# Calphalon LX knives



## yogidog98 (Jul 27, 2010)

I'm a knife newbie who wants to start collecting a quality set of kitchen knives.  Like a fool, I impulse bought a Calphalon LX 3.5" parer and 7" utility knife last weekend without doing any research first or knowing anything about what to look for.  Now I'd like to know what I bought.

Does anyone have any experience with these knives or know what kind of steel they are made of?  Are they decent knives, or did I just buy junk?

The tip of the 7" utility knife already got bent just from carrying it home in my suitcase.  I thought they were packed fairly well, wrapped about 2.5" thick in butcher paper, but perhaps I underestimated the capabilities of airline baggage handlers.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Calphalon LX are made with X50CrMo15V same as top of the line Wusthof.  It's not without its virtues, but all in all it's a mediocre knife alloy.

Knife tips are easily bent or broken.  Tips can't really be straigthened without severe weakening.  If you can't return the knife to the retailer, some other retailer, or the factory, you should just go ahead and profile a new tip.  Otherwise, it will break off into something your cutting and you'll end up serving it.

Decent?  Depends what you mean by the term.  Considering their levels of materials and fit and finish, they represent a lot of value -- which is typical of Calphalon in general.  Whether or not you'll like them is an altogether different story.     

BDL


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## cheesenbacon (Jul 19, 2010)

I've used Calphalon in the past.  Always belonged to other people though.  Only in home kitchens.

Overall review, meh...  too much chrome and shiny crap. 

I have a Calphalon peeler in my knife roll.  Use it all the time, but I hate it.  I call it the C.O.P - chromed out peeler.

Value Village.  $1.00   haha

Spend the money if you want a good knife.  I'm sure all these guys will say the same thing.


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## boar_d_laze (Feb 13, 2008)

Cheese,

I don't get your review. If you only tried them in other people's homes, you've most probably used them dull. How can you evaluate a dull knife?

You also didn't say which models you tried, whether _Contemporarly Cuisine,_ _LX _or _Katana_; or whether some or all. It certainly can't have been Katanas because they aren't chromed at all.

Regarding the chrome, I think the _Contemporary Cuisine_ knives have chrome butt caps, but otherwise don't recall Calphalon knives as particularly shiny.

You're entitled to your opinion of the knife of course, and I hope you're basing it on something besides what you wrote. Considering edge characteristics, F&F, blade profile and general ergonomics, in my opinion the LX is pretty darn close to Wusthof Ikon. You either find them comfortable or not.

I'll leave the aesthetics to other people.

It's true an LX isn't a good knife in the sense that a MAC Pro or a Masamoto is, but I don't get the sense that's where the OP is heading. It's a high value German type in the same league as Forschner Forged, perhaps a step better than Mundial and Henckels International. Perhaps not made quite as well as an F. Dick 1904 or a Zwillings -- but not a bad knife compared to Lamson and the Euros.

Perhaps I should add the usual blather about sharpness and sharpening. No knife is better than its edge. The Calphalons come reasonably sharp but will dull as fast any knife of similar alloy and similar design. When resharpened they can be made reasonably sharp, but their edge taking capability isn't anywhere close to a high-end Japanese made knife.

In other words, LX edge taking and holding fits squarely in the spectra of other German and American knives made with X50CrMoV15 with midling hardening, like Lamson, F. Dick, Wusthof, etc.

If you steel the knives frequently and properly, and sharpen them frequently and properly they should give good service for a long time. If you don't, when they get dull they'll be no better or worse than any dull knife.

Sorry to chime in again,

BDL


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## yogidog98 (Jul 27, 2010)

I was able to exchange my bent knife for a local shop's display model.  They claimed that it was unused, and it looked and felt new.  I just hope some goo-gone will take care of the sticker residue on the blade.


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