TOAKSTitanium 3-Piece Cutlery Set

I purchased some TOAKS brand Titanium Cutlery sets and some TO-GO-WARE Bamboo Cutlery sets on Amazon. Each has some interesting advantages, but as I think you will see, the Bamboo spoon is nearly worthless and the Bamboo knife is an oddity that it hard to describe. The Toaks Titanium stuff is very traditional in form, well balanced in your hand, very functional, expensive, strong/stiff and yet amazingly lightweight and beautifully finished.Its about $18 per set for the 3 pieces. Not cheap. It weighs 1.7 ounces for the 3 piece set + the mini caribiner. There is NO case with this set and the mini-caribiner is almost too small to use. If you have fat fingers just throw the mini-caribiner away. If you have agile fingers then you can use it, for something???As light as this set is, it feels good in the hand, the utinsels are roughly the same size and shape as the stuff in your kitchen drawer, and its strong. Titanium is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, doesn't rust. Pretty much the perfect material for the ultra-light hiker (other than the high cost). Close examination of the Toaks Titanium cutlery shows that this is a high quality set that a craftsman would appreciate using. Its finished very nicely with a brushed finish at the handles and a mirror polish at the use end.As long as we are talking about food, how about discussing some eating utensils?GEAR REVIEW: Bamboo ~vs~ Titanium CutlerySince there are several of us going on this trip I figured that I'd buy some Christmas presents for some of the others who will be on the trip and it would give me the opportunity to compare different items.I purchased some TOAKS brand Titanium Cutlery sets and some Bamboo Cutlery sets. Each has some interesting advantages, but as I think you will see, the Bamboo spoon is nearly worthless and the Bamboo knife is an oddity that it hard to describe. The Titanium stuff is very traditional in form, well balanced in your hand, very functional, expensive, strong/stiff and yet amazingly lightweight.TOAKS TITANIUM:This is the stuff I am keeping for me and for my wife. Its about $18 per set for the 3 pieces. Not cheap. It weighs 1.7 ounces for the 3 piece set + the mini caribiner. There is NO case with this set and the mini-caribiner is almost too small to use. If you have fat fingers just throw the mini-caribiner away. If you have agile fingers then you can use it, for something???As light as this set is, it feels good in the hand, the utinsels are roughly the same size and shape as the stuff in your kitchen drawer, and its strong. Titanium is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, doesn't rust. Pretty much the perfect material for the ultra-light hiker (other than the high cost). Close examination of the Toaks Titanium cutlery shows that this is a high quality set that a craftsman would appreciate using. Its finished very nicely with a brushed finish at the handles and a mirror polish at the use end.TO-GO-Ware BAMBOOAs light as the Toaks Titanium stuff is, this TO-GO-Ware is even lighter. The entire set, with the case, is 1.7 ounces. So same total weight but more parts. The set includes CHOPSTICKS, plus a CARRY CASE, plus a fork/knife/spoon and it even includes a lightweight small caribiner. Set cost was $11.55 from Amazon. Its supposed to be eco-friendly, even the little case is made of recycled materials. This stuff looks pretty good on the surface, and its supposed to stand up to repeated use/wash/use cycles.So compared to the Titanium stuff this is a bargain, more pieces and a lower price. But close examination of the spoon shows that this spoon has almost no capacity to actually scoop any liquid into your mouth! Oh it would work for a hearty stew, chili or chunky style soup but anything with a thin broth is going to be an exercise is futility to consume. Then there is the knife? No serrations and a curved blade? By curved I mean a SIDEWAYS curve! I dunno why? And not only does it lacks serrations but it also lacks a sharp edge. Sure, you can cut a stewed carrot or potato with it. Probably spread butter just fine and cut a muffin in half too, but don't go after that T-bone with this knife. The fork is a 3 tine fork and its probably fine for eating just about anything.All 3 of these main cutlery pieces feel pretty good in your hand and the chopsticks also appear to be very functional, even if a little bit shorter than some of the pairs we have in our kitchen. All 5 pieces have a very nice smooth finish to them, all have some sort of food safe sealer applied. I just don't see the knife or spoon as particularly useful, with the spoon being the worse of the two pieces.While the caribiner with the Toaks Titanium is tiny, it is high quality and will stand up to years of reasonable use, I'd say that the aluminum (?) caribiner that comes with the TO-GO-WARE Bamboo set is a novelty piece that is better discarded than carried. It might work for a couple days, maybe a couple weeks, but its pretty much junk.VERDICT: Between TO-GO-WARE Bamboo Cutlery and the Toaks Titanium Cutlery its the Toaks Titanium that is the easy choice, wreaks of quality and is actually useable . . . Unless you drive a Prius, then you'll buy the Bamboo stuff and show us how superior and eco-friendly you are while spilling your soup down your chin and gnawing your steak apart with your teeth because your knife can't cut meat . . . oh wait, you are probably a vegetarian if you buy the Bamboo stuff so cutting a steak is not an issue for you . . . but the soup spoon will dribble all over you!If I was a super-lightweight backpacker I'd probably take a SPORK and call it a day, but I'm willing to accept 1.7 ounces of Titanium in my backpack versus 0.6 ounces for just a SPORK.

My first foray into titanium for backpacking gear. I have resisted the trend on titanium cookware so far but a full set of well made cutlery seemed well worth the investment. I bought the TOAKS Titanium 3-Piece Cutlery Set to replace a heavy, stainless steel fork/spoon combo called the "Hungry Camper" and was not disappointed. I have used my Hungry Camper since the early 90's (so long that I originally ordered it via snail mail from an advertisement in the back of Backpacker Magazine . . . back in the days before the Web and e-commerce). I used to extol the virtues of the Hungry Camper to anyone who would listen but the TOAKS set has won me over. Oh the pleasure of being able to have both a fork and a knife in separate hands at the same time! And to have a real fork with real tines that can actually stab at food with precision!Anyway, I purchased the TOAKS set for a trip to the Bridger Wilderness in WY back in August and it served me well. It was lighter than my old Hungry Camper while providing significantly more utility. The fork, spoon, and knife are sufficiently strong and adequately stiff . . . bendable but not without really trying. I should note that my travel partner brought a cheap plastic backpacking spork and admitted at the end of the trip (after enough celebratory & medicinal beers) that he was envious of my TOAKS cutlery set (I might have him sent him a set for x-mas as a surprise).My only small complaint is with the tiny, D-ring carabiner that comes with the set. The carabiner works well at keeping the set together but its shape causes the individual pieces to bind a little on it when attached. Not a big deal but using an oval shape for the carabiner instead would eliminate the binding. Despite that little issue, I did find that keeping the set together made fishing them out from my cluttered bag a little easier. I had considered leaving the carabiner behind on the WY trip but was later glad that I didn't.

As a fan of the Toaks titanium sporks, I expected to also like these and was not disappointed. Same great quality as the sporks. The smooth mirror finish on the eating end of the utensils is great. The overall design is just attractive, classic and easy to use. I really like these.

I bought this to replace a Sistema Us Inc 1917 Klip It Cutlery Set To Go set that I use for my lunchbox. The plastic set I had was nice and compact, but suffered from a few issues. The spoon was too shallow to use for soup, the knife didn't actually cut very well, and the blunted plastic on the fork didn't pierce into food well. This titanium set is very well constructed and very light compared to a set of cutlery from my kitchen drawer. The knife can be used to cut things where the plastic one I was using couldn't cut through meat. The spoon is deep enough to use to drink soup. The set is extremely lightweight and includes a carabiner to keep it all together. It is about the same weight as the set I had before but far more functional. The titanium is very resistant to rust and even though it can be bent with some force, you can bend it back. The only drawback to me would be the price, but I feel I'm getting a high quality product for what I paid. Buying boxes of disposable cutlery works, but those aren't as durable as titanium and after a year the cost of these would easily break even. This is over twice the price of the plastic Sistema set I have, but works better. During my lunch break, I want to relax and eat, not worry about whether my knife can cut through my food or struggling to drink soup with a shallow spoon.

These high-quality titanium utensils are thick, unlike other brands. However, I wish they sold them separately, as I’d buy more forks. The knife is useless and unnecessary; I’d rather have a spork.