I am a restaurant cook in Boston, MA. I have been using Wusthof knives since Culinary school because that is what my chef instructors recommended as the workhorses of the kitchen. I had invested a lot of money in completing a collection of those knives for every task in the kitchen. They are great knives and will last forever with proper care. However, I work at a fine dining restaurant and extremely thin, small, and precise cuts of all kinds of vegetables are a must. I have seen my fellow cooks rave about Japanese brand knives like Shun, Misono,, Miyabi, snd Global and after borrowing and trying them there is no comparison in their superior performancees, so I knew it was time toinvest in new knives. I wanted to get the best value for my money, so for the past two months I have been doing research online about the quality of different types is steel, manufacturing techniques, bevel angels and learned a lot in the process. I research dozens of Japanese brands and compared them, then I happen upon a brand that I never heard before, Daldtrong. I went to their website andread about the Shogun series knives. These knives looked beautiful and by their detail description they seem to have everything I was looking for in terms of quality and sharpness. I told myself it almost look to good to be true, but because of their warranty and the fact that I can try them risk free, I ordered the 9.5 inch chef and the 6 inch utility.When I received the knives, it felt like Christmas. I knew about the beautiful packaging already. But Zi was still impressed. But packaging has very little to do with performance. I immediately subjected botjh knives to the paper test and it was ridiculous how sharp they are right out the box. I took them to work the next day and several cooks came to me as soon as they saw the boxes and knew I have gotten new knives. They loved the way the knives look as much as I did, but the real test was about to happen when I ttried them for the first time with my prep work. It was such a pleasure to use my chef knife, soooo! sharp and balanced that I could breeze thru my prep so effortlessly. I have been using my knife for 4 days in a row, without the need to use my honing steel. Love the knives, high quality, beauty, and performance and a fair price. Very happy with my purchase,Milagros Ruiz