REVIEW – I cook almost every night of the week, so I know my way around a knife or two. These knives from the Butterfork Purest line present something I have not seen before. They take inspiration from Japanese-style designs with handles that can be removed and replaced if you want to change up your color scheme! That’s a neat idea, but do the knives hold up to the daily chopping & slicing? Let’s find out. To the review!
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: Prices vary with options and packages, starting at $52.49 for a paring knife (no sheath) up to $299.99 for a four knife set. Additional accessories are available.
Where to buy: Butterfork
What is it?
Butterfork knives are high carbon stainless steel blades that comes with replaceable ABS handles.
What’s included?
My test kit came with the 4 knives in the collection (8″ chef’s knife, 8″ bread knife, 6.2″ Nakiri knife, and 3.5″ paring knife) each paired with an oak wood sheath. You can buy single knives (with or without the oak sheath), knife sets, and additional accessories on the web site.
Tech specs
Made with Butterfork’s proprietary “Butterfork-S Steel”
ABS plastic handles
100% natural oak handles
Chef’s Knife 8″ L by 1.77″ W blade, 5.13″ L by 1.06″ W handle, 13.07″ total length, 0.37 Lbs total weight
Nakiri 6″ L by 1.65″ W blade, 5.13″ L by 1.06″ W handle, 11.35″ total length, 0.37 Lbs total weight
Bread Knife 8″ L by 1.77″ W blade, 5.13″ L by 1.06″ W handle, 13.07″ total length, 0.37 Lbs total weight
Paring Knife 3.5″ L by 0.79″ W blade, 4.19″ L by 0.87″ W handle, 7.69″ total length, 0.14 Lbs total weight
Design and features
I love great packaging, and the Butterfork Kitchen Knives delivers an outstanding first impression. Each product box is elegant and understated, reinforcing the high end but very functional design aethestic we’ll see as we start playing with our toys.
My testers all came with these solid oak sheaths, which are both beautiful and effective. Each is cut to fit the appropriate blade perfectly.
At the foot of the sheath you’ll find a simple metal pin alongside the burnt-in product logo.
This pin runs through the sheath, locking in behind the heel of the blade to prevent it from sliding out.
Pop that pin with a push of a finger on the underside, and you then pull it loose to unlock the blade.
Now we’ve unveiled the centerpiece of the collection: the 8 Inch Chef’s Knife. This particular blade sports a classic chef’s knife design with a rounded belly to promote either slicing or rocking cuts. The blade itself is clean, polished to a mirror-like finish that does all the talking. There are no etchings or embellishments in the steel other than a subtle logo stamp and a razor-sharp edge.
The blade is forged from a steel called “BUTTERFORK-S,” a custom high-carbon steel recipe designed for resiliance, edge retention and stain resistance according to the manufacturer. It is absolutely lovey to look at and has shown no signs of dulling or scratching after a month of almost daily use.
The handle design is also simple, but no less interesting. The handle tapers from the widest point at the base to the slimmest point where is connects to the heel of the blade. Each of the four sides is rounded a bit to promote comfort (and grip) during heavy use.
The material is an ABS plastic that is super-lightweight and durable. Combined with the thin blade as shown below, these knives are extraordinarily nimble and easy to handle. The chef’s knife comes in at a paltry 6 ounces total weight!
There’s some nice attention to detail in the finish, like a rounded and polished spine & heel the remove any awkward corners or rough edges.
One of key features behind the Butterfork design is interchangeable handles. Each knife comes with a custom tool that has a pair of teeth that line up with that cap on the base of the knife. You’ll use this to unscrew that cap.
This is what the cap looks like completely removed.
Next you’ll slide that blade out of the handle. Be careful with this, because the handle is precision molded for a tight fit so it takes a little pulling to get it loose. I found using a kitchen towel was a good choice to save my fingers. Here’s what it looks like fully exposed. It’s just one solid piece of steel all the way down to the base.
The grooves cut into the base align with the threads in the nut to lock it into place.
Butterfork provides a variety of color choices for the handles, which allows you to switch things up if you want a change of decor without replacing your knives. You can pick from 6 different color schemes on purchase. This feature also come in handy if a handle cracks or if you need to get in there and clean the bits as we’ll see below.
Here’s the whole family of blades that came in my test kit. We have (from top to bottom) the 3.5″ paring knife, a 6″ nakiri, the 8″ chef’s knife, and an 8″ bread knife. All the blades except the paring knife use the same size handle.
Here’s a closeup of the bread knife blade shape. Again, no added etchings or visual enhancements to take away from the business-first design.
Here’s a closeup of the paring knife and the Nakiri for further comparison. Functional utility is name of the game in each blade shape.
Butterfork states that all their knives are dishwasher safe, but recommends hand washing. Bob recommends staying away from the dishwasher with your good knives, too. Just don’t do that.
Performance
I have what could best be described as an excessive collection of kitchen knives. I’ve got all sorts of styles, blade shapes, and sizes rangnig from paring knives to big Chinese cleavers. I boxed them all up for a month so that I could use these blades exclusively for all my cooking.
I had a really, really good time.
These knives handle like a dream, with a nimble flexibility and light weight that make long prep sessions a breeze. The thin blade thickness, generous handle, and ridiculously light weight enables precision cutting & trimming no matter which knife I am using.
These knives are razor sharp right out of the box, to the point where I was a little afraid when I first started using them. I may have drawn blood with an accidental brush across my knuckle… we’ve all ben there. Lesson learned. I have yet to sharpen them after a month of daily use.
The chef’s knife has been my most used weapon for daily duties. It’s great for everything from breaking down bigger proteins to refined prep like dicing and mincing. The round belly is great for rocking and mincing stuff like the garlic I am tackling below. As a daily driver it’s been stellar in every application.
Check out the reflection of the red pepper in this shot. Kinda cool, right? I have yet to see any dulling or discoloring of any of the blades so far.
The bread knife has with a blissfully sharp edge that’s perfect for crusty breads and tomatoes alike. I do wish this blade was a bit longer than 8 inches for getting through bigger loaves, but that’s a personal preference. Check out the clean cuts on this home made loaf of bread I made a couple of weeks ago!
I love me a good Nakiri, especially for vegetable prep. Some variety of Chinese cleaver is the second most used knife on the regular in my kitchen for breaking down vegetables and stir fry ingredients. This blade is ideal for smooth, controlled, consistent cuts if you’re slicing peppers, onions, bok choy, green onions, ginger, etc. I really like the slightly shorter 6″ length in this blade for that work. I also find that the steel slides easily through vegetables with minimal sticking issues.
The paring knife is small, nimble and deadly when it comes to working the details. Here I’m using it to strip the ribs off of peppers I’m going to fill later. The choice to put a smaller handle on this blade was a good one that enhances it’s precise nature.
I should note that these knives are all super light, which is not something everyone likes. If you prefer a heavier German-style knife design you probably won’t like working with these on a daily basis. I would also stay away from hacking chicken bones with these, but I honestly haven’t seen any issues with heavier work so far. I’ve also done all-day meal prep sessions and found the light weight and comfortable grips to be ideal for reducing hand strain.
The removable handle design presents the one big pro and con in the design that I have seen, depending on how you look at it. There’s no gasket or seal between the blade and the handle other than the machining, so some stuff will inevitably get into that space. After a couple of weeks of use I have seen a little bit of residue build up in there.
You can see a little bit of it in the handle gap as well.
The good news is that, while this would be the end of a cheap knife that was glued together, you can take care of this by removing the handle and giving it a good scrub. It’s not rusting as the steel is designed to be rust resistant. A bit of work with a cloth & brush took it right out.
The handle space was a little trickier to clean until I used one of those brushes designed for cleaning reusable straws. Problem solved! I would note that should allow the parts to air dry thoroughly before reassembly. Same for the sheath… don’t put wet knives back in their boxes.
The base on the knife is a bit trickier to clean with the threading and that long metal cap, but I actually have not seen an issue there because I don’t submerge my knives or put them in the dishwasher. A quick brush and allowing time to properly dry has kept any buildup from occurring on either end.
Final thoughts
The experience with the Butterfork Purest kitchen knives has been a lot of fun. The elegant design and supple handling feel like performance you’d expect higher-end blades, but the quality materials and mid- to lower-tier price point means you’re not afraid to kick them around. And they do a fine job of taking a beating. The steel is great so far, and the handles are replaceable if they start to crack on you. You can also get a magnetic oak wood stand if you prefer to keep them on display in the kitchen.
If you like a heavier German-style blade these may not be your jam, but I am having a good time with them. We’ll see how they hold up over extended testing through the rest of the year!
What I like about Butterfork Knives
- Clean, efficient design
- Extremely comfortable to handle
- Lightweight, precise & maneuverable
- Extraordinarily sharp, retains an edge well
- Removable handles allow for deep cleaning
What needs to be improved?
- Oak sheaths are nice, but be careful not to lose the locking peg
- Make sure you keep the locking tool if you want to change handles
- A gasket or seal between the blade and handle would be a nice option to prevent stuff from getting into the cracks
Price: Pricing starts at $52.49 for the paring knife, and ranges up to $299.99 for the four knife set. Additional accessories are also available.
Where to buy: Go to the Butterfork web site
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Butterfork. Butterfork did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
Check out these other reviews!
- Vosteed Morgan Chef’s Knife review – a western knife with an eastern design
- Artisan Revere Super Steel Chef’s Knife review
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