woot: 2m 14.887s
Last wooter to woot: lasklinz

All right, I'm in for one.
And for everyone who can appreciate and afford excellent knives, here is the best store where you can get top notch quality: http://korin.com/site/home.html

901Memphis wrote:Hey read my previous post if you want the facts, but truth is i wouldn't buy them unless i was making at least $75,000 a year. These are for rich people, not your every day wooter.

Just speaking for myself, according to my personal salary increase/knife purchasing schedule, I will only buy these knives once I hit $106,750 per year. Or maybe I should switch Knife Coaches?

Seriously? More knives? Just create knife-woot and get it over with.

Asmithee wrote:

Perhaps one percent of the world can afford to buy it. And here you are getting indignant about being rich enough to afford it (or at least pretending your rich enough -- never know about these crazy right wingers that advocate concentration of weath).

Spending $ is distribution of wealth. Your statement makes no sense.

Spendy knives come up on woot pretty often. I just think it's pretty outrageous that anyone would pay that kind of money for 4 little steak knives and the fact that they're on woot (and so most likely being sold at a much reduced price) makes me wonder what they were being sold for originally? $200 could feed a Rwandan orphan for almost 17 months.

$200.00 for FOUR knives? Uh, that's $50.00 a unit... I'll continue with my El Cheapo knives, thank you.

Lol more like

[color=purple]Shun Ken Onion 4 Piece Steak Knife Set[/color]

boo no phpbb code...

On a serious note, I own several Ken Onion designed Kershaw knives, Some folders, some hunting knives, some chef knives. I have never regretted buying one of these knives. Sure I could spend my average of $150 or so a knife on something else, but consider this:

These knives will not be obsolete in 6-12 months like your precious ipod/hdflip/whatever. They will not break under normal use like a dollar store knife. They will not need to be replaced in a year or two like a pair of designer shoes.

I choose to spend my money on things that I enjoy, and that I can keep enjoying for the rest of my life. Tools that will serve me well for decades. When I die, my children will inherit a knife collection that has some considerable emotional and financial value.

I'm not trying to pass judgment on people for buying ipods, shoes, or cheap knives, just provide justification for why I do.

These are only supposed to come up during woot offs so that I may take a lunch break.

I would rather go with cutco knives

I'm going to buy these as replacements for the horrible ones I got during a different deal (a pack of 6 w/useless wood block).

Even sharpened those are junk.

I'm making a note of this. Don't buy crappy knives.

901Memphis wrote:For those of you whiners who say $50 a knife is a lot i guess its safe to assume you know nothing about cutler or knifes in general."

First of all, that's a little arrogant. Secondly, I CAN buy four steak knives at Walmart for $20 that will last me 10 years and will cut my steak the same as a $50 steak knife.

For $200, I could have someone cater me a private dinner and cut my steak for me.

Blah.

901Memphis wrote:i guess its safe to assume you know nothing about cutler or knifes

Knifes are...

Thanks for the laugh.

mjemjaymj wrote:Oh shut it. While his last paragraph was beyond spoonic (so much so that I doubt it was even written seriously), the rest of his post raises a good point. I'm liberal as they come, middle class, donate a substantial portion of my income and volunteer tons of my free time, and the only reason I didn't buy these is because I already own knives that cost just as much. It's not like these knives have diamond-encrusted handles or something equally useless. The quality of these knives gives added utility, and the manufacturers typically stand by their product for ages, some of them literally forever (which in practical terms means until the company goes under or you've sharpened the blade to nothingness.) And speaking of sharpening, quality manufacturers will generally sharpen them for free whenever you feel like sending them in. My grandchildren will probably end up inheriting my knives.

The point though is... who the hell are you to set the bar for what is elitist and what isn't. In fact, I'm not even sure how an inanimate object can even BE elitist. Elitism is an attitude, one which you've be so kind as to provide us with a pristine example, and in such a condescending manner. I am all about charity and social justice, but unless you live a life of complete and willful asceticism (the idea of which can be easily dismissed by your mere presence on Woot), you are a total hypocrite.

It would be pretty ridiculous to get indignant about being rich, as you said, but that's not what he did whatsoever. What he's indignant about is people playing backseat driver with other people's lives, and the fact that the standards people like you set for what is practical/affordable is oddly enough (not really) almost always determined by their OWN standard of living, which is ultimately at odds with the moral high ground that they claim to take.

A huge portion of the "middle class" in America (the only country Woot sells to, except for t-shirts) owns a big screen TV, among other luxuries, and that's just what these knives are - a luxury. To say that only 1% can afford it, and then go on to talk about Woot's socioeconomic demographic, is laughable. $200 isn't cheap, but anybody who owns an iPod, Xbox, Nike shoes, eats out at restaurants, or drives around in anything but a used, piece-of-The Strangers (2008)car with NO optional features, whatsoever - the list could go on forever, hopefully you get the idea - could OBVIOUSLY afford these knives. MOST people in this country can and DO spend a hell of a lot more than $200 every year (a great deal of them every MONTH, even) on luxuries, not just non-essential goods and services, but also ESSENTIAL goods and services that happen to be more than the bare minimum necessary. And there's no doubt in my mind you're included, unless you're a kid without a job who has your parents pay for everything, in which case your well-though-out (lol) rant would take on a whole new level of hypocrisy and hilarious surrealism.

It's not really a question of who can afford these knives, but who WANTS to afford them. And that's a question that people can only answer themselves, which is why people might get a bit indignant when you start trying to answer it for them. It's about opportunity cost. The $200 is relatively meaningless, most people make much more than that; it's about what one has to sacrifice in order to buy these knives. I'm not rich by any means, though I live pretty comfortably, and I, like most Americans, can most certainly afford to spend $200 on luxury goods every once in a while. The question is, do I personally think that $200 is better spent on quality steak knives, or an iPod, or something else? Because, not being rich, if I buy these knives, it will mean I can't buy that iPod or whatever happens to be the next best thing I think I can spend $200 on. So all people like you are doing by calling out others for making a supposedly greedy/extravagant purchase, is trying to force your OWN preferences on other people, since there's really no doubt you have, in the course of your life, spent many times this amount on non-essentials, and will doubtlessly continue to do so. I may feel that what YOU chose (and choose) to spend $200 on could be better spent elsewhere, but it would make me a jackass (an ELITIST jackass at that!) to dictate to you what you may and may not spend it on, since nobody can really determine that for anyone but themselves. And you've made it clear that's exactly what you are - an elitist jackass.

If somebody is making purchases like this every single day, you MIGHT have a leg to stand on (not really, but at least it could be more solidly argued.) Somebody buying these knives might be making their only non-essential purchase of the year... not likely, but the point is that you really don't know, and it's impossible to draw ANY conclusions about whether or not a person is rich or even middle-class from a single, $200 purchase (unless, of course, it's something like a $200 part for their private jet or something), but you feel safe in making that assumption because you have your own rough, internal hierarchy of what justifies a $200 expenditure and apparently have the ego required to assume that everybody else MUST value things identically, and so the only reason they would be spending $200 on knives is because they MUST have already purchased everything that ranks above it, according to your own hierarchy.

You really need to take a look at yourself bud, and maybe re-evaluate just exactly what constitutes "elitism", if you think people are actually "getting indignant about being rich enough to afford it" (ludicrous) and can't see why people would ACTUALLY get indignant about hypocritical egomaniacs dictating to them what they should spend their money on, and acting as if they're a bad person because they don't value the same material things that said egomaniacs do. And trying to inject politics into this was pathetic - I'm vehemently opposed to conservatism, especially this modern, tea-bagger's brand of conservatism, but there is plenty enough for liberals to take the moral high-ground on without having to resort to this petty (not to mention ill-informed and completely unfounded) attempt to do so.

So really, as you yourself put it, "just shut up." Because your post was totally disingenuous and egotistical, even though you're likely not even intelligent enough to have realized it - whether or not that's better than informed but malicious intent is debatable - and it was a far bigger show of elitism than buying these knives could ever be.

Gold star for this post!

ddanc1984 wrote:Gold star for this post!

Oh wait...a gold star might brand you an elitist jackass...better make that a copper star.

chimpsnest wrote:This was a great post, except it should have been about cutlery and KNIVES, KNIVES, KNIVES.

:-)

Thank you. It was bugging the $#!# out of me not to say anything! I kept reading to see if anyone else commented before I jumped in with grammar correction.

Anyone want to go halfs?

(yes, i know)

Thanks, but no thanks.

I'd rather cut my steak with my chain saw ... which cost less than these 4 knives.

$199.99??????? I think not.

It's funny.

There are so many people saying "nobody can afford to buy these knives!" and yet Wootazon sells them over and over again. Perhaps they know something you don't hmm?

Not that I'd ever buy these, but I can see the appeal for professional and self-taught chefs.

Myself? I bought a $40 set of magic chef knives and that's all I'll need, at least for about 5 years until they go bad.

BMW is a great car, but a Honda will get you to the same place. Does that mean I wouldn't want a BMW if I had the money? Prolly not. ;)

ddanc1984 wrote:Gold star for this post!

Disagree. No gold star. It's the same uninformed jibber jabber as the original. Both are speaking for a majority of people they know nothing about. When you make statements alluding to the fact that most people can or cannot afford anything without statistics to back it up, then you lose. No question, you lose. Period. Go do research or risk looking foolish, which you have succeeded in doing.
Woot, can you please post non-political steak knives next time? All this capitalist vs. communist whining is turning into a virtual Lord of the Flies scenario.

royvij wrote:Do these work on a MAC???

Oh, and where are the knives for lefties? If anyone hadn't noticed, it's $199.99 for right handed knives! These should be half price.

If you need a $50 knife to cut your steak you are buying the wrong meat.
I would rather spend my $199 and buy some Kobe Beef for a dining experience which I could cut it with a butter knife!

Williams-sonoma Reviews

I have used a Shun Ken Onion Santoku for two years and it is as razor sharp as the day I got it. If I ate steak I would jump on this deal.

Also, if anyone is expecting woot to have the deals it did before everyone and their brother knew about it, they are delusional.

901Memphis wrote:For those of you whiners who say $50 a knife is a lot i guess its safe to assume you know nothing about cutler or knifes in general.

That shoe fits you. A perusal of the web sites of the great knife makers shows, among other things, why 100% of them always use a full tang and why it is essential. These don't, and have only two rivets holding the handles on where the minimum acceptable is three.

Far better steak knives are available for less than $40. Knives have gotten like super expensive women's shoes, or $200 and up jeans, marketed to people who still believe the long-outdated adage "you get what you pay for."

In a world of target marketing where items are priced on the hype of their advertising image, price bears little correlation to quality.

Thoughts from an avid cook who ate steak last night:

1. These are more about art than function. A razor edge is more important for dicing herbs and onions than for steak. A $1 serrated MIU steak knife will do a serviceable job for steak (for onions, not so much). Yes these are better, but not 60x better given the demands of the task.

2. Even VG10 will lose an edge VERY quickly cutting on ceramic plates compared to a cutting board. Once these dull, they will cut worse than a cheap serrated, unless you send them off or know how to sharpen (and if you're going to buy $200 knives, please don't shred them with those auto-sharpeners).

3. Be wary of the "it'll last a lifetime" argument. Technology advances (most 25+ yr old knives, even top German ones, are not up to today's standards). And tastes change (you'll want purple knives in 2025). I rarely consider more than 5 years of use in valuing purchases. And it's hard to predict the things you'll still love 15 years later (sometimes it's cheap stuff).

4. I have blown excessive cash on 25+ cooking knives , from Shun (several on Woot), Wusthof, Global, MAC, and more obscure brands. But for steak I found a good no-name $12 paring knife and bought 8 of them for special occasions. I use my $1 MIUs most days. No regrets.

5. When I'm rich, I'll totally have these.

6. Cutco is Knife Amway. Stay away. Get the better/cheaper Victorinox or step up to one of the brands named in #4.

RichardCarver wrote:Well, I'm in for a set. They will join the other four Shuns I own now. I genuinely hope my purchase doesn't drive some poor, government cheese eating liberal completely 'round the bend.

Rest assured these knives were purchased with money left over from paying the taxes that keep you in cheese and whine. The next time you are sawing off a chunk of tofu with your grocery store Oneida think of me surgically removing the last sliver of medium rare Porterhouse from the bone with my beautiful Shun Ken Onion steak knife, a joy you, rightfully so, will never know.

What a deep joy you have. Hope you have this kind of joy everyday with your material possessions.

angelbabi523 wrote:If anyone ever wondered....Mr. Onion

The real Mr. Onion

Also...
This

badxmaru wrote:you gotta be kidding.

whoever buys these better give the same amount to a homeless shelter - it's just egregious to spend this much on these. At a certain point the whole idea of quality and price come into play - this is waaay past that point. Any additional amount you spend past $15 per knife (cutting cooked and prepared food btw) might as well be spent on a very nice dining table or china. I would give my friends heck for buying these - i mean seriously, you really have to have just absolutely nothing to do with your liquid assets if you're going to waste it on these.

Quite simply,it's not for for you or anyone else to judge how others spend their money.If you attempted to give me"heck"for any purchase I made you'd be an ex-friend pretty fast.Of course with that sort of holier than thou attitude we'd never be friends in the first place.

901Memphis wrote:It sounds like you don't mind dealing with inferior products if you can save some money.

Also theres the fact that beside the money your knife will actually feel good in your hand and slice your steaks without extra effort, which is usually how knife injuries occur; using a dull knife.

Lets not even start with the times i and others i know have broken knifes that did not have full tangs by actually snapping the blade from the Chinese plastic handle. That in itself is a huge hazard.

What kind of steak are you cutting that's so difficult to cut that you would have to worry about slipping and cutting yourself? Sounds to me like you'd be better off taking the $200 and buying some better quality meat.

I can understand spending a decent amount of money to buy a good quality set of cooking knives like chef's knives and the like, but steak knives? Steak, unless you're buying absolute garbage meat, should be easy to cut and shouldn't be overly demanding of a knife. I see no need to spend lots of money on something to cut what should be extremely easy to cut. What's next, a $50 butter knife?

I'm thinkin if you have to spend $50 on a knife to cut your steak, then you should probably upgrade your steak. Or upgrade your teeth too.

mdnorman wrote:Not everyone can appreciate knives of this quality.

Many people cannot understand why anyone would pay thousands of dollars for a mechanical watch.

There are those who would say the best hamburgers are made by "In & Out."

Some people roast and grind their own coffee beans, while others drink Folgers.

So, please just shut up if you don't want these knives.

Amen brother!

I presume all of you would would criticize someone else's purchase of these are posting on woot from the library, or your $200 netbook? Certainly you wouldn't pop for anything more, when those will work just as well....

[quote postid="4068195" user="ardbeg"]Thoughts from an avid cook who ate steak last night:

I totally agree on the serated steak knife. I have a set with bone handles that were my grandmothers that are over 60 years old and still do the trick. Hit them with the round bar once a month or so, and the still perform like new.

I'd LOVE to buy this knife set, but my wife doesn't let me play with sharp objects.