KA-BAR is dipping its toe into culinary tool genre – well, two toes technically, as it has just dropped a pair of all-purpose kitchen knives, both with an aesthetic inspired by the company’s most famous fixed blade model.
Both of these full-tang knives are made in Solingen, Germany, one of the capitals of kitchen cutlery. First up there’s the Santoku, with a 7-inch blade sporting a bit more belly than the average take on the pattern. The Santoku is the Japanese equivalent to the Chef Knife, a versatile blade that can do just about anything that needs doing in the kitchen. The 1.4116 blade steel, a common element on Germany-made kitchen knives, is highly stainless and, while it doesn’t hold an edge on the level of super steels, can be sharpened with ease.
Speaking of the Western Chef Knife, that’s the other pattern on offer here. As with the Santoku, KA-BAR’s design team put their own spin on the classic profile, with more pronounced belly and a dip in the middle of the spine, but it’s still instantly recognizable as a chef knife. The Chef Knife is bigger than the Santoku, with a 9-inch blade, but made to the same full tang spec, and also rendered in 1.4116 steel.
The most notably “KA-BAR” aspect here, however, is found on the handle, not the blade. Both the Santoku and the Chef Knife have handles modeled after the KA-BAR USMC knife, sporting the same striated, barrel-shaped profile, albeit here the material used to make these handles is black Micarta rather than the stacked leather of the fighting knife – a sensible switch given that these knives are intended to be around food rather than out in the field. Both the Santoku and the Chef Knife come with a magnetic tray for retention while not in use.
The KA-BAR Santoku and Chef Knife are available now.
Knife in Featured Image: KA-BAR Chef Knife
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