#11,016 in Kitchen & dining accessories
Reddit mentions of Cangshan D Series 59120 German Steel Forged Chef's Knife, 8-Inch
Sentiment score: 1
Reddit mentions: 1
We found 1 Reddit mentions of Cangshan D Series 59120 German Steel Forged Chef's Knife, 8-Inch. Here are the top ones.
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Redesigned classic handle that focuses on easy and comfortable gripWell balanced 5-inch handle and 8-inch bladeX50Cr15MoV German Steel with HRC 58 +/- 2 on the Rockwell Hardness ScaleFull tang knife with keen Asian style cutting edgeNational Sanitation Foundation(NSF) Approved
Specs:
| Color | Black |
| Height | 2 Inches |
| Length | 14 Inches |
| Size | 8-Inch German Steel Chef Knife |
| Weight | 1 Pounds |
| Width | 1 Inches |
The answer to that will depend on your experience and ability to care for your knives.
TL;DR: In the category of budget knives. For longer lasting edges, Tojiro DP Santoku or Gyuto for $43 and 52, respectively. For easier maintenance, Cangshan D or Henckels Forged Synergy for $30 and $35, respectively.
As a caveat, budget knives of all sorts are not going to have the fit and finish of higher priced knives. For Knives that are easy to obtain lump you into two categories that have pros and cons, German hardness and Japanese hardness. Which is mainly a trade off between sharpness/edge holding vs durability/ease of maintenance. Although you can sharpen really soft metals to be stupid sharp and a really acute angle, it will not last long at all. But when the edge gets rolled over from a cutting session, it can be easily honed back into place. Harder knives can still be honed back into place, but techniques and tools are slightly different--I would never touch my harder knives with a grooved steel.
German hardness is usually around 56-58 hrc. Hard enough to hold an edge for a bit, but soft enough to not chip and easily steel/hone back into place.
The Victorinox Fibrox at about 55 hrc used to be suggested all the time when it was $20 and even when it was about $35. But now that it is $45, that's just too much for what is a very cheap knife.
A couple knives still in this range, which are better quality than the fibrox anyway are:
The Cangshan D Series 59120 German Steel Forged Chef's Knife at 56-60 hrc for $30
http://www.amazon.com/Cangshan-59120-German-Forged-8-Inch/dp/B013KZDVRA
and The Henckels International Forged Synergy 8-inch Chef's Knife at about 57-58 hrc for $35
http://www.amazon.com/HENCKELS-INTERNATIONAL-Forged-Synergy-8-inch/dp/B000FMVS4A
Henckels International (not regular Henckels) used to be really bad because they made their knives to 53-55 hrc, which is way too soft to hold an edge to get through a cooking session without nearly constant honing. I've heard their international classics are still being made w/ the crappy steel.
Japanese hardness is usually at least 59 hrc, with a good chunk in the 60-62 range. This means potentially better, longer lasting cutting performance between honing/sharpening. The tradeoff is that it becomes more difficult to get to this stage without specialty tools or sending it to a professional sharpener. At this point I personally don't even consider knives under 59 hrc, unless it's something that really takes a beating.
For the cheapest price point, while still having quality. I would really only recommend the Tojiro DP at 60-61 hrc. It used to be about double the prices, but the grinds also used to be more even. Either way, it's still a great buy.
The chef/gyuto is $52
http://www.amazon.com/Tojiro-DP-Gyutou-8-2-21cm/dp/B000UAPQGS/
And the Santoku is $43
http://www.amazon.com/Tojiro-DP-Santoku-6-7-17cm/dp/B000UAPQEA/
So the main difference here is whatever knife shape you prefer. I've gotten some cheaper harder steel knives, but I've had to do way too much touching up to be recommended.