Dazed by their Knives

Victorinox, the company best known for the original multi-tasking app -- the Swiss Army Knife -- is also a, well, cutting edge presence in the kitchen. From high-end, forged sets to everyday tools like spatulas and pizza wheels, you can be assured of the same quality experience as the one you had shearing off your toes from the gator's jaw last summer in the Everglades with that handy red thingie. Happy days.

No such peril in your home kitchen, we shall hope, short of mishandling one of their fine-honed blades. I've been using the 8-piece block set with the company's Forschner logo, and have been sailing through thick cuts of meat (bones even), slicing razor-thin vegetable slices, even paring apples without breaking a sweat. They are finely balanced, boast black Fibrox handles and are made with a high-carbon stainless steel that maintains its fine edge until the bad-boys are ready to be resharpened.

Balance is a big thing, and these make the grade there as well. They are also molded in a highly ergonomic manner designed to reduce wrist tension over time, which is important if you bowl twice a week, like I do. There is, in descending size: a 10-inch slicing knife; 8-inch bread and chef's knife; a 6-inch boning knife and the 4-inch paring knife. And don't forget those snappy kitchen shears, great for turning a proud hen into edible bits and bites. All that and a solid hardwood block and a 10-inch sharpening steel. Price is modest, even in the giftable range. They may be Swiss knives, but neutral they ain't.