# Cutco knives?



## pitufina73 (Mar 26, 2012)

hello alll!!!

i have a cousin hooked up with Vector marketing, and she is selling Cutco knives, what do you think of them, are they a good investment???   any of you use them?  thanks in advance...

Maria


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## petemccracken (Sep 18, 2008)

Pitufina73 said:


> hello alll!!!
> 
> i have a cousin hooked up with Vector marketing, and she is selling Cutco knives, what do you think of them, are they a good investment??? any of you use them? thanks in advance...
> 
> Maria


IMHO, they are overpriced by far and are definitely NOT a good investment. For the same money, there are a multitude of superior knife products available.

BTW, my daughter sold them while at college and we did a home comparison test. My MACs were better.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Not impressed with them, and like Pete, feel that they are waaaay overpriced.

Don't think much of hollow grinds on knives, and the hair stands on the back of my neck when a salesperson "guarantees" sharpness and/or free factory sharpening.


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## pitufina73 (Mar 26, 2012)

thank you, good response, i had to look it up for MAC knives i had no idea they existed, they look wonderful!


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## duckfat (Aug 7, 2008)

Get your Googlefu on with Vector marketing and I think you will find that a lot of young people have been burned pretty hard by them.

Setting that aside they are grossly over priced for what they are.

Dave


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## pitufina73 (Mar 26, 2012)

In fact i did check the site, when my cousin mentioned me the company name, first i thought it was a vector art company, i feel bad for those kids getting trapped in that kind of monopoly,  well, my cousin is coming tomorrow to give me a demonstration... i just wish her luck...


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## ashlynd cox (Oct 4, 2013)

My grandmother has Cutco, she has had it for over 60 years now and its still sharp. She has people come to her house for free and sharpen them. Its kinda sick really. Ive actually looked up the company and its based in Western New York. Its on Modern Marvels, like that Tv show


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

With the reasons Iisted above, I can not take the knives seriously, and I will not recommend them to anyone to use.  One caveat, the bread knives can be flexed, so they are ideal to scrape grass clumps out of the lawn mower.

Sharpening a knife is a skill that ranks up there with boning out a chicken or making cream puff paste--it needs to be learned.  There is no reason to be afraid to sharpen a knife and no need to rely on someone to do it for you.  Guarantees of "never needs sharpening" make me as suspicious as a Car company advertising that their cars never need any servicing or oil changes.

They (cutco knives) are also waaaay overpriced for the quality you are getting.


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## pahi53 (Jul 13, 2013)

Ashlynd Cox said:


> My grandmother has Cutco, she has had it for over 60 years now and its still sharp. She has people come to her house for free and sharpen them. Its kinda sick really. Ive actually looked up the company and its based in Western New York.


Your humble opinion: I assume your GM is pleased with the knives. When people go to her house to sharpen the knives you say "It's kinda sick really" what do you mean by that?


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## pthor (Oct 4, 2013)

I guess I'm the exception to the rule...

  I love the Cutco knives that I own (But I don't love all Cutco knives).

 I have a Medium Vegetable knife and a Clever, a serrated knife that is okay. I purchased them in June this year (2013). A young man had a stand near the beach at a local car show so, I was able to see them all.

 My favorite~ The Cleaver ! Wow, this thing is very thick and heavy. With it's razor sharp edge I can place it on a chicken and slice through it bone & all like butter, with very little pressure. Then I can clean the chicken with the same cleaver as if it were made for it ! It has very good balance considering it's weight and fits well in my large hands as well as my wife's smaller hands~ (But she can't use it)!

   The vegetable knife is also very sturdy, it slices through all sorts of vegetables with the greatest of ease & is wide enough to scoop the chopped vegies to transfer. It has the same handle and is also razor sharp still after several uses~ It still shaves the hair from my arm as does the Cleaver.

    The serrated knife is also very sturdy and sharp but has seen limited use. I found it to be very effective when cutting large cooked brisket.

  Some of the Cutco knives we were shown on the day I bought the three above were very sub-par. I still find it puzzling that they were made by the same company as mine. It's almost as if they were made in China in a cost-cutting measure?

 My opinion~ Check them out but, be very cautious what you get & only buy what you'll need. Don't fall for the "If you buy these, I'll throw in this for free" sales-pitch.


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## minas6907 (Aug 14, 2012)

Agreed with many of the other post above. Cutco knives are way over priced. There are plenty of crappy knives on the market, but alot of my tiff with cutco comes from the presentation they give you. A few of my friends have had worked for cutco, so I've been through it a few times. They first assume your a complete moron, then assume that you have a random hodge podge of rusty knives scattered in your drawer. The people selling the knives dont seem to know very much about knives, but are taught very well why cutco is the best, and everything else sucks. My favorite part of a particular demo was when they showed me this knife:

http://www.cutco.com/products/product.jsp?itemGroup=3738

Even though the knife has sharpened teeth, they assured me that it definitely was not serrated. Cutco definitely does sharpen the knives for free, but as far as I understand, you ship them to the company and then plan on eating out for the next month. I think thats a special situation with the person coming to the house to sharpen the knife, perhaps because it was purchased so long ago, could be a guarantee they are still upholding, but that is not the norm.

A friend of mine was interested in purchasing the cleaver from cutco (no offense to the above post, just ranting on the gimmicky marketing), he excitedly told me that in each cleaver they use a full pound of steel (oh wow), because as we all know when it comes to knives, the more metal they use, the better.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

Ok for housewives. Overpriced sales person gets almost 50% commission


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## pthor (Oct 4, 2013)

Without that pound of steel- you have another knife and without that razor sharp edge you've got a hatchet. 

 That "pound of steel" is mandatory when cleaving.  Try one, you might like it...


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## minas6907 (Aug 14, 2012)

pthor said:


> Without that pound of steel- you have another knife and without that razor sharp edge you've got a hatchet.
> 
> That "pound of steel" is mandatory when cleaving. Try one, you might like it...


I certainly have tried it and I love it! My cleaver weighs 17 oz, its a messermeister meridian elite.What I was saying is that putting a pound of steel into every cleaver seemed like the biggest selling point, I would expect that from any cleaver I'd consider purchasing. Also it should be noted (and I apologize for not doing it earlier) my friend was not going to be cleaving anything, he was interested in it to dice his carne asada, which could easily be done with a chefs knife.


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## pahi53 (Jul 13, 2013)

Pitufina73 said:


> In fact i did check the site, when my cousin mentioned me the company name, first i thought it was a vector art company, i feel bad for those kids getting trapped in that kind of monopoly, well, my cousin is coming tomorrow to give me a demonstration... i just wish her luck...


Ask your cousin if her commission is; Excellent- Very Good -Good-Fair-or crappy, and come back with your review of the "Sales Pitch" and the quality of the knives. Of course try them out first.


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## pahi53 (Jul 13, 2013)

chefedb said:


> Ok for housewives. Overpriced sales person gets almost 50% commission


So-would it also be okay for house-husbands?


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

A long time ago I sold _Cutco_ knives. I made great money. I didn't own any then and I've never bought any since. I don't have the car I bought with the money I made either, so I guess it's an even deal. None of the people I ever sold to ever came after me, and some of the women are even friends of mine still. As far as I know, their warrantees hold true. For whatever it's worth, a lot of people are happy with _Cutco_.

_(I've got a lot of posts. I'm not a Cutco shill.)_


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Fear not, Iceman, you do have a lot of posts, and you openly admit that you sold knives.  That, I can respect.

O.T.O.H. 'ol Ashlynd Cox dragged up the thread from 3 months ago, and dragged up another thread--"Chicago Cutlery" (no surprises there)  which gives a grand total of two posts and has not responded to any of the new replies. A shill.

I usually do two or three trade shows a year and Cutco is usually there with their stuff, so I have had ample opportunity to see the items in person and try them out.  The kitchen knives--or "Chef"'s knives if you will, all feature a hollow grind and a remarkably thick blade, as well as a totally wierd and awkward handle.  The hollow grind is about 1/2'' wide, runs the length of the blade, and is very roughly ground.  When julienning a carrot for instance, the carrot slice was wedged and then almost split because width  from edge to the thinnest part of the hollow and then on to the regular thickness of the blade was so dramatic and very short--less than 1/2".  Think of splitting wood with an axe.  A good knife will taper the thickness of the blade to the edge gradually so cutting is smooth.  Tapering the thickness of the blade as opposed to a hollow grind is more labour intensive and expensive.....

Virtually all of the "serious" cooking knives do not have a hollow grind.  Hollow grinds are popular on woodworking tools like chisels and plane irons and the function of the hollow is speed of honing, as these tools are honed on stones multiple times a day.  The hollow helps with registering the blade on the sharpening stone, keeping the bevel intact, as well as greatly speeding the honing process as very little metal is removed due to the "hollow".  

Virtually all of the "serious" cooking knives have a steel or some kind of sharpening equipment in their line up or catalouge.  Cutco does not. 

I am waiting for Ms. Cox's response...........................................


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/46120/chicago-cutlery

have you gone to Ashlynd Cox's FB page yet? Curious, I had no idea, but maybe I'm just nieve?

Although I am not a knife enthuisist such as everyone else here, I am not a fan of this brand.

My knife drawer has a different make in it...


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## dillbert (Jul 2, 2008)

>>>... and is very roughly ground. 

curious.  I used to have the opinion that the only thing drastically "wrong" with Cutco knives was the price - accepting that, although they are not considered by most non-Cutco representatives to be "fine knives," they're useable.  as is a Ginsu.

end of Sept went to an outdoor show - tripped over a big booth with heaps and piles and boxes galore of Cutco products - "tent" said Cutco, apparently a "show dealer." 

if they had one knife on the table they had 3-4 thousand knives on half-a-dozen tables.

curious that some knife makers put at least a paper sheath on the knife - these were all dumped in a box / bin like so much aaaah,,, trash.

the one thing I immediately noticed was the "roughly ground" issue you mention.  not to be believed. 

I was dumbfounded at the crude the edge finish and the ultra-incredibly-cheep feel of the handles/plastic.

quite apparently the whole product line has been farmed out to the cheapest Chinese factory available.


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## ashlynd cox (Oct 4, 2013)

How much do you think it takes to make almost everything else you buy? here is how this works anything you pay for is mostly profit. Astronomical prescription drug prices - with markups ranging from 200 to 3,000 percent. bottled water's markup reaches 4,000 percent, which is higher than gasoline. Markups for eyeglass frames can reach 1,000 percent. Soda when you're dining out, and you could pay 300 to 600 percent over cost. Outgoing text messages on a cell phone can cost the provider three-tenths of a cent, but users up to 20 cents, which translates to a 6,000 percent markup. I could keep going. Its funny because I bet you've bought all of these things because they are higher quality. Its the same concept. You assume because a person is making profit that it worse. Go to a store and buy something, YOU pay for the utilities, employees, everything in that profit. At least you know you're supporting 100% american. How do i know? Ive been there....were around 1,000 families support themselves. In a factory right here in Olean NY. So tell me? Want to pay for a american family's meal, or Chinese jobs? I'm 19 and understand this concept. American have this notion that a "sales" person is so bad. There are bad ones, yes. I worked for CUTCO, guess what i did before that? I was a medic in the army. My goals in life are to help people, and create a foundation that gives back. I apologize that ignorance enrages me and is the reason that america is economically failing. Have a nice day.


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## ashlynd cox (Oct 4, 2013)

foodpump said:


> Fear not, Iceman, you do have a lot of posts, and you openly admit that you sold knives. That, I can respect.
> 
> O.T.O.H. 'ol Ashlynd Cox dragged up the thread from 3 months ago, and dragged up another thread--"Chicago Cutlery" (no surprises there) which gives a grand total of two posts and has not responded to any of the new replies. A shill.
> 
> ...


Want a response? "Expert"... You sharpen your knives every day, or a lot? Know how to properly?? been to school for it so you dont ruin the knife? You probably have spent over 3k on cutlery through-out your life? There are chef's that love our product, there are ones that don't. You may say its awkward, you aren't the average person. So congrats- expert. Mrs. Jones from around the corner isnt. She needs help sharpening her knives. AND is going to pay less that you considering she is buying 1 p. chef (that fits well for her) at around $100 and will never have to worry about it again. EVER. She can pass it down as an air loom and So you can go be an expert. I'll help mrs. jones save money and enjoy cooking. If you were attentive you'd see we do have sharpening equipment too. Its designed with a soft stone, It's angled to properly place the knife between two round stones and remove the lease amount of medal possible without harming the blade. It very similar to "expert chef products" guess what.. it cost less than a lot of them too, how do i know? I do my research. So do better research before you get on your high horse. I have a lot to learn. So do you. As smart as you think you are. You're ignorant. I am too, but i'm not a jerk about it.I also state things I know for fact.


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## ashlynd cox (Oct 4, 2013)

Dillbert said:


> >>>... and is very roughly ground.
> 
> curious. I used to have the opinion that the only thing drastically "wrong" with Cutco knives was the price - accepting that, although they are not considered by most non-Cutco representatives to be "fine knives," they're useable. as is a Ginsu.
> 
> ...


Never once has that happened, probably someone breaking the law. that's our product. And really? 3-4 thousand? That sounds like a serious exaggeration? maybe hundreds, yes. TO SHOW. thats why its called an outdoor "show". We also offer product on hand, to sell their for your convenience, you're welcome. If you want to say it bad quality, i know you probably work for a competitor, or you saw the wrong product. NO ONE has ever told me what you said. Unless you're knives are made of gold and fairy dust, our knives are High Carbon surgical stainless steel. I had and Engineer explain to me what that was better than any other medal. So 1. you're lying 2. You're knives are made of fairy dust and gold 3. it was a replica product breaking the law. you're pick sweet cheeks.


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## ashlynd cox (Oct 4, 2013)

Anyone else?? Btw I dont even work for cutco anymore. So I can use an unbiased opinion, because I made lots of money selling cutco. As does any product you buy. Companies re designed to make money. Holy S, imagine that...  I worked 90+ hours a week, busted my ass. Got a better job with my experience. At 19 years old I will have a job making 52k a year and will be able to pay for college debt free and give 10% to my church. So someone else please tell me why giving to college kids is worse than giving to the overseas economies. I'd love to hear.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

_*WOW*._

_Ashlynd ..._ Let's talk about *"Sales 101"*. You've presented your point. Your audience is not anywhere near your target market group. You're never in any amount of time going to change the opinions of those you are trying to sell _(read: arguing with)_. Say: _"Thank You for your time today. I'm glad we had this opportunity to share our thoughts."_. Move on.

Another of my money-making endeavors is selling premium / super-premium dog foods. They ain'te cheap. No matter how hard I work to sell these foods, I'm gonna face those that are just so very happy with their $8/50lbs. bags of whatever they are getting at the feed store. I can try and explain all over the top why they are feeding junk food. However, I know that I will be going nowhere. I do not waste my time or effort getting myself all hot and bothered. It ain'te gonna happen. I give them some free sample dog cookies and tell them to love their dogs. _NO harm ... NO foul._ My head doesn't explode.


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## foodpump (Oct 10, 2005)

Thank you for your deleted response.

Please do your research, there are a lot of cooking knives that are made better and perform better than the brand you represent, and all can be passed down as "heirlooms".  All of these knives are available at stores for considerably less than what your company charges.

Chef talk is a community of cooking enthusiasts. Most of us have offered advice on countless subjects, and while many of us own businesses, we do not endorse our businesses on this site.  I look forward to reading your future posts.


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## kaneohegirlinaz (Apr 24, 2011)

Ashlynd Cox said:


> Anyone else?? Btw I dont even work for cutco anymore. So I can use an _unbiased opinion_, because I made lots of money selling cutco. ...


@Ashlynd Cox, on your Face Book page you say you work for Vector Marketing Group, umm, isn't Cutco part of the same group? If you made a lot of money selling Cutco knives to Mrs. Jones, than how on this Earth could you give an unbiased opinion on the product? 

Here at Chef Talk, we're not here to sell or promote products in any way.


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## ashlynd cox (Oct 4, 2013)

kaneohegirlinaz said:


> @Ashlynd Cox, on your Face Book page you say you work for Vector Marketing Group, umm, isn't Cutco part of the same group? If you made a lot of money selling Cutco knives to Mrs. Jones, than how on this Earth could you give an unbiased opinion on the product?
> 
> Here at Chef Talk, we're not here to sell or promote products in any


Are you reading? go back read the sentence after that. I dont sell them any more. I like the product, I own it. I said I dont sell anymore. I'm not promoting anything.


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## ashlynd cox (Oct 4, 2013)

IceMan said:


> _*WOW*._
> 
> _Ashlynd ..._ Let's talk about *"Sales 101"*. You've presented your point. Your audience is not anywhere near your target market group. You're never in any amount of time going to change the opinions of those you are trying to sell _(read: arguing with)_. Say: _"Thank You for your time today. I'm glad we had this opportunity to share our thoughts."_. Move on.
> 
> Another of my money-making endeavors is selling premium / super-premium dog foods. They ain'te cheap. No matter how hard I work to sell these foods, I'm gonna face those that are just so very happy with their $8/50lbs. bags of whatever they are getting at the feed store. I can try and explain all over the top why they are feeding junk food. However, I know that I will be going nowhere. I do not waste my time or effort getting myself all hot and bothered. It ain'te gonna happen. I give them some free sample dog cookies and tell them to love their dogs. _NO harm ... NO foul._ My head doesn't explode


Well i was google searching cutco for research, clicked on this sight awhile. Some lady asked about cutco so i told her the truth. You cant just comment, So i took 2 seconds out of my time to do so. Youre right, not my target market. People still believe what "experts" say. Then get on my computer last night and was looking something up and this came up. People saying things. I'm not trying to sell anything. LIKE I SAID BEFORE (wouldnt of said that if i was trying to sell) I do not, repeat, do not sell cutco anymore. And selling dog food is no where similar to cutco? Please tell me you have more experience than that. I know nothing about sales, but dog food? This isnt sales 101. I have a much better sales job now. I make around 1k a week- I love my job (as a 19 yr old). Luckily for me, I understand you have to be aggressive in sales. Thanks though. Some days I'm a jerk. If you knew what I have heard from people, you'd understand. I'm not trying to be rude. But if i was nice about it, I would of got walked all over. I'm not here to play nice. I'm here to tell you what i believe and if you can honestly present a point that makes sense, I will listen. I really do appreciate you commenting but really, not selling cutco.


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## nicko (Oct 5, 2001)

Hey guys this discussion seems to be going down the drain so I am going to lock it down.


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