Japanese Gyuto Damacus Chef Knife D2

Japanese Damasus Gyuto Chef's Knife Model D2   Size: 10.5" x 2.5 mm with Micarta Handle
The D2 model is from Zhen Premium Knife company's Damasus Series.

This knife has an excellent edge and nice balance. It has 33 layers of Damascus steel (16 per side plus the center) which produces very clean, almost effortless cuts.  The Micarta handle is beautiful, very tough, and is comfortable in the hand. Overall the Japanese Damascus Gyuto Chef Knife D2 is an excellent, well above average chef knife.  I would put this blade slightly below the 10” Shun Ken Onion chef knife, and clearly above the Henckels 4 star. The Zhen Premium Knives are very competitively priced compared to other knives of similar quality.

Damascus steel knives are made by welding multiple layers of steel together creates a high quality knife blade with a very unique “dragon” pattern. These layers wear at a slightly different rate, causing a very fine micro-serration which makes cutting easier and helps the blade stay sharp longer. The Zhen Premium Damascus knife series are made with a durable ebony Micarta handle and Damascus VG-10 steel (HRC60-62) imported from Japan. This VG-10 (HRC60~62) “super steel” contains carbon, chromium, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, silicon, and vanadium.  The blade combines the best attributes of high carbon steel and stainless steel to make a tougher knife which is more rust-resistant, takes a killer edge and holds the edge longer.

Note: In the video below I miss-named this knife a 9.5” model D1, it is actually the 10.5" D2.

Japanese Gyuto 10.5" Chef Knife model D2
P	3	Carrot-Lengthwise Test	sliced but could not pull through the carrot
O	6	Carrot-Crosswise Test	very smooth, almost as smooth as the shun
0	7	Shallot Test	very smooth, no resistance, clean dice w/o smashing the shallot
E	6	Potato Test	smooth, no resistance, but not quite as easy as the Shun
E	7	Green Onion Test	smooth cuts all the way thru all strands w/ no bruising
O	7	Red Bell Pepper Test	smooth, cut all the way thru the skin
O	6	Salmon Test	cuts cleanly with minimal sticking to the blade
O	7	Paper Test	cut all the way thru 8 1/2" x 11" paper the long way
E		Comfort	comfortable in the hand with a good roll during slicing
E		Balance	nice heft and balance
	6.1	Total	the first carrot test (see video) really hurt this knife's scores because all the other scores were either Excellent or Outstanding
Comfort is so subjective that I chose not to give it a detailed rating which would effect the overall score, and I chose not to rate Balance either.

 

Ranking Code

Overall Ranks O - Outstanding (7) E - Excellent (5-6) A - Average/Normal (3-4) P - Poor (0-2)

Detailed Ranks 7 - Outstanding, rarely attained. No effort is needed, hot knife thru butter realized. Makes you smile. 6 - Excellent, far above average. Almost no effort is needed. 5 - Above average. Some resistance is felt but cuts cleanly. 4 - Average professional knife. Takes a little work, may not cut cleanly all the time. 3 - Lower end professional knife. Have to focus on making the cut correctly, bruises, tears. 2 - Typical cheap knife. Almost worthless except for the most basic cutting. 1 - Sub-standard knife. Why bother. 0 - Garbage. Toss it.

 

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