Something a little different for Cram-Gaming but we decided to purchase a Huusk knife after seeing an advert for one before a gaming video. Take a look at either the Huusk review video or video transcript in our in-depth look at this controversial knife which some might suggest is a scam. Is it though?
Today we’re taking a look at the Huusk Japan Premium Control Knife which we actually saw advertised on Youtube and decided to buy one ourselves at a cost of £29.99. As far as we are aware that is an all-inclusive price including VAT and shipping.
Huusk Japan
Now, before we begin and look at the knife, its features and quality, let’s address the elephant-in-the-room. If you look at the Huusk official website, you might see all sorts of claims being made. The knife being inspired by traditional Japanese crafting techniques. 138 step design and rigorous testing. You might also see reviews which some might suggest are false reviews using stock images. You will also notice a never-ending discount of 50% which is a standard technique lots of companies use to drive sales of ditherers. If you look beyond the website and head over to Trustpilot for example, you will get a different picture and perhaps some more red-flags.
On Trustpilot you will read all sorts of opinions and accusations of Huusk removing unfavourable reviews, adding their own bot reviews, people not getting their items and a three out of five-star rating from some 1286 reviews of which 44% are 1 star and 40% are 5 stars. Looking deeper you will see that customer service seems to be the biggest issue. With some initially submitting a review before they get the actual product (slating Huusk in the process) and then amending the review once they actually receive the product. In a nutshell, you can’t put any trust into Trustpilot reviews either whether negative or positive.
Our Experience With Huusk Japan
Let’s talk about our experience with Huusk and the knife itself. The bottom line is, regardless of where the product is made, or where the registered office is (in this case UAB Ekomlita in Lithuania) or even where it shipped from, is the knife any good, and is it a scam as many people would like to believe? For the record though depending on where you live, your experience may differ especially with regards to shipping times. Things like your item being held at customs is not really Huusk’s fault (they have no control over this).
We ordered the Huusk knife after seeing an advert on YouTube and not long after doing so got tracking details via email. However, as is often the case these are set up prior to the item being shipped and to this day updated after the product arrived. So is a bit useless. We did get a few other emails from Huusk detailing more products which is understandable and can easily unsubscribe from those if desired. Our knife arrived approximately two weeks after placing the order, which isn’t bad. It seems our item was shipped from another country to Slough in London, then onto us. The packaging contained a customs declaration sticker (Kitchen Tools). In terms of it being a scam, definitely not. We received the item we ordered and it looks legit. Whether it’s worth the £29.99 is up for debate. You might find cheaper versions of the same design on Amazon or Aliexpress for example but they may or may not be of the same quality most notably the type of steel used which we find is most commonly 5Cr15MoV which is a cheap lower quality steel.
Huusk Knife Specifications
The Huusk Japan Premium Control Knife came in a lovely and stylish looking black box with silver writing on the outside alongside the Huusk Japan logo. On the rear of the box a list of knife specifications.
Upon opening the box, the knife sits neatly inside and is covered in a plastic wrapper, and a plastic point for the end tip. We have taken these off here since we’ve used the knife already. It looks great in the box as you can see. Older versions came with a cheap leather or fabric sheath but we assume they ditched those due to cost and the fact that lots of people complained it was pretty useless.
Looking at the specs, the knife is quite weighty and feels solid at 252g 0.5 pound. The blade length is 6 inches and with the handle it’s just shy of 11 inches (28 cm). The angle of the curve is 38 degrees and the blade material is said to be Stainless Steel 18/10 electroplated which is apparently one of the better-quality metals with an 18% chromium and 10% nickel composition. The handle is Oak wood and carbon onyx although we think the handle finish looks a bit cheap in comparison to the blade itself.
Our Impressions
Visually we’re very happy with the way the Huusk Japan knife looks but don’t believe the design is original as you can see versions using the same design with names like The Viking knife. We honestly think these are standard made (possibly in China) and then companies like Huusk Japan can laser etch their logos on them or in the case of the Viking knife no logo at all. It’s possible though that this design originates from Japan, we can’t verify that though.
Using the Huusk knife and wow, we were very pleasantly surprised at how sharp it is. We have a set of silver kitchen knives which are dull and unsharpened. We put various fruits, veg, bread and paper to the test. One thing we will state that some of the tests you might see in the marketing are a little inconsistent. The tomato test for example is not easy depending on how the tomato is stuck to the surface to offer grip or how heavy it is. Paper cutting is not balanced as well because there are many different types of paper. We cut through an entire newspaper with gentle sawing motion but that was with it face-down. Slicing through plastic bottles of water is gimmickier than anything so we didn’t try that.
What we do like is the finger hole for added stability so you can slice thinly. Rather than pull and tear some stale bread making it crumble everywhere like our old bread knife, the Huusk Knife was able to cleanly slice through it with minimal pressure to create perfectly thin slices. This is the same with peppers, cucumbers and various fruits. The indents on the black portion of the blade prevent sticking which is handy. Therefore, we can only conclude that the Huusk knife is a good quality based on our own usage. Although we read one chap who dropped a similar knife onto a stone floor and it shattered. This feels like a premium product and one that needs looking after. We are going to assume it will need regular sharpening to maintain its quality. But we think that largely depends on what you are cutting. Wood, bones, meat, paper we’ll assume is going to dull the blade far quicker than fruits veg and bread.
Final Thoughts
To conclude then, The Huusk Japan Knife arrived two weeks after placing the order with zero issues aside from non-existent tracking details. Comes in a nice box, looks well-made, is pleasantly sharp and easy-to-use. Therefore, it’s not a scam if you order via the official website, based on our experiences. The only possibility of it being a scam is if the knife is cheaply made in China (highly likely), and then sold for a premium price far above the cost of production. We have no way of verifying that or whether the knives you see on Aliexpress which look the same are of similar quality. At face-value then, we are very happy with our purchase for now and recommend this for anyone looking for a nice display knife or sharp tool to aid your culinary delights but you might be paying more for something you could get cheaper elsewhere thanks to fancy marketing.
