# Almazan kitchen knife



## gcsquared

Hi All,

Just wondering - has anyone used or handled the Almazan kitchen knife? Objectively without context, the knife looks a bit strange, kinda like a crossbreed of a santoku and a Chinese cleaver. But in context of these two chefs cooking epic meals in the Serbian wilderness, I honestly think its kinda cool! Maybe just me ... haha!

For those who are not familiar, type Almazan kitchen on Youtube, and also check out a short video on this knife (https://youtu.be/0belIwAzgIM).

I wonder if the quality is any good. But it sure feels kinda bada$$!


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## niwaki-boy

Ha my friend out in Oklahoma just texted me pictures day before yesterday. He got two for his house. Im going to get his impressions for sure.


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## gcsquared

Thats awesome Niwaki. These knives arenf cheap either IIRC... I think north of $300 because they are handmade by these two chefs. They seem fun to use!

Keep us posted on your friends impression of them.


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## milkbaby

I thought it was a rehandled Takeda santoku for a sec... joking... 

For the price, I bet it's probably a decent value similar to the CCK offerings in carbon steel. Their video and the guy who reviews their knife seems to only show the camp version (5/32" thick) instead of the chef version (3/32" thick) and the majority of pics seem to be the camp version too. Kinda neat that you get a leather sheath with it. Definitely rustic looking.


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## Noodle Soup

Bridge Town Forge and Murray Carter make a very similar knife. I have the Bridge Town forge version from before Arnon and Murray got together on the current offering. Good chopper but less useful for finer work.


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## niwaki-boy

gcsquared said:


> Thats awesome Niwaki. These knives arenf cheap either IIRC... I think north of $300 because they are handmade by these two chefs. They seem fun to use!
> 
> Keep us posted on your friends impression of them.



Damn I had no idea of the cost! Yeah Ill be talking to him this weekend.


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## Dave Martell

Somebody is counterfeiting these? :rofl2:

[video=youtube;0belIwAzgIM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0belIwAzgIM&amp;feature=youtu.be[/video]


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## Dave Martell

Which is real - which is fake? 

http://almazanknives.com/

http://www.almazankitchen.com/our-knives/


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## StonedEdge

What are they designed for exactly? Looks unweildy af


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## gcsquared

I am fairly sure the second link is the real one. 



Dave Martell said:


> Which is real - which is fake?
> 
> http://almazanknives.com/
> 
> http://www.almazankitchen.com/our-knives/


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## Paraffin

StonedEdge said:


> What are they designed for exactly? Looks unweildy af



From the first link in the post just above: "_Bushcraft style heavy blade for wilderness skills, chopping, hacking, tracking & hunting_".

I dunno... not my idea of a heavy bush knife. The ones I've used, although it was years ago in Central and South America, and long before the "tactical knife" fad, was called a _machete_. Now that's a bush knife. If you're going to carry that much weight in steel, make it long enough to be useful.

This is too tall, too short, and has way too much blade weight near the handle to be useful for many things you'd do in the wilderness (IMO). Looks like it might be good for scooping up food after chopping though. Maybe it's used for street food in some part of the world?


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## milkbaby

milkbaby said:


> For the price, I bet it's probably a decent value similar to the CCK offerings in carbon steel. Their video and the guy who reviews their knife seems to only show the camp version (5/32" thick) instead of the chef version (3/32" thick) and the majority of pics seem to be the camp version too. Kinda neat that you get a leather sheath with it. Definitely rustic looking.



When I said "for the price" I was talking about the $80 version, not $300+. For $300 you're better off getting all the equipment to turn your old lawnmower blade into a pointy cleaver yourself.


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## The-Silk-Road

gcsquared said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just wondering - has anyone used or handled the Almazan kitchen knife? Objectively without context, the knife looks a bit strange, kinda like a crossbreed of a santoku and a Chinese cleaver. But in context of these two chefs cooking epic meals in the Serbian wilderness, I honestly think its kinda cool! Maybe just me ... haha!
> 
> For those who are not familiar, type Almazan kitchen on Youtube, and also check out a short video on this knife (https://youtu.be/0belIwAzgIM).
> 
> I wonder if the quality is any good. But it sure feels kinda bada$$!
> 
> View attachment 37433



Hi,

I have purchased this knife from an American company called Almazan kitchen knife that has them made in the city of Almazan in Spain. Everything considered, I thought this was a better option than the one advertised on the kitchen channel. The knife itself is not very good. It is made very roughly and you can tell that its made in the hundreds. There is no care to detail whatsoever and the quality is quite poor. When I receive the knife, it wasnt even sharpened properly. The blade was completely messed up and it looked like somebody axed a concrete wall with it. I had to work quite a lot on it to give it a straight blade that resembled anything like a normal knife. Furthermore the knife doesnt seem to keep sharp, no matter how much I sharpen it. There are plenty of defects all over this knife including the handle, theyre just made very carelessly.

The knife is made of a very strange metal and no matter how much I clean, there is always a dark oxide build up on it. I cleaned the knife really carefully and really well and I immediately started slicing carrots and this oxide transferred to the food instantly. This knife is never clean and I am not quite sure that this oxide is very safe to be on the food we eat. There is no way to stop this from happening and obviously this is a knife that I dont feel very safe using for food preparation. 

On top of all the above, the service I received was simply pathetic. I received the knife within a month of ordering, but they sent me the wrong knife leather holder, in spite of the fact that I had actually paid the extra to have it of a different colour. Not to mention the fact that the leather holder was damaged, not broken, but something that I wouldnt have picked up in the shop. I would define it as a faulty and unsellable item, but of course once you give them your money, thats pretty much it. I emailed them tens of times and I still havent received what I have paid for. It has now been three months and I am in the process of disputing the transaction with my bank, as they simply havent delivered what they promised. Very happy to return the knife, but unfortunately they just not reply to emails any more. 

My only advice is to stay well clear of this company.


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## CulinaryCellist

My friend got a Serbian chef knive the other day, pretty sure it's the 80 dollar one tho


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## RDalman

The only way to get the real deal from the Serbian guys is on their facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/AlmazanKitchenRecipes


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## Vladimir

my friend got this original from the Serbian guys, he was very unhappy, a rough, clumsy knife for $ 300 steel is poor quality, I think this is a show knife, not for the home. for $ 300 there are so many decent knives.


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## Matus

These are supposed to be something like 'Camp kitchen knives', not some high end super high end cutlery. The Almazan guys came up with the shape (or got inspired from somewhere). The knife shape has nothing to do with Serbia ( I got that info from a Serbian guy some time back). They became a 'thing' apparently and thus the copycats noticed them. And as Robin posted - their FB page is the only way to get the original Almazan knife.


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## CulinaryCellist

His is definitely not from the Almazan guys then, his parents know absolutley nothing about knives in general


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## interpol

Be aware!

Not sure what is going on... Almazankitchen either got greedy or their partner making their knives has a bad quality control or is cutring corners!

In my case my knive was dull - out of the box!

It would go through paper as a show effect but cant slice a tomato with its own weight!

The issue: the grinding angles are too steep. I had to give it to a knivemaker to take care of it.

I did inform them about this issue and told them to have a closer look at their manufacturer because their brand and reputation are on the line!

So far I haven't heard from them - they did read my message... but no reaction or answer so far.

This makes me think...

So, if you want to support them... go on and get it... BUT be aware... it's false marketing claiming it's 50% off now for USD 200 - this would make this knive cost a whopping USD 400... this for sure is not a USD 400 knive playing in the same price league as Kai or other Japanese brands you can get for this amount of money.

As far as I could see they must have changed it during 2019... the old knive was worth it, I watched some old reviews, but the new one... why would someone risk his reputation by doing something like this?


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## bkultra

@interpol welcome to the forum


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## interpol

interpol said:


> Be aware!
> 
> Not sure what is going on... Almazankitchen either got greedy or their partner making their knives has a bad quality control or is cutring corners!
> 
> In my case my knive was dull - out of the box!
> 
> It would go through paper as a show effect but cant slice a tomato with its own weight!
> 
> The issue: the grinding angles are too steep. I had to give it to a knivemaker to take care of it.
> 
> I did inform them about this issue and told them to have a closer look at their manufacturer because their brand and reputation are on the line!
> 
> So far I haven't heard from them - they did read my message... but no reaction or answer so far.
> 
> This makes me think...
> 
> So, if you want to support them... go on and get it... BUT be aware... it's false marketing claiming it's 50% off now for USD 200 - this would make this knive cost a whopping USD 400... this for sure is not a USD 400 knive playing in the same price league as Kai or other Japanese brands you can get for this amount of money.
> 
> As far as I could see they must have changed it during 2019... the old knive was worth it, I watched some old reviews, but the new one... why would someone risk his reputation by doing something like this?



They reached out to me - looks like they will investigate the matter with their manufacturer. Let's hope for the best.


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## torefractionol

gcsquared said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Just wondering - has anyone used or handled the Almazan kitchen knife? Objectively without context, the knife looks a bit strange, kinda like a crossbreed of a santoku and a Chinese cleaver. But in context of these two chefs cooking epic meals in the Serbian wilderness, I honestly think its kinda cool! Maybe just me ... haha!
> 
> For those who are not familiar, type Almazan kitchen on Youtube, and also check out a short video on this knife ().
> 
> I wonder if the quality is any good. But it sure feels kinda bada$$!
> 
> View attachment 37433



I ordered the knife and received it about 2 weeks ago. I payed 245usd. The only issue I have is that the knife was not forged straight. Its slightly bent for the last 2 inches tword the tip. I can not sharpen it or use it safely and when I contacted them they told me they would not fix, replace, or refund my money. Im in an ongoing dispute with paypal over this.


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## ian

torefractionol said:


> I ordered the knife and received it about 2 weeks ago. I payed 245usd. The only issue I have is that the knife was not forged straight. Its slightly bent for the last 2 inches tword the tip. I can not sharpen it or use it safely and when I contacted them they told me they would not fix, replace, or refund my money. Im in an ongoing dispute with paypal over this.



Fyi, slight tip bends in clad knives (like yours, it looks like), can often easily be bent back by hand. I’ve done that many times. Just lay the knife on its side on the counter, so the tip bends into the counter rather than away from it, hold the tip in place, and raise up the handle a bit.


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## Keith Sinclair

The 89.00 one looks the best to me. Guess they all are rough more then refined. Depends on the grind. If it is crap don't throw your money away.


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## daveb

interpol said:


> Be aware!
> 
> Not sure what is going on...





torefractionol said:


> I ordered the knife and received it about 2 weeks ago. I payed 245usd....



Appreciate you taking the time to introuce yourselves. Welcome to the forum.


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