The SteigenBerger knives are a scam. The http://www.steigenberger-worldwide.com website is a front for selling cheap Chinese (I’m guessing) recycled steel knives. Rob Bevan got scammed by this and wrote a post back in 2004 about this when they were being sold under the name Berghaus and Swissler Royal. There’s nearly 400 comments on Rob Bevan’s site of people who’ve been similarly scammed.
The story
A dutch guy called Jacob called at our house in Belgium today. He was in Belgium on his way back to Holland. They had furnished a flat for a new block of apartments which they had just furnished as a show flat. He had some furniture from the apartment that he didn’t want to take back to Holland. When we went to see him he said that he had just given the
furniture away. However he said that he had a few knives and saucepan sets left from an exhibition that were a ‘real bargain’ – a 90% discount on the retail price. He offered the knife set and the saucepan set. We paid 60 euros for the knife set.
Had a quick check with the local policeman – this is not actually a crime because you’ve agreed to buy, its simply a civil matter that is almost impossible to prosecute with because he is a foreign citizen.
The website
A domaintools.com check on the steigenberger-worldwide.com site is that its registered by T&U Handel und Service GmbH and a guy called Andreas van de Vinne whose e-mail is steigenberger.worldwide@gmail.com. The address its registered to is the same address as the contact page on the website in Germany – both could be made up though – I don’t know how strict the Germans are about checking addresses.
Notes
An interesting comment by Rob Bevan in his post referring to a forum that is now defunct:
“I bought the knives and they are horrible. They are a very heavy piece of dull steel. I brought them to a professionell service and they explained, they can not resharpen, as the steel is recycled and too soft. I am using them now in the garden ..”
There’s a german discussion on the SteigenBerger knives on this forum, or the google translated version.
Ian Channing 
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