Gorgeous Handcrafted Knives from New West KnifeWorks, Plus a Giveaway!

Ever since I inked the deal on my first book, I’ve been turning my kitchen upside-down every week, cramming the fridge and stuffing the pantry silly with a superabundance of vegs and herbs. It goes without saying that I spend a lot of time breaking down all that food on my massive butcher block with…

Linda Ly

Written by Linda Ly

New West KnifeWorks handcrafted knife

Ever since I inked the deal on my first book, I’ve been turning my kitchen upside-down every week, cramming the fridge and stuffing the pantry silly with a superabundance of vegs and herbs. It goes without saying that I spend a lot of time breaking down all that food on my massive butcher block with an arsenal of knives à la Dexter.

I own a lot of knives, mostly German and Japanese blades from a cleaver to a santoku, but one of the recent standouts is a new knife I was given from a company called New West KnifeWorks — and they’re based right here in the USA.

I have to admit that the first time I laid eyes on their signature Fusionwood 2.0 line (from which this particular knife came), I was simply smitten with its good looks. This is one gorgeous tool!

Fusionwood 2.0 handle

Hand-finished in Massachusetts

Handle made from sustainably harvested hardwood from Vermont

Made in the USA

Wyoming-based New West KnifeWorks

And not only is it gorgeous, it’s also one of the greenest knives you can buy. The handle is crafted from sustainably harvested hardwood in Vermont, then paired with a high-performance steel blade and assembled by artisans in Massachusetts — all in a factory run completely on hydro-electric power. Every knife is engineered and tested in New West KnifeWorks’ headquarters in Wyoming and given a lifetime guarantee for non-commercial use. In an era where stuff is not often made to last, it’s assuring to know that a small and conscientious company stands behind the quality of its products.

Aside from aesthetics, one of the things that intrigued me about the line was how it was described on the site: “Combining the heft of a European knife with the razor sharp edge of a super thin Asian blade, Fusionwood 2.0 gives you the best of both worlds.” Since I own and love both kinds of knives, I couldn’t wait to test this hybrid in my kitchen.

I chose the Mini Chopper Chef Knife (in the Tahoe Shoreline color) for a few reasons: I didn’t yet have this blade shape, I liked the idea of a scaled-down chef’s knife (which sometimes feels unwieldy in my hand), and I felt the small size made it a great travel knife (as I always bring my own knife when I stay in a vacation rental somewhere).

Mini Chopper Chef Knife

Right before my week-long ski trip to Utah, the Mini Chopper arrived in a sturdy burgundy leather sheath (a bonus!) and I put it to use making salads, stews, and pastas every night in my cabin (all of them very prep-intensive meals). It sliced through super ripe tomatoes like butter (where I’d normally use a serrated blade) and held its own chopping heftier vegetables like potatoes.

Sharp steel blade

Good for day-to-day kitchen tasks

When I came home, I used it every day, several times a day, for slicing and dicing everything from garlic to onion. Despite a diminutive blade length of 3.375 inches, it feels comfortable and balanced in my hand and handles day-to-day chopping beautifully — it is the Mini Chopper, after all. After six weeks of use, it hasn’t lost its sharpness, and I have a good feeling it’ll keep going till my manuscript deadline in May (and hopefully beyond that!).

Short but hefty blade

This week, New West KnifeWorks has teamed up with Garden Betty to give away a Mini Chopper Chef Knife! One lucky reader will win a Mini Chopper ($129 total value) in your choice of color.

How to enter: Leave a comment below and tell me what you love to cook this time of year that would make great use of this knife. (Any favorite recipes from my blog? No, it won’t increase your chances of winning, but I’m always curious to know what my readers are making!) To receive an additional entry, follow @theGardenBetty on Twitter, and leave a second comment below indicating your Twitter username. You have two chances to win!

The giveaway will end at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time on Friday, February 28, 2014. Winner will be drawn at random and announced the following week. Good luck!

(By the way, you can also join New West KnifeWorks’ mailing list for a chance to win a seven-piece knife set. So really, you have three chances to win something!)

Giveaway Rules

  1. Giveaway begins February 24, 2014 and ends February 28, 2014.
  2. No purchase is necessary. To enter, leave a comment on this blog post.
  3. Only US residents ages 18 and older are eligible to enter.
  4. Two entries allowed per person.
  5. Odds of winning are based on number of entries received.
  6. Winner will be drawn at random.
  7. If winner does not respond within 48 hours after time of contact, that entry will be forfeited and a new winner will be drawn.

This post is brought to you by New West KnifeWorks. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that support Garden Betty.

Linda Ly

I'm a plant lover, passionate road-tripper, and cookbook author whose expert advice and bestselling books have been featured in Time, Outside, HGTV, and Food & Wine. The National Parks Cookbook is my latest book. Garden Betty is where I write about modern homesteading, farm-to-table cooking, and outdoor adventuring—all that encompass a life well-lived outdoors. After all, the secret to a good life is... Read more »

200 Comments

  1. I spent Sunday afternoon turning the last of my tomatoes into sauce. This knife would have come in handy.

  3. That knife is gorgeous! This time of year I like to make pulled pork tacos. That knife would make short work of toppings like avocado, chopped cilantro, fresh onions and lime wedges. 🙂

  5. I can’t enter since I’m not in the US, but it looks like a lovely knife. I always love your beautiful utensils haha. I wonder if you’re going to have a section in your book about what types of knife to use for what things? I think that would be very interesting, because I’ve certainly never come across that in a cookery book before, and you seem to really understand your utensils

  8. First of all, congrats on the book deal! I know that feeling very well and there’s nothing like it! Secondly, since I live in Ohio, a.k.a. the place where winter decided to target its fury this year, we are enjoying a lot of warm soups, like chili, potato, and minestrone. I’ve been in need of several good knives and this one is GORGEOUS! I have never even owned a chef’s knife of any kind! :-O

  12. This time of the year we’re making a ton of soups (still below 20 degrees in Wisconsin!), so we’re constantly chopping all sorts of veggies. Gorgeous knives!

  13. Wow, that knife is beautiful! With the rain this time of year, soups and stews are my go-to food of choice. Vegetable beef especially. That little knife seems like it would be perfect for prepping both the meat and the veg for a nice pot of stew.

  14. i like to make soups especially chicken soup as it seems about this time of the year someone in my family is sick

  15. February in Texas can be cold one day & hot the next. On the cold days I love to make soup & when it’s hot a salad. Either way there’s lots to chop up, so that beautiful knife would certainly come in handy!

  17. Living in Arizona, we enjoy early spring and I love making salad from fresh veggies and citrus harvested from my garden! Love your site, very inspiring! Happy gardening.

  20. I’m hanging on to soup season as long as I can. this knife would be great for the carrots and celery… and even the shallots and brussel sprouts I put in an egg scramble this morning. 🙂

  23. I garden, and I am always chopping up spinach, kale, Swiss chard, romaine, and beet greens for killer salads and stir fries!

    I would love using this knife both for beauty and size!

  26. I would love to use this knife to make some potato leek soup from the leeks still hanging around my chilly garden!

  29. Here in Kentucky, we’ve been eating a lot of venison this Season. That knife would work great for some of the dishes we prepare.

  30. I love to make zucchini bread. My nephew loves it and he hates veggies. I also love a fresh veggies as an appetizer.

  31. Love to make healthy veggie soup with carrots, cabbage, onions, jalapenos, etc.

  32. Warm winter here in Northern California. I’m chopping up vegies like cabbage, b sprouts, kale and root vegetables for salads. I tweet at @miklfischer. Thanks for your blog.

  34. Twitter username is @bonniebell5936, I’m new to your blog, but great stuff so far! 😀

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