M23506 Renaissance, 6-Inch Chef's Knife

Mercer knives are made with the same steel as Wusthof, Henckels, and Messermeister, but cost a fraction of what the German-made equivalents do. They're not quite as well finished as their German counterparts, but that can actually be an advantage- that mirror polish on the Wusthof is beautiful to behold, but any knife that gets any use at all will inevitably get scratches on the blade and handle. The more polished the knife, the more the scratches stand out. The Mercer knife takes a few design cues from Messermeister, namely the thinner blade, the abbreviated bolster web, and the rounded spine. Back in the 1980s, when Wusthof was king, the thinking was that a heavier blade was better, that somehow the weight of the blade would "do the work for you"- a silly proposition. A thinner blade goes through the food easier and without as much wedging, and the lighter weight is much less fatiguing. The only time a heavier blade is better is if it isn't sharp, and you have to force it through the food with brute strength. Sharpen your knives and you won't have to worry about it. For a long time, a fully webbed bolster was considered a sign of quality. The reason being that it identified the knife as being forged, rather than stamped. The web itself (which is what most people mean when they say "bolster") serves no purpose, and actually gets in the way of sharpening the knife properly, and makes it far more difficult than it needs to be. Messermeister and Mercer have done away with the webbed bolster, so there's nothing getting in the way of keeping your knife sharp. Wusthof and Zwilling/Henckels have nice, crisp, squared-off edges on the spine of the knife. It looks pretty, but when holding the knife properly, the square edges dig into the skin where your index finger meets the palm of your hand. Messermeister and Mercer round off those sharp corners, making it more comfortable to hold correctly, especially when using it for any length of time. I personally don't like the Mercer 10" Chef knife, and the 8" (which is considered the norm for household use) is just not quite enough knife. In my experience, the 9" Chef Knife is the sweet spot, and the one I recommend. This is the knife that will handle 80% of your cutting needs. After that, an inexpensive serrated bread knife and paring knife (serrated knives aren't worth sharpening, once it gets dull, it's best just to get a new one, so a reasonably cheap stamped bread knife is the way to go) will round out the kit. After that, if you're going to be fabricating proteins and/or boning out poultry, a 5.5" boning knife will come in handy.

My first good chef knife and I love it. Good feel. Nice and sharp. Great weight. Excellent buy for the money.

Really great knife. The grip is nice and it’s super easy to wash. The knife came super sharp. It’s great value.

Just recived this today and got to try it out. Bought it to start replacing worn out knives in an old Farberware set. This 8" chefs knife was reviewed on youtube as being comparable to a $120 German knife. Being I formerly cooked professionally and wanted a great knife on a budget I decided to give it a try. Out of the package it seems quite sharp to me. The knife feels like it has good weight and is balanced like a higher end knife would be. I decided to wash it and chop up a salad for dinner. It did well gliding through all the vegies and especially tomatoes. It cut into the tomatoes with great ease, not smashing them at all. The only negitive is the blade has a taller profile and does not fit in the space in the block that came with my old set in any place of the old knife block but the cleaver's spot. You can see in the second photo where I have the tired old Farberware chef's knife next to the Mercer how much more substantial it is overall. So now I kinda need a better knife block to store this and the other new knives I plan to buy. Some will be Mercer for sure. 8/6/20 I am still using the knife and several other Mercer knives. They still are very sharp and to maintain that I had to purchase a sharpener that can do a 15° edge as that is what is put on at the factory. This is pretty much typical for Asian knives. I found it here on Amazon. I actually got one that can do 20° for most American and European knives and 15° as well. My advice is use these with a wood or Polly cutting board. Hard wash them as the dishwasher can dull or Nick knives. Sharpen when you can't cut tomatoes well with a good sharpener.

After having and using this knife for a few weeks, I have to say, function-wise, the 8" Chef knife is excellent. I see why so many recommend this knife. It came pretty sharp "out of the box", though I would recommend touching it up if you have the tools (I touched it up using a Spyderco Sharpmaker, I have not taken this to my waterstone yet). It is well balanced, and makes quick work of basically everything I throw at it. Unfortunately, my concern is the QC of the steel. I see that there are noticeable number of other reviews that talk about blemishes, tarnishing, and rusting. It is obvious that the knife seems to be properly made in Taiwan, but the raw steel doesnt seem like its QC is up to what I am used to with Taiwanese made products. I have a feeling that they get their "German steel" (just a German formulation of steel, it doesnt mean that it's made in Germany), from some random factory in "China", like the countless other cheapo Chinese made knives you can find. It took only a few days before I had some noticeable blemishing along the blade for me. I do actually take good care of my knives, as I only hand-wash with dish soap and a soft sponge. I also towel dry my knives immediately after washing. It looks like the batch of steel used in my knife was a little off from what it was supposed to be. In the end, the blemishing is not major, as it doesnt seem to be so bad that it might threaten the structural integrity of the blade, it seems to be just cosmetic. Its more disappointing more than anything that the "stainless" steel is not actually "stainless". It looks like, if you get this knife, functionally, you can expect it to perform extremely well, however, you roll the dice on if it will have minor cosmetic issues/rusting.

Superb balance, good weight, very sharp out of the box. This is very solidly made, smacks of quality much higher than the price point. It's been good for all things, including fine julienne and dice as well as carving meats. Retains edge very well. Would highly recommend to anyone looking to get a first proper knife and not just a cheap thing to chuck in the dishwasher.

Great knife. sharp well made and has a good balance.

sehr gut Ich bin super glücklich mit dir!

I very happy have this knife. Thx so much.

My second knife from Mercer. The first is a serrated bread knife from the Millenia series, which is praised by everyone who used it. This is my first chefs knife too. So I was careful to consider quality, maintenance, features and price points. I was surprised by how premium it feels, with a good weight and balance. Probably the best for home use imo. Went to get others from the same serie a s well. My mom was impressed by them, think will be getting for her as well.