# Looking for info on Werkmeister brand



## Stumped (Feb 25, 2018)

Hello.

Im looking at this range of knives at local restaurant supplies store and was wondering if anybody has any experience with them?

Its a german made brand called Werkmeister that claims to be hot drop forged. The handle on them looks rather basic but the blade itself looks like it should be good, although a google search finds zero info on this brand. I can't even find a website for them. 

Im a bit suspicious of them because they are currently considerably cheaper than other brands on display and the name seems very similar to the reputable Messermeister.

Are they a good legit brand?


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## aliphares (Jan 7, 2018)

I've never heard of it, they seem to be knock offs off the Henckles Four Star. They could be drop forged, but so what? That doesn't actually mean much anymore. There's cheap forged knives and expensive stamped ones. For that price range (I saw that a 10 inch chef is about 80 bucks) I'd suggest tojiro dp or fujiawara fkm or stainless sabatiers (for stainless) or the fujiwara fkh or carbon steel sabatiers (for the sabs k-sabs and thiers issad are as good as it gets)


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## Stumped (Feb 25, 2018)

aliphares said:


> I've never heard of it, they seem to be knock offs off the Henckles Four Star. They could be drop forged, but so what? That doesn't actually mean much anymore. There's cheap forged knives and expensive stamped ones. For that price range (I saw that a 10 inch chef is about 80 bucks) I'd suggest tojiro dp or fujiawara fkm or stainless sabatiers (for stainlees) or the fujiwara fkh or carbon steel sabatiers (for the sabs k-sabs and thiers issad are as good as it gets)


Thanks for replying. Yeah I suspected they might be a knockoff. Although the bolster is a bit different to the Henkels. I'm not actually a big fan of full bolsters which is why I didnt consider the Wusthofs that the shop is selling instead. I can afford much more expensive knives, was just curious about that brand because they looked like strong solid blades and the price seemed too good to ignore.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was specifically looking at German knives because I wanted something that could take a lot of abuse in an insanely busy commercial kitchen, that I could maintain with a steel, get sharpened through a professional service that comes to me and not have to worry about them screwing up the profile on the knife. I've found that my schedule is a bit too busy to spend time with my stones maintaining the Japanese knives I already have let alone adding more to the collection. Unfortunately where I live there are no professional sharpening services that have any clue about the difference between Japanese knives and Western ones. The last time I gave them one of my gyuto they put it on a belt grinder and turned the nice polished 16 angle into a rough chisled looking 20 angle. And it wasn't even sharp enough to shave hair. I'm not sure why they would think that was acceptable.

As far as style goes, Wusthof ipIkon and Messermeister's Royale knives look like designs that match my personal preference, so I've asked the shop to try source some for me. I'd rather they import it than me buy from some unknown online shop only to have it damaged in transport due to poor packaging.


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## galley swiller (May 29, 2013)

When I pulled up "Werkmeister knives" on Google, all I found was a New Zealand source (Southern Hospitality Ltd.), along with a plethora of gobbledegook about polyoxometholene handles. I also noted that they reference the steel as being "chrome molybdenum". No mention is made of vanadium. I also noted that they did not include GST.

My reaction is to skip the "Werkmeister" knives. I suspect that as aliphares noted, these are likely cheap knock-offs. I doubt that they would even stay sharp for long.

In that price range in New Zealand (if that's where you are), I would suggest looking for a Wusthof Pro Line 26 cm chef's knife. It's an honest "X50CrMoV15" steel (aka Krupps 4116 steel), albeit stamped with no bolster. Since Wusthof heat treats their 4116 steel knives to hRc 58, it's probably the same here. The molded handle is ergo and is a royal PITA to hold in a pinch grip, at least until you do some surgery on the molding (which I've done). That molding is strictly an encapsulation with the handle plastic molded around the steel, and there is no chemical bonding between the steel and the plastic. I used a cheap shop grade utility knife for my cutlery surgery.

GS


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

Too bad it's limited to 8", but it's real cheap and might come in handy for you:
Look up IHOMEER on amazon as this site is rejecting the link as is often the case lately.
AUS-8 is an improvement over 4116,well depending on HT. It got decent review on a reliably forum recently.

For cheap German stainless I do like Forchener/fibrox/victorinox for their profile and thin grinds, but wusty does a harder HT of the 4116.

There are some useful knives in the Sandvic series by Fischer Bargoin. This is a very fine-grained steel that sharpens easily.


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## playero (Nov 20, 2016)

do cutco or victorionox or chinese cleavers


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