Cutco Knives

[Garett Kutcher]

I didn't really know where else to ask this question, so here it goes. Are the knives offered by Cutco or Vector Marketing really as good as they say they are (or even close)? Or is this all an elaborate scam to sell a standard product at an inflated price?
Thanks for any help.

[B.Sweet]

the Cutco choper...bought it I think about 2 years ago and love the thing and to be honest I forget what I paid for it it was pretty high but it was a favor to this girl that was selling Cutco to make some money for school...so yep, got one and like it...if you wana see what mine looks like I can scan and post a pic of it....I have a Chinese wife and this is about the only knife she uses

[Kevin R. Cashen]

My wife sold cutco right after high school, of course she was my girlfriend then. We still have the set she used to show during her sales pitch. It would appear that the greatest enemy of these knives is time. they will appear indestructuble for 10 years or so (except on the edge, that is quicker) but then the dishwasher and other kitchen things will catch up with them. The indesrtictable handles are now a little lack luster in appearence but there are no cracks or loosening.

I think I remember hearing during the sales pitch that the steel is some relative of the A series. Whatever it is, it doesn't rust. But it holds and edge like most stainless of the period. The only thing that keeps these things cutting is that silly "double D" or what ever they call it, serrated edge. Heck even a dull rip saw will still tear and fray its way through things.

All in all I would say that Cutco came a lot closer to living up to the Ginsu claims than any other kitchen knife I have played with. But for the price I think I could find ones that would work better without all the hype and gimmics.

The one really big let down was the Cutco scissors. If you had to sit through the agonizing sales pitch you may have saw the penny cut tino a corkscrew with those big shiny scissors. OOOH very impressive. the knives we still have but I managed to trash those scissors in about a months time. And I mean completely trash! But a pair of $3, heavy plastic framed scissors from the local hardware performs the same chores just fine.

All in all I think too much hype for the price. But thanks for the walk down memory lane. Back then I was compensated for having to sit through all of the practice sales pitches, and not with knives... Though we did eventually have three children

[Genise Graham]

My Cutco story

Apparently in the late 60’s or early 70’s my (now deceased) father obtained a special hunting knife from this company, but it had nothing to do with the kitchenware. None of us know from where it came or how he obtained it, but it was apparently not something featured regularly. It had the above mentioned serrated edges on it and he loathed it. Somewhere along the line, he found someone who was able to give him a straight edge on the knife, but he turned the two inch width blade into a skinny little ¾” thing, that looks quite pathetic. However, it was sharpened and he kept it among his collection until the day he died. It had to have been of some quality, because my father was a knife aficionado and dedicated to quality in all of his hunting gear.

Recently, my brother took the sad thing into Bass Pro Shop in Springfield MO to have it sharpened. The woman there recognized it as a Cutco product from long ago and was passionate about it. She worked lovingly on it for quite some time and gave it a wonderful edge. As handed the knife back to my brother, she advised him “Don’t put it in the dishwasher again”. Apparently, this is exactly what my brother had done to it and it had faded the handle. He now has an extremely ugly, yet serviceable knife that will, to all accounts, serve him well for many, many years to come.

The poor knife! It has to have been good to have survived the stupidity of my family.





Genise

[Don Nelson]

Good grief! A blast from my past!

I too tried selling CutCo knifes sometime back in the mid '70's. I don't recall how much they cost back then, but it was expensive enough I never sold a single knife even after close to a dozen presentations.

Gosh, that sales pitch! Why did the folks who composed those things have a secret desire to see people fling themselves out of ten story buildings?

Don