I work for vector right now and I can tell you that the handles are not plastic. The forever guarantee is for real. I've had many customers send their knives in for sharpening and replacement after maybe 15 years, costing them a total price of about $25. Think about it, the average person might have cutco themselves for about 60 years, costing a total of $100 to keep their knives intact. Then they could pass the same set of knives to their children, who again only pay $100 for a top quality set of knives. It is more of an investment than anything
I can also tell you that selling to strangers is just as easy as selling to friends and family, since I have sold about $21,700 so far in about a summer and a half.
I really want to debate this with you. Send me an email at pwagy@yahoo.com