MASAMOTO VG Japanese Chef Knife 7.1" (180mm) Gyuto Professional Chef's Knife, Ultra Sharp Japanese Stainless Steel Blade, Duracon Handle, Made in JAPAN

Amazing quality. I've used this countless times in the last few weeks and it's still so sharp. Lightweight but strong. The handle is sturdy and feels like a complete unit. Balanced at the hilt, it's by far the best knife in our house. I have yet to sharpen it, which is nice, but will definitely be a great determination of it's quality.

Beautiful and ergonomic handle holding some of the best steel to come out of Japan under 200$.This blade has been and incredible addition to my collection. For the price I can’t possibly imagine a better option.

The overall profile of my Masamoto gyuto knives are better than my other Japanese gyuto. I have large hands. The heel is tall enough for my knuckles to never contact the cutting board, but the belly isn't too deep to cause unnecessary drag when cutting through large vegetables/animal protein. I like the 70/30 grind, the balance, the weight, pretty much everything. I'm glad I gave Masamoto knives a try. Now I know.

I cook a lot at home and saw a recommendation of this knife in a cooking magazine. It is amazing. The sharp edge bites into most vegetables with just the weight of the blade. It has a convenient balance, and good handle. It does require sharpening about every 2 weeks with a sharpening stone, but that takes less than 5 minutes.

The bevel angle at the tip on the first picture must be less than ten degrees. The bevel angle at the tip on the other side is probably 40 degrees, like it is on the rest of the edge on both sides. This is an unrecoverable error. By the time you correct it the knife would be mangled. This knife was ruined by a lousy sharpening job at the factory. Back it goes.

Feels great in your hand when cutting. Well balanced. Lighter than many other high end knives.

I love this knife, fits well into your hand and cuts good. One thing you might want to beware of before purchasing is that it has a compound bevel on the cutting edge. On one side it is sharpened at a 9 degree vertical angle and on the other it is sharpened at 21 degrees. If you sharpen it with standard knife sharpeners which usually sharpen at either 15 or 20 degrees on each side you will be altering the blade's cutting angles. This will still work, but eventually you will lose the compound bevel. The other alternative is to sharpen it by hand on a stone to the correct angles. Also, it could be my imagination, but because of the bevel it seems to cut in a circular motion when using just the tip of the knife. Otherwise, it seems very well make and holds its edge good.

We love this knife so much. We've been using a rocking German Henckel knives for more than a decade now and just started using this Japanese-style kitchen knife. It's much slimmer, longer and flatter than the German style, and it's such a joy to use! Instead of rocking to cut the vegetables, you "push" it forward and it slices right through them like butter. Since it's slimmer, it makes it easier to make narrower slices. Cutting vegetables is a total joy now. Love this knife.