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

  2. I make soups and stews this time of year. Vegetable soup is a favorite, and I could use this knife to chop and slice lots of veggies.

  3. These knives are absolutely gorgeous! True works of art, plus I love the melange of colors. My husband and I love to make stirfry at least once a week : with chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or just all sorts of fresh veggies. So good and each time it’s different depending on what we have on hand. This knife would be perfect for chopping!

  5. I love the size of the knife and would use it for everything. I make soups, and stews a lot. I chop a lot of garlic and onions too! I just found your site!!

  10. I love to make soup this time of year and this would make chopping a breeze and beautiful! It is 10 degrees right now!!

  11. I really wonder how it works in my day to day. I generally like larger grip sizes since it means I don’t have to hold the knife has tightly to maintain control. I’ve been using a larger 8″ chef’s knife but this looks really good to take down chicken joints. I’d still probably to stick with a sujihiki or cimeter to cut down ribeyes though. 🙂

  12. Hi there, my favorite thing to cook now is chicken, I bake a lot of it during the winter months and your knife would be perfect for me to cut up all the herbs and veggies, I use.

  13. Hello! I’m visiting from Sweet Potato Claire.

    My favorite thing to cook this time of year is soup. Any kind of warming soup. That knife would be beautiful for prepping all the vegetables!

  14. We love to cook fish with veggies on top (bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, avocados and onions) as winter winds down (we’re in Texas) and this knife looks like it would be perfect as it’s “Made in America” – the only way to go!

  16. I have two good knives! And I am an avid gardener and vegan. What’s wrong with me, Betty? Thank you for all the fun posts. What book deal?

  17. French onion soup is one of my favorite soups to prepare when transitioning from winter to spring. That knife would make short work of onions!

  18. A beautiful knife and made in the US! I make a very large pot of soup once a week- usually on one of our snow days. The leftovers are great for lunch throughout the week. The last pot was a corn chowder with red potatoes, red peppers, and zucchini.

  19. Does making kimchi count as cooking?
    I simply can’t get enough of cabbage this time of year and this knife would DEFINITELY make my slicing and prep work for kimchi and saurkraut much easier!

  20. We have one NWK and love it! My daughter has discovered coleslaw and I have been chopping away at cabbage. A colorful salad this time of year with red cabbage.

  21. I’m making a traditional winter stew from a recipe I found in a Japanese vegetarian cookbook.

  22. Making Beef Barley Vegetable Soup this afternoon. That knife would make short work of chopping all the veggies. First time to your blog. Love it!

  25. Wow, this is a beautiful knife. This time of year I am making gumbos and soups, and stews also …..I have recently ventured into Polish cooking and found a wonderful Hunters Stew that we really enjoy (with sauerkraut!). I also pre-chop and freeze onions, bellpeppers, and celery (the trio I use in much of my cajun cooking). Thanks for the giveaway!

  26. well – i just finished up a roasted beet, kale, pistachio, blood orange salad that was all chippy chopped! 🙂 those are gorgeous knives there!

  27. Soups and stews are perfect for this time of year (even though So-cal never gets cold enough). But chopping up loads of veggies and quartering a few chickens just makes for a real nice, home-warming, comfort-food atmosphere.

  31. Bright, colorful salads always help to get me through the dark days of winter. The NWKW chopper would do a beautiful job on everything from mixed greens to kale to a salad loaded with peppers and herbs.

  32. I’m really into big leafy green salads and veggie soups so a good chopping knife would come in handy!

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