The Annihilator is surprisingly sharp. Like, razor sharp. And the fourteen inches of blade means the whole rack sits under the edge before you start. We just lined it up, and watched it cut through like it was nothing.

You’ll build muscle lifting it for sure, but once you let it go, the weight does the rest. The 2.5lb weight, plus the surprising sharpness takes the force out of the equation. Where a chef knife would have you sawing back and forth, this is basically a power tool.

On paper, 2.5lbs sounds like a wrist injury. In the hand it is the opposite. It’s front heavy for sure, but bull-tang construction runs a single piece of steel from tip to end cap, and the bolster puts the balance point where your fingers already are.

It’s built like a tank. 7CR17MOV-X is a heavy-duty steel that takes a beating. At 56–58 HRC, sharpened to a 16–18° edge and LionShield™ treated against rust, it’s not going to fall apart. The handle is triple riveted, the end cap is locked. Nothing about it is hollow, stamped or decorative.

This thing is NSF certified. In a nutshell, it means a pro butcher could bring it to work tomorrow and nobody could have anything to say about it. It’s built according to commercial food-service standards — the same requirement a professional kitchen applies to every tool on its line.

Fourteen inches and 2.5lbs is a lot of knife to bring to a small job. It is wildly sharp out of the box, so it can absolutely dice an onion. But… we wouldn’t unless we were showing off. Then again, why wouldn’t you show off with this thing?

This was the surprise. It sits on a handcrafted acacia stand, in your eyeline, so you can’t help but pick it up. Even when you don’t really need to. Because it’s a blast to work with. Simple as that.