Victorinox Fibrox Chef’s Knife Review
The Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch chef’s knife is a medium-sized high-carbon stainless steel knife. This is an excellent entry-level knife ideal for use as an all-purpose kitchen knife. From dicing to slicing, this knife has got you covered.
Below, compare the Victorinox Fibrox to other popular chef’s knives:
| Photo | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
 | Victorinox Chef’s Knife | $$$ |
 | Shun Premier Chef's Knife | $$$ |
 | Shun Classic Chef’s Knife | $$$ |
 | Victorinox Santoku | $$ |
 | Wustoff Classic Cook's Knife | $$$ |
 | Wusthof Ikon Cook’s Knife | $$$ |
Design of the Victorinox Fibrox
The blade on this knife is a straight 8 inches of stamped, high carbon stainless steel. It features a partial tang, which is buried in a plastic handle. It has a fairly deep belly and has a rather high handle when the edge of the blade is against the cutting board, ensuring that even larger fingers are not going to hit the board when gripping the handle.
The blade is lightly curved towards the tip too, allowing for a gentle rocking motion when you are preparing vegetables. This prevents wrist strain, and the overall depth of the blade will make even the most stubborn squash submit with limited effort.
With this size, the knife is ideal for any type of food preparation, from fruits and vegetables to meat. This is a slightly tip heavy knife, and therefore it wants to do jobs where it is pointing down–yet this is not incredibly tip heavy and should be completely usable regardless of the task at hand.
A couple issues you might actually have with this knife, however, is that it dulls easily and has a bit of an issue with bending after regular use. The other common issue is the weight. These knives are very light and quite thin, causing them to be less effective when trying to work with thicker meats and stronger vegetables.
Below, please take a moment to view some of the best-selling chef’s knives currently for sale on Amazon:
| BEST SELLERS |
|---|
1) Victorinox Chef's Knife |
2) KitchenAid Chef Knife |
3) Utopia Chef Knife |
4) Shun Chef’s Knife |
5) Wusthof Chef’s Knife |
Knife Options
The Fibrox is an excellent stand-alone knife with its size and versatility. Let’s now talk about size, handle, sets and how you can even go about sharpening this beauty.
Sizes
This chef’s knife comes in multiple sizes, from 6 inches to 12 inches. As the blades get bigger, they lose some of the versatility displayed in the 8 inch, as it is rather awkward for finer detail and some may even find it difficult to handle.
The smaller knife also loses some versatility in that it is quite narrow and is more similar to a chef’s knife crossed with a paring knife. And as there is not a lot of belly on the knife, knuckles will hit the cutting board which could end up being quite painful by the end of the day.
As with all knives, the overall experience and opinions on a blade are different for every person. Many will find the 10-inch blade the correct size for them due to the same reasons one may dislike the 10-inch knife. The best way to see if a knife will work for you is not to go on the opinions of others but rather, go to your local knife store and hold the knives, if at all possible. You will know so much faster whether a knife may potentially work for you after feeling its weight, balance and materials.
The other thing to remember about sizes is that even though they use the same metal, there will be less play in a shorter blade than a longer one. There will also be less room the smaller the blade becomes between your fingers and the cutting board. Both of these things are important to remember when deciding on the right size.
Sets
The Fibrox 8 inch chef’s knife is available as a stand-alone product but is also available as a 3-piece Chef’s Set where it is combined with the 8 inch carving knife and the 3 ¼ inch paring knife. This gives you the ability to have the paring and carving knives of the set, along with the main chef’s knife. There are other mini sets for the Victorinox Fibrox knives, yet none include the 8-inch knife.
Larger options available are the 13-piece block set. This includes:
- 8 Inch Chef’s Knife
- 7 Inch Santoku
- 8 Inch Break Knife
- 25 Inch Paring Knife
- Kitchen Shears
- 10 Inch Steel
- 6 X 4.75 Inch Serrated Steak Knives
If you desired that set, but had no use for the steak knives, or did not want the swivel block, the final option is to get the 8-piece block set. This includes:
- 8 Inch Chef’s Knife
- 8 Inch Bread Knife
- 10 Inch Slicer
- 4 Inch Paring Knife
- 6 Inch Boning Knife
- 10 Inch Sharpening Steel
- Kitchen Shears
- And the 9-slot Oak Block.
Different stores may have other options as well, but these are the three available directly from Victorinox.
Handle
The handle is a very simple, ergonomic black handle that is missing any real distinguishing features. It is one of those cases where you can say “there you go, it is a handle” and not much else as that is all it is.
The blade’s tang is embedded in this handle and goes about half way down, which unfortunately means it is not a full tang (which would be a pleasant surprise in this knife).
How to Sharpen Your Victorinox Chef’s Knife
As mentioned previously, some may have issues with this knife’s ability to hold a strong edge. One thing that’s certainly a positive here, however, is that this knife is fairly easy to sharpen.
There are many ways to sharpen knives in general, particularly kitchen knives. Often butcher shops will offer a profession knife sharpening service for a nominal fee, if not free. Many stores which sell knives, such as House of Knives, and offer the same service and guarantee that the knife will be sharpened correctly and safely.
The other option is to sharpen the blade yourself. Victorinox does offer a few sharpening options such as:
- Diamond Knife Sharpener
- Swiss Sharp Handheld Knife Sharpener
- 10-inch honing steel
There is a video provided by Victorinox itself on how to keep the edge on your chef’s knife incredibly sharp and ready for use, a link to that video is here.
The video essentially shows you how to use a steel, a hand held sharpener and finally a whetstone. Obviously, the whetstone is preferable and one must always remember to make sure there is lubrication on it when in use. These stones can be found in many different grits and the higher the number, the smoother the finish. When working on a very dull knife or one with chips or dents, you must start on the lowest grit setting first to aggressively remove the damaged part of the blade and then slowly work up stone by stone until you are finally left with a razor sharp mirror finished edge on your blade once more.
Victorinox Fibrox vs Victorinox Rosewood
The knife used in the Victorinox Fibrox and Rosewood is the same knife, the only difference is their handle.
Handle
The handle differences between the Fibrox and Rosewood are huge. The Fibrox has a black plastic handle, which allows for easier cleaning and little to no maintenance of the handle, as opposed to the Rosewood.
As the Rosewood is made out of wood, it is prone to cracking, cannot go through the dishwasher and becomes very slippery when it is wet. This, combined with the fact that there is no difference in the blades makes it less practical than the Fibrox.
The Rosewood does have one redeeming feature however. For all the lack of personality the Fibrox’s black plastic handles have, the Rosewood makes up for. These are very nice looking knives and the grain of the wood is nicely picked up with the staining and rivets.
The choice essentially comes down to personal preference and what value the consumer places on aesthetics. If one prefers a dishwasher friendly, plastic handle, the Fibrox would be the better option. But if you prefer to have a more natural look and feel, the Rosewood might be more suited to your liking.
It is one of those rare cases where the blade will not be the deciding factor of which knife gets chosen, as both use the same stamped blades.
Quick Facts
- Blade Length: 8 inches
- Overall Length: 13 inches
- Blade material: High Carbon Stainless Steel
- Handle material: Black plastic
Closing Thoughts
The Victorinox Fibrox is a good value, entry level knife set for those on a budget. Other than spending a fair amount of time sharpening the blade to keep its razor edge, this is a knife that requires very little and gives its all.
When you compare this knife with others that are significantly more expensive, such as the entry level JA Henckels knives, the Fibrox is significantly cheaper and performs virtually just as well. In all, this knife is a good example of quality exceeding the price.
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