Featured
Soul Warming Recipes!
Big Green Egg
Featured
Hot & Spicy!
K’s Choice
Peppery Chicken Curry
Translator
FM
The Most Beautiful Knife. Ever.
Not to make you jealous or anything, but check out what I just got! Well, got? It cost me a small fortune in import taxes and clearance fee (thanks a lot TNT), but I didn’t mind one bit the moment I laid eyes on my new baby. Can you blame me?
Several months ago I received an email from the people over at New West Knifeworks asking me if I’d be interested in trying one of their Fusion Wood Chef’s knives. Uhmm, yes please? I went over to their website and was really impressed; these knives rank among the most beautiful knives I’ve ever seen! They mailed me one (yes, envy me!) on July 16th and only now, October 21st, was it delivered.
Makes you wonder what it is they were doing with the knife over at that Dutch customs office for 14 weeks. No wait, don’t answer that! I don’t want to know; still have to slice food with this.
I opened the package, saw this *points down* and fell madly, passionately and head over heels in love. It’s so gorgeous. I thought of my food photos and got real excited. I mean, look at it!
Have you seen anything like it? Even the leather sheath it comes in is pretty.
I took a few shots of the knife while it was still new and pristine and then I tried it. Safe to say it doesn’t just look great but it chops like no one’s business. It feels real sturdy in your hands. A good knife needs to be exactly heavy enough; this one is. It’s sharp a tack, but well, it’s also new so I’ll keep you posted on how it goes in the sharpness department a few months from now.
The weight and balance are perfect for my hand. Beautiful and functional, what more could a food blogger ask for? Especially one that relies heavily on step-by-step photos.
Yup, I’m overwhelmingly happy. And trust me, if I wouldn’t have liked the knife I would have mentioned it as well. It was sent without strings attached, just so you know. I guess they know that a good product sells itself.
Yup, this is knife art. Happy sigh.
JOH! Wat mooi! EN ik heb zulke breinaalden! hihi <3
That is a beauty!
You food bloggers have it made.
Yes that’s my way of saying I’m envious of all the goodies you’re asked to try.
Not that you don’t deserve it…..
Uh I love that! There is nothing like a good knife is there? I love the colors as well!
@ Claudia:
Mooi hé? Ben er helemaal verliefd op!
@Teri:
Oh wait, let me rephrase my first sentence:
“Just to make Teri go green and crazy with envy…”
Heh.
That looks indeed nice, at least for an all-purpose chef’s knife. Nice curve to the edge and it looks nice and solid. I believe that it’s a pleasure to use. A bit too colourful for my liking but if it works, I won’t moan about the design.
@ Karohemd:
Tskkk. It’s all about the colors, silly! Men *rolls eyes*
What a gorgeous work of art! Even better that it’s weighted properly… will be too good to be true if it maintains it’s sharpness after a few months! Lovely!
That is indeed a rather lovely looking piece.
By the way, you can’t really blame TNT, they are only doing the work imposed on them by the Governments Customs rules.
@ Nick:
Well, the clearance fee TNT charged was higher than the import taxes! Can’t tell me they don’t make quite some money off of it.
I think presents are exempt from import taxes and clearance fee… maybe the sender didn’t enclose a pro forma invoice declaring it a present and therefore its ZERO commercial value?
Had the same thing with a couple of handmade boots from the USA… you don’t know what I had to pay to get my hands on them either… and they weren’t all that cheap to start with!
@ Richelle:
That’s what I thought as well, so I called the customs (douane.nl). Apparently that’s not true (anymore?) and gifts are not exempt from taxes. “Wij kennen geen gifts’, is what I was told.
The tnt added a clearance fee that was nearly as high as the import taxes.
They do indeed charge a handling fee – but if you saw the paperwork they had to deal with, you’d understand why.
For shipments into NL, there is no such thing as a gift, and nothing has “zero commercial value”. There is a personal import allowance, which is pitiful, and anything over that will require duties (at the appropriate rate for the item(s)) and VAT/BTW. Duties are payable on the value of the item, VAT is payable on the value of the item, plus the shipping, plus the duties.
and yet, people still don’t get why things are priced differently between the US and Europe.
I’m so glad I’m out of that business.
@ Nick:
Kinda wondering why it took them 14 weeks, though. I’m so glad I cook and photograph, it’s all abacadabra to me :)
Either way, I’m over the moon with the new knife!
14 weeks would have been a paperwork issue – either they contacted you (and failed to get through/lost in the mail) or they were waiting for new documentation from the sender. It’s also possible that the shipment needed to be inspected, although that shouldn’t add more than a few days. I’ve had whole containers stuck for many weeks before now – usually down to some bureaucratic nonsense.
Being over the moon is the important bit :)
I know what I am asking for this christmas!! Yippee!
Wow, I’m so jealous of your beautiful knife . . . I love my Henckels, but this looks like a work of art.
Awesome knife!! Checked out New West’s site and they have some great knives. I had never heard of them before but love the fusion wood knives like yours.
Who is TNT? Is it the logistics company? Just curious because my husband owns (with 4 business partners) an international logistics (import/export) company and I’m familiar with customs/clearance fees.
The knife is gorgeous! You need these bowls to go with it:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2010/04/the-rainbow-wood-bowl-redux/
@ Kristen:
Not too long ago they sold an entire line of bowls, plates etc in a rainbow motive. Was so tempted to buy it but I always quickly get tired of stripes/mtoicves really fast, and it was pretty expensive. Things like that usually end up collecting dust here!
@Tracy: yes TNT is a huge (15 billion dollar, 150,000 staff) European based International logistics company.
Oh wow, that is a beautiful knife!
You lucky girl!
(I hate it when Customs get their grubby little hands on something you order from abroad. )
@Kay: Kan ‘t me levendig voorstellen, schitterend en vast vlijmscherp <3
That knife is so pretty. I love the colors!
Magda
oooh pretty… I wants one too : )