Huusk Knives: The MASSIVE Scam Nobody's Talking About 

They tried to sponsor my last video. After checking the reviews I turned off the offer.

If anyone is claiming they are selling a hand made knife and it's being sold for $30, run away.

Huusk originally promoted their product as Viking knives. When it wasn't selling well, they just rebranded their pot and pan steel knives as Japanese to make it sound cool.

What kills me the most is the struggle to use that shape for food prep

My husband was about to order 2 for $49.99 from their " website ", luckily he asked me to check it out. Thank you for posting this video. ❤

I bought 3 of these knives on “sale”. I was sucked in by the advertising they did. After i received them i lasted all three out in a row. I noticed that the “hammer forged marks” were all at the exact same place on each blade and they also were exactly the same shape. These blades are stamped, not forged.

I know u mentioned u didn’t want people going to hate on the RU-vidrs who advertised this product but the fact is they deserve it. That check from Huusk was worth more than making sure their viewers didn’t spend money on garbage. Meanwhile the RU-vidrs are always so quick to tell viewers how much they are appreciated

As a knife maker this company really gets on my nerves.

I am an actual knifemaker here in the US. The amount of garbage (china/pakistan, etc) being pushed is wrecking the market. The ads are EVERYWHERE.. I saw a comment below talking about how unrealistic a $30 "hand made" knife is, anyone charging less than $150 is very sus. Hand made products are expensive and time consuming. I found this under recommended videos and couldnt help myself ...

"Comes off the box razor sharp and they'll stay like that for years", *laughs in knife person*.

I got mine for $14. It's my cheese and meat knife. I sharpen it every couple of months and it has not been a problem for me. I was not aware of any scam. It's a nice heavy knife that cuts thick 5 lb blocks of cheese and all sizes of meat, raw or cooked, with ease. Maybe I got a good one or something. Edit: I did not get mine from any youtube ad or channel personality.

Too many creators promote anything and everything and I'm over it. I won't buy anything that a RU-vidr recommends- because I'm tired of being lied to. Don't pee on my head and tell me it's raining... 1 gal raves about the free mattress she got and tells us how amazing her sleep is now and she can't believe she lived so long without this mattress- and then shows us the mattress in her guest room. So either she sleeps in the guest room while her husband sleeps in their master bedroom alone- or she's a liar. People raving about all of these stupid games and begging us to sign up and then crickets- but they got paid so that's all it mattered.

Tamahagane isn't really a "kind" of steel. It's more about the process of covering up the fact that you're using relatively crummy/impure iron sand by combining it with pure charcoal (carbon) in a sealed air-proof vessel called a crucible to actually make steel by getting it all to melt together over a long period of time. Then you take the new steel that comes out of your crucible and if it's not too terrible you heat it back up and fold it over and over and over to create a matrix of steel that doesn't let any of the impurities stay together in any one place where they can create a weak spot in the blade. Then you cover half the blade in clay, heat it back up enough to harden the part that isn't covered, quench the whole thing (which causes all that Katana curvy-ness) and grind and sharpen the hardened edge you've made on the outside of the curve. And boom, you've got a toy that will give all the little Samurai out there hours and hours of unsafe fun. The only thing that really makes Tamahagane "special" is that the process allows you to make a relatively decent blade out of pretty crummy materials.

No respectable chef would stab their cutting board with a knife

As an owner of a Japanese kitchen knife mine is about half the thickness of this huusk blade, doesn't even look good for kitchen prep

I feel the creators should be made to bear the blame when they promote scams without doing their due diligence.

These are so common I expect a new one to pop up every week. Every niche has at least one, audio gear, watches, clothing, fishing tackle, knives, the list goes on and on into infinity.

I own a sharpening business in New Zealand, and one of these knives came in to be sharpened. The handle was so rattley and poorly made. The wooden handle was literally moving every time I touched it.

Watching people using these knives shows how bad they cut. Struggling to cut a plastic bag? Slicing 3 times to cut a chicken piece? I have broomsticks sharper than that…

This whole scam sounds like it needs to be looked at under the RICO Act. Due to the number of influencers and companies involved, this may be considered "Modern" organized crime. I'm no attorney, but...

Established titles was also a terrible scam promotion for land ownership, it had no legal bearing or recognition for the affected area whatsoever

My father in law fell for a scam on Facebook, claiming to be selling a Dewalt tool set at 70% off. Even after I told him that it is a scam and to call and cancel his debit card used, he said no that he will wait to see if they will ship him the tools just in case it is a real offer. Two weeks later, he got a knock-off Dewalt screw driver set that he paid $50 for, lol.

100% crap!

I'm a hobbyist knifemaker and culinary knife collector. My wife's social media feeds are always chock full of ads for what I call 'broknives' and its just weird manly looking knives like these that I guess the algorithm thinks she's gonna buy me some crap knives for a gift. Funny thing about really nice and well-made Japanese culinary knives, they often look kind of boring and like every other knife out there. They're about function and not form.

Kamikoto knives, Established Titles, Huusk knives. The list keeps growing. I now fast forward through in-video ads of any channel that has promoted any known scam products. Ad blockers take care of the rest.

Yeah I remember when AWP used husk as a sponsor I immediately commented that they need to do a background check on their sponsors that the knives were junk It was literally the first time they ran that sponsorship!! Of course I didn't hear anything back but now seeing how Jared is and AWP He would sponsor anything to make money

Having Japan with the name is a red flag. Here in Norway I'm always skeptical of businesses with Norwegian flag or names etc. in the logo, as that's often the first sign of an attempt to fake credibility.

This dude is the king of taking 30 seconds of information and stretching it to 30 mins. Dude you said the same thing 30 times.

Man wtf would you buy a knife brand no one has ever heard of and with no way to see and feel their products?

Ancient Japanese Katanas were made of incredibly poor quality steel that was only somewhat redeemed by the exceptional process by which they were forged.

I never heard of this knife brand until now.

Good to hear, but irelevant for me. I never buy/ use something recomanded by RU-vid influences!

By the way that knife cuts. Is not sharp at all. You can see how much pressure you need to put to cut. Also those youtubers who promoted it are scammers themselves.

I fell for their ads and ordered one knife for 39.95. What they did was ship me 4 knives and charged my card for them. In the end, I got a credit so I only paid the 39.95, but they let me keep all 4 knives. They are bulky, heavy, and not very sharp...like a garage cheap knife. Obviously they mass produce these cheap knives. Not impressed so gave all but one away. I make knives and know a good knife from a poor quality knife. Gotta watch out for the power of advertising....lol Under the circumstances, I feel lucky to have gotten a credit.

5 seconds into the video I can tell that knife is garbage just by looking at the geometry of the blade. 4 minutes in I decided that I don't need to watch any more and I'm grateful that I don't recognize a single one of those influencers who have shilled for that piece of crap.

Thank you! I saw them on Tik Tok and was infuriated by the positive comments that so many people made. They abused peoples ignorance.

Any layman can tell just the way it cuts, that its a scam. All video shows the knife pushing through product; but not gliding through effortlessly like a razor. It also looks uncomfortable and annoying AF. Theres not a snowballs chance in hell these RU-vidrs don't know its a scam if i can see its disadvantages within literally 30 secs of looking at it perform on television without even holding it in my hands for real.

funny how the pro chefs never mention that the handles are too small for most adult hands either.

I've adopted the policy of avoiding anything that sponsors RU-vidrs b/c 9/10 times its a garbage product that can get traction on its own merits. I dont mind the people that make the ads though if it helps them pay the bills and keep content free

Great video. It's deceptive advertising, but it's not really a scam. Alot of large companies use some of these practices to different extents. Also, rebranding of cheap products is common across many industries. When you use the word scam, you are opening yourself upto possible litigation.

Thank you for your thorough research on these products. I'm just sad to see some people I follow on You Tube promoting these knives.

As a Chef with actual Japanese knives, I laugh everytime I see these "company name" with the word Japan on them and we all know its never made in Japan.

That’s why I consider all adverts on RU-vid, Facebook etc a scam. Even where the product is genuine the advertisers are usually drop shippers adding their cut

Excellent video. The only thing that's missing is a test to determine how good these knives actually are. Because if they offer good value for the price, you will still have a comparetively good knife, right? Personally I can forgive a company that says "Japan" when it's supposed to say "China", but when - on top of it - the product is bad? That's where I would start warning people about it.

Not a scam imo. Just marketing. People are scammed if they dont get the knives. That other stuff slightly unethical but hey internet

Kamikoto, manscape, huusk, raycon. The list goes on. All bs overpriced rebranded products.

I actually had a Tamahagane knife made by a real traditional Japanese knife maker (only 4 or 5 left who do traditional Tamahagane ). It cost AUD 750 or so.

Stainless steel is more a 20th century invention. Any knife made in Japan is going to cost a lot more than $30 and will last a lifetime if properly cared for.

If you can't expect Tv stations to vet sponsors you can't expect RU-vid creators to vet sponsors either . It's clear to everyone watching it's a sponsored ad bit and the only time they are required to disclose anything is when they have a stake in the company.

You can see from the "chef" endorsements that the knives are clearly photo-shopped into the shots. Also, the photos of the chefs are from stock photos and the names are fake. If you do a search on their names you won't find one that matches the picture.

If a company wants to label their knife for processional use it better have an NSF stamp on it

These scams are actually incredibly common. Many of the products influencers promote are utter garbage/scam.

Nice to see someone still cares where the money is coming from. Much respect for doing the research and doing the right thing.

Cedric & Ada Gear and Outdoors channel has done 3 vids on how bad the knives are

Cedric and Ada gear called Huusk out for selling knives made of what is essentially a pot metal (It’s a steel used to make stainless pots and water bottles), the video had hundreds of thousands of views. Then Huusk sent him a cease and desist through youtube and a legal threat to his channel forcing him to take it down. He did a re-review where he slammed them again, but for some reason mysteriously it’s stuck around 6k views. Now I’m seeing their ads everywhere and can’t help but think that this was them trying to clean up their rep before a big advertising push.

My girlfriend wants some Japanese kitchen knives for Christmas. If I hadn't seen your video I probably would have bought these.You saved me from being scammed.Thanks for posting from the UK!

I literally typed in scam knives because I was looking for a video on these things and an actual ad for huusk was one of the first things to pop up.😂

18/10 is not even a cutlery steel. Some pots and steel bottles are made from 18/10. It is not sufficiently heat-treatable, so the blade and the bevel aren’t hard enough.

Great job of calling this out. I collect fine Japanese and French cutlery. I saw the faux Tsuchime. (hammered) surface, and knew immediately that it was bogus. It was easy enough to research it at a skin deep level to find out HOW bogus they are. Appearance was obvious but "where made Huusk immediately revealed that they were made in China. You did a fantastic job of enumerating the huge number of red flags. For the sake of overkill I will add another and that is just the shape of the blade. Fine Japanese cutlery pretty much falls into three categories of design. 1. Traditional Japanese designs such as yanagiba, deba, etc. 2. interpretation of western designs primarily based on French designs. The Gyoto is an interpretation of the French chefs knife. 3. Hybrid designs that may favor either European tradition or Japanese tradition. The nakiri uses a double bevel edge,(western) vs. the single bevel usuba which shares a similar shape. The Huusk,(with fake Tsuchime), shows none of these design elements. One other thing, just as legit Japanese knife makers proudly display what steel was used, the geographical origin is displayed somewhere, if not on the blade, on the packaging. Most quality cutlery from Japan is made in Seki, Sakai, or Echizen. Those communities are rightly very proud of their blade making heritage and always promote that. Anyway, I type to much. AMAZING job of digging up so many details on the scam. Cheers!

I had a few extra bucks, so I decided to get one of these knives, being a professional cook, it piqued my interest. My first impression was that it was too heavy to use in a professional kitchen compared to my standard 10-inch chef's knife. The second problem I found was the so-called finger hole. This abomination is nothing more than a design flaw and takes away a lot of the stability of the pinching technique that all professionals typically use. The third problem comes in the form of the shape of the curved blade. The rocking motion that you have to use feels unwieldly especially if your taller and having to use a standard height counter/cutting board. True there are a lot of sliding cutting motions used in the kitchen but there are also the straight down cuts that come in use very frequently as well. Sliding works well for meats but not when you have to go through hard vegetables. Overall, I would rank this knife in the middle of the scale not great but also not bad. For me it makes a better utility knife then a knife in the kitchen.

I run a knife sharpening business & returned some knives to a chef on Friday and saw one of these and told him to throw it straight in the bin. I knew nothing of this company or product, you can just tell it's bullshit. Great video!

This is honestly scary what they are trying to do. One of my favorite automotive channels with almost 500k subscribers just uploaded a video sponsored by huusk knives. I did some research and found some of the same questionable stuff that you found which led me here. I made several comments with different accounts of mine explaining that its a scam, but they were all deleted. I thought I could trust that channel, but I guess not. Thanks for making the video and I hope more people see it before wasting their money. It's amazing how easily some people can sell out.

Being a Hobbyist Leather worker, the first thing I noticed was the low-quality cheap leather sheath. It's a shame that so many creators think it's okay to lie to their viewers for the love of money.

If I see a knife or any product does not state it's country of origin, my default conclusion is that it must be from China or somewhere else I don't want to indirectly send money to.

That's why my respect for Cedric went through the roof. The man just proved with science how bad those knives were.

I'm an Industrial Quality Analyst, I immediately confirmed to myself that it was a scam company. Everything points to it being Chinese garbage but the nail in the coffin is the claim that they test every knife for quality. That is NOT how QC works, that's an American and Chinese concept that doesn't work. Japan learned from geniuses like Dr. Deming that you don't inspect quality into the product, you do it right the first time and use statistical process control and sampling to monitor the systems. That's why Japan is the world leader in quality control, they don't fall for stupid bullshit like mass inspection. Also just look at it, might as well use a steel cube as a knife, will work about as well

All RU-vid sponsors should be considered scams. Whether it's knives, watches or Scottish Lord titles, they are all designed to make lots of money from ignorant customers.

Similarly, years ago my friend worked at Hardee's restaurant, they claimed "Made from scratch biscuits", which was true. The frozen biscuit company was named "Made from scratch". Deception in its simplist form.

How to detect a knife scam: - "JAPAN" - Promoted by RU-vidrs completely unrelated to knives - No mention of where it is actually made - No mention of steel used other than "HIGH QUALITY" and "JAPANEEEZ" - Crazy discount BUT ONLY IF YOU ORDER RIGHT NOW

I do not get it. EVERYTHING that is of high quality has a (somewhat) higher price tag! So I buy my Japanese knives from a reputable brand locally. Which thus is around a €200-€250 price tag. Are they worth it, YES! BTW in EU fake ratings are forbidden since some months!

Great job exposing this scam!

Sad to admit it, I got , got. Dopey me fell for the "Japanese Blade of the Samurai." It took a month and a half or more for it to arrive. I had forgotten it was even coming. The first couple of weeks, it was scary sharp. And then it wasn't. I realized a good sharpening stone can make a butter knife sharp. I wasted money for this lesson. Buyers beware. I also spent on that ab stimulator, OOPS. It didn't work, and I can not get it to work. There is no information on the packaging, the instructions book, or the shipping label. No number to call, no support. I'm just "Stuck like Chuck."

Hoax knives...

Anything that markets directly through social media people is usually a scam. But anyone who knows how traditional katana are made would know that would have nothing to do with these knives (it'd be a really stupid way to make a knife)

Husk Japan; Owned by a European company, made out of pot metal in CHINA.

Here's how you can avoid being scammed into buying garbage all these influencers pedal: don't watch influencers.

The thing is that China is very capable of producing quality steel knives. They could have been honest and embraced that, and put out a product that's decent enough quality for a person to invest in, but they chose to be deceptors. I feel sorry for the fallout for the employees, but that company needs to just go away.

*Who’s* *_Huck_* *and what’s all this drama about his knives?!* Proper pronunciation, I guess it’s just too much to *acks…*

You notice, it seems like they stay away from _actual_ knife and blade related channels? They know that people that know knives would see it for the garbage it is.

Pretending your knives are made in Japan because of the "stigma" of a knife being Chinese ignores the overwhelming quantity of top end knives coming out of China today. WE, Kizer, Artisan, Bestech, QSP, Reate etc. Of course, this is not one of them. Lol

Thank you for a well researched commentary. Imagine the depth of malicious enterprise currently available on the web. Sadly I see HUUSK is still marketing with expertly craven presenters but it gives me pleasure to watch them laboriously HUUSKING a pickle or waving it about as if fending off an invisible badger. Sometimes you must laugh & try not to think of the next scam. Me, I hope they contract tetanus.

Thanks for the video, but you should probably have put a bit more effort into saying the actual name of the company each time. Is it "Huusk", or "Hux"? Sometimes you have it both ways in a single sentence. Gets kind of hard to listen to... Still, thanks again for the community service.

The first red flag for me (from watching this) was claiming that the knives were manufactured using 'ancient' Japanese techniques and materials. No one does that for sale to the mass market. It would take far too long to make them. You CAN get traditionally made knives in Japan, but you will pay a premium for them. That and from the get go looking at this knife, I'm sure I saw a vid for probably the exact same knife a while back, it did not get a good review.

Social media truly has become the late night shopping channels of the 90s 🤷‍♂️

Excellent! You are what makes the consumer world a better place. Thank you!!

Why I NEVER buy anything because of a paid endorsement. Wtf does Tom Brady know about Crypto.....😅

The funny thing is that you can see how bad the knife is because it can't even get through an onion. I own a 10€ knife and that one works better.

If anyone expected a high quality knife at $30 they need to seriously get with it. I purchased some for myself and Xmas presents. I wasn't expecting much for the cost, as long as it holds an edge it's a cheap knife to use camping or out by the grill. I'm satisfied with what I've got so far.

Nice content. To be honest, it's very easy to find out that this is some scam in some form just from their promos (and buzz words used in their sponsorships/ads) it's just that most RU-vidrs don't even care and that is the sad reality. Hope you get more subs and make more videos.

Any professional who uses real quality high carbon VG-10 Cobalt stain resistant steel knives knows this scam, or some variation of it. It has been going on as long or longer since the TV Ginsu Knives. Stain resistant and "Stainless Steel" are as different from Le Cordon Bleu is to MacDonalds, it is great for looks, and the washing machine, but it is horrible as a quality knife. The "edge" is often put on at the factory with a micro-serration this makes it act like a saw blade, once that micro-serration is gone ( 6 months or less depending upon usage ), it is impossible to re-sharpen it. Basically it is trash at that point, but hey it was 50% off.

Great video - thanks. This highlights how RU-vid channels need to do their homework before endorsing a product (also see FTX).

How in the world did you do a video like this and you never did two things 1. Buy the product to see if it works 2. Go to some local chefs to get their opinion of the knife(possibly even a Japanese chef) With everything you said it doesn’t make the product a scam unless it doesn’t work. A lot of customers aren’t going to care if it’s from Japan or not, they are going to care if it doesn’t what it’s supposed to do. George Forman never created the George Forman grill but tons of people still bought it. Come on my dude you should have thought about this, how could you not have tried the knife?

If you've ever used a kitchen knife you have to know at a glance that this thing is not going to work well. It could be made of the best materials, but it is still clearly an ergonomic nightmare!

Many of these "Influencers" are serial offenders advertising one scam after another. All any any social media advertising is at best suspect. Legitimate RU-vidrs would know they are renting their own credibility to their advertisers and choose wisely. Promoting scams harms their own credibility and the only redress consumers have is unsubscribe, not interested at the 3 dots. With no views they may learn to reject scams.

Excellent job Venerable. Keep it up

Of course they know it’s a scam. They just don’t give a damn.

Like the video and subscribe to the channel. Thanks!

There is nothing to indicate that the knives even cut well - it looks dull as hell in every example of cutting something - plus whatever going on at the top of the knife seems gimmicky. Screams fake. I’ve seen bed bath beyond knives go for over 200 - sure, the knife market might be inflated but i feel like it would foolish to even think you can get an ultra quality knife for under 50 bucks. Is it sharp, does it cut? Are you a pro cook or amateur? I buy the kiwi knives at Asian supermarkets for 2-5 dollars and use a grinder to sharpen the shit out it till nothing is left when it gets dull and throw in trash. That’s the way to go because I’m not a good cook

Thank you for putting this information out there for consumers and RU-vidrs alike. We live in the age of information, there aren't any excuses, you can be deceived, only if you want to be! 😮

+++ Cedric & Ada also called these guys out, & tested their garbage to prove it. Complete crap knives without heat treat. Thanks for calling out the complete FRAUD of these scumbags.