When I saw the video, I thought this would be easier to use than my then current favorite, a Dexter New Haven (curved tip) knife. This seems to be well constructed and sturdy, but it took me much longer to open oysters than with the New Haven. After a half-dozen, I gave up and went back to the old stand-by. I'll watch the video again and give it another go, but first impression is that it makes for a more difficult shucking.Just easy. EverytimeThis is my favorite oyster knife of all time! I've worked professionally in kitchens for 30 years and in the same oyster bar for the last 20 years this is my own personal go to knife. In fact, I won't shuck an oyster without it! I'm an average size guy and the ergonomic pistol grip fits my hand like a dream. It just feels like an extension of my hand. I've used dozens of different knife designs over the years like the Boston, Galveston, New Haven, and Carolina models and at least to me, they all made me feel like that I was fighting the oyster. The Shucker Paddy feels like I'm working WITH the oyster. This knife has a design that seems to alter the fulcrum point to open the shell with less effort. It has a slightly narrowed point to really get down in the shell and a simple twist and it's open. It's not a miracle blade for every single oyster to magically open, you do have to work with some of them. Most people shucking oysters(novices or seasoned pros), eventually will go to the prising method for particulaly stubborn shells. It seems to happen more with 4 inch Boston's and New Haven's. In any case, it's bad for the knife and sooner or later you'll end up with a broken blade. With this knife you simply don't have the inclination the prise. It just feels natural to twist to get the shell open and protecting the precious oyster inside. It works on every type of oyster I've tried it on and in my restaurant where we get many different types of oysters, this knife is especially good for those shells that have a high coral or limestone type makeup. These shells tend to shatter making it difficult to get the oyster out. When this happens the wider blade knives like the Carolina or New Haven's are almost useless and the Boston's don't seem to have very good control. The Shucker Paddy gives you the ability to get inside the oyster and cut the abductor muscle with minimal damage to the oyster. And that is the whole point, isn't it? To get that wonderfully delicious mollusk out of the shell with as little damage as possible, and into your stomach! All knives are personal. Some just feel better than others for whatever reason. There are a couple of people at my restaurant who prefer a different knife and they like the feel of a Boston for example. And if some people try this knife, they may feel the same. Which is just fine, but from my experience 9 out of 10 people will choose the shucker paddy. It is a well made knife that will stand up to plenty of abuse, it's cost efficient, and best of all it makes shucking oysters easier. All in all, in my opinion, the best oyster knife on the market.We have several oyster tools and this one is the best.The shucker paddy has made my days a lot easier. I shuck oysters at a raw bar in an oyster specialized restaurant and this shucker is one of two types of shucking knife you really need to do any oyster. I shuck 200-400 oysters a day, 5 days a week, and I've had one of these knives for about a month now. It has cut my ticket times in half because opens fragile west coast oysters without damaging the shell easily and east coast oysters almost as easily. I would recommend you also have a heavy duty shucker with a hooked tip for more hearty oysters like gulf or jumbo Standish shores. This is a finesse tool, not a force tool, so to the reviewers that say they broke it, I say they need to relearn how to shuck an oyster. Place this in the rear end of the oyster and gently twist and you should feel the oyster open a bit, then slip the knife in and cut the tendon and the shell will open right up. Best shucker hands down.The best oyster knife I have ever used.This is by far the best oyster shucking knife I have ever used. My wife and I bought this knife to use on Pacific oysters and are EXTREMELY PLEASED. We compared this knife with another premium straight blade oyster knife and we prefer the Swissmar Shucker Paddy knife over any other. This knife is easier to use on multiple oysters commonly found on our shores. It works very well for small and large oysters. We have purchased another Swissmar Shucker Paddy knife so that both of us can use this knife at the same time. The straight blade knife is great but this knife is EXCELLENT! This knife is very well built with its full tang and built in guard. Our hands did not slip past the guard once, even on large difficult oysters. This knife looks like it is primarily designed for a right handed user (makes marketing sense) but works equally well for me (a lefty). We give this oyster chucking knife the highest rating available and consider it money well spent.Cheers,This is the easiest and best shucking tool I have ever tried! I was able to open a dozen oysters in about 5 minutes! I use it with a wooden block (purchased at my local farmers market) that slips over the counter edge and securely holds the oyster while inserting the tool.I have loads of respect for local hero and World Champ "Shucker Paddy," his restaurant is a favourite in town (loved Starfish too), so I was eager to try his design when the tip of my old knife gave out one day. I've been using it for a few weeks, and the tip and handle are really the best designs out there. It gets in there, the metal is strong and will not twist, the grip is comfortable, the knife works really well, and sometimes too well.Below the tip the knife has a "bottle opener" cutaway profile rather than a more traditional triangular profile. The problem is that when the tip gets through, there is no friction to slow the blade, and when you're being forceful, you risk either the blade plunging through to the hand holding the oyster, or the shell's edge running into the shucking hand as the hands rapidly come together. This is why it's essential to hold the oyster with a towel or something, to protect the hand. This isn't a problem with every type of oyster, but the lesson is to take care. If I get a chance to ask the man himself about this, I'll definitely post an update here.The verdict is that if you really enjoy oysters, keep a couple of designs around including this one, because different designs will excel at different oysters. It's a great design,but sometimes it works too well.After reading many reviews I settled on this knife out. Handle is very comfortable and does allow for nice twisting leverage. My first use was with very large oysters which required a lot of force to insert into the hinge and twist/pry open. The steel blade is thin and not hardened enough so it bent quite a bit... I needed to straighten the blade after each use. Likely not an issue with smaller oyster varieties. I can see the structural advantage with traditional thicker triangular blades.I like the design of this. The pistol grip makes for easy rotation with the wrist when wiggling your knife.I've also met Paddy multiple times as his old pub in Toronto and always had a great experience there. (you know where I am talking about).First time shuckerGrip is comfortable and I like how the head is smaller than most shucking knives.I don't like how thick the tip of the knife is though, I feel like it would be better if the tip wasn't so chunky and if the cutting edge was sharper.The knife tip is so thick that i'm not sure if i can even manually sharpen it myself.For easy to open oysters, this knife is my favorite (bought 5 different ones from amazon). Was almost impossible to use for some of the more tricky oysters though.Love this knife; for me, it works way better than the traditional oyster knife and I feel like I need less strength to shuck those oysters. And as for clams, I have never used a traditional clam knife before, but no need; I can open clams faster than I can open oysters with this knife, and with the narrow pointed blade at the tip, you can easily maneuver into the clam and cut the muscles without struggling. I will never use the traditional knives ever again!