Asian Collection Chinese Chef's Knife with Santoprene Handle

Fantastic value. Extremely sharp out of the packaging, slices through anything with ease. Despite its size it’s quite light and easy to maneuver. A great introduction to Chinese style knives.

i don't normally write reviews but i am so impressed with this knife i had to write it. i've always wanted a chinese chef's knife due to its versatility and practicality. when i did my initial research my top choice was the dexter chinese cleaver, which was very popular. in the end, i opted to try the mercer primarily because of the rubber handle. i was very happy with the knife. over time i got more interested in knives, german vs japanese steel, and i decided to "upgrade" to the ZHEN VG-10 Damascus Cleaver . the steel was noticeably sharper when you touch it, and the damascus pattern was beautiful. however, when it came time to actually cut, the mercer was actually better. the secret here is that the mercer has a convex grind, while the zhen was a more conventional V-grind. this meant that vegetables did not stick to the blade nearly as much. with the mercer, i can half a cucumber, and slice into thin slices by draw cutting through the cucumber. i could not with the zhen -- the cucumber would stick to the other side of the blade. next up, i tried the Wusthof Chinese Cleaver . i disliked it immediately -- it was very heavy. in fairness, heavy is in the title, but i didn't expect it to make that big of a difference. the fit and finish also wasn't as good; the spine was not smooth, and neither was heel...which meant holding the knife properly by choking up to the heel was uncomfortable. the mercer's spine and heel of the blade are smoothed. and speaking of weight, this is when i realized that the mercer is 8.8 ounces, which is super light. it's also only 2mm thick at the spine. still wanting to find "the best" knife, i tried the other german brand, Zwilling . this one was slightly heavier than the mercer, slightly thicker, but the balance was off. i prefer the 7 inch size of the zwilling more, but the size of the handle relative to the blade was awkward and made for weird balance. if you're holding a chinese chef's knife properly, you're pinching the blade, so in the zwilling half of the handle is sticking out the back of my hand. and this was when i realized that i really, really like the non-slip rubber handle of the mercer. next up, was the Messermeister Asian Precision Chinese Knife, 8-Inch . i don't know why i didn't try this one first before the others, since this is the knife that celebrity chef Martin Yan uses. it was the only knife that was competitive vs the mercer. it is a little bit heavier, which makes certain cutting tasks easier as the weight of the knife helps, but not so overwhelming like the wusthof. it's thicker at the spine, but it actually gets even thinner than the mercer (which you can see in the picture, is already very thin). it's full-tang, 3 rivet, with a nice "ping" when you tap on the blade vs a "thud" of the mercer, so it definitely feels like quality in your hand if you're into that kind of thing. i still liked the rubber handle of the mercer more, so i eventually ended up wrapping the messermeister handle with rubber splicing tape. 5 chinese chef's knives later, the mercer and messermeister are my favorites. for the mercer, the only downsides i can think of are not really downsides at all, but personal preference. the tip is a bit more rounded than the others, not a 90 degree angle. this makes rocking and draw-cuts easier because it doesn't dig into the cutting board as much, at the expense sacrificing ease of delicate tip work. it's also 8 inches instead of 7, but i've gotten used to it. if you're looking for a thin and light vegetable cleaver, this is incredible value at this price point.

I wanted to try this Chinese style knife just to see how to compared to a French chef knife. I was blown away by how sharp this thing is. It sliced through a lemon like a hot knife through butter. I like how high it is so it makes guiding chops with my hand easier. Overall I really like the balance of the knife. It's very easy to use and the grip feels good. I also like that you can use it to scoop food a lot easier than a French knife. I will be using this as my primary cutting knife.

Very nice. Thin and light. If you like MAC knives that are really thin and keep their edges well, you are getting almost the same thing here, just not the crazy blade edge angle like MAC's.

Absolutely love this knife. Came out of the box shaving sharp, which was surprising. My third Mercer knife, and none of them were this sharp out of the box. I ordered this because I don't really enjoy chopping too much. This makes it way easier to chop and scoop. I'm already using more fresh veggies over the pre-chopped packages. It's a large blade, so very easy for larger cutting tasks. I am not the biggest fan of round handles, but the blade makes up for any issues with the grip (which isn't bad, just not my preference). Looks very cool on my knife rack. The balance is solid, considering the handle is pretty small. Have not had any issues with hand fatigue. The blade, so far, does a lot of the work for you. Highly recommend trying this knife out.

I have had one of these (and now a spare in case I drop it) since 2018. It is my most commonly used knife, although I have a nice little collection of Chinese chef knives (mostly CCK). Objectively, the CCK knives are better, with thinner blades and distal taper, but the ease of cleaning and care for the Mercer has me reaching for it. The blade keeps an edge a lot longer than I expected and is very easy to sharpen. Every year, I use mine to break down the products of 30 tomato plants and 45 or so pepper plants, among others. It has held up great. Amazon sells a lot more of the Shibazi Chinese chef knives. I like mine, but it is much thicker (by design). The steel is not as good. It is less enjoyable to sharpen than the Mercer. It was also the knife that I had to do the most to bring up to snuff in terms of fit and finish. All of the square edges needed to be rounded with 400 grit sandpaper. The Shibazi is a much more attractive knife. The Mercer handle is a rubber version of some sort of plant material or something...who knows. Where it counts, however, I reach for the Mercer much, much more often. It is easily the better knife.

I'm just a home cook, not a professional or anything but I gotta say this is my most used knife I own because of it's versatility. Chopping garlic is my favorite job for this knife since the blade design is so tall throughout, it's easy to use your finger knuckle as a guide for the blade. This makes doing those super quick rhythmic chops so simple, kind of like how the pro chefs chop garlic fast. After the garlic is chopped, I put some coarse salt on it, then use the flat top of the blade to scrape the garlic into a paste. A lot faster and cleaner than using a garlic press for paste consistency. After that you can just scrape the paste onto the blade and use it kind of like a flat spatula to scoop it into whatever pot you're cooking with. It also holds an edge well and cleans easier than a carbon steel blade.

Sharp out of the box

Very versatile. The product is well made and extremely sharp. The handle is good, although I would have preferred it to be to be longer. I am happy with my purchase.

Tiene un buen balance, es ideal para un chef profesional o para cualquier amante de la Cocina, ligero y con buen buen filo, el mago pudiera ser de mejor calidad pero te funcionará de una manera cómoda, lo recomiendo ampliamente

Excellent introduction to chinese style chef knives. Handle seems weird at first but since you hold more of the blade than a french or gyuto it works even with big hands. Nice affordable knife that can do a ton of work and you dont have worry about rusting or it getting too beaten up. Factory sharp was very sharp and is holding up still. If you're looking to try out a chinese chef knife or want a cheapish workhorse house knife this is it. Once you really learn how to use it it's hard to go back to western or japanese style knives. My daily driver for kitchen work; will reach for this before my $300 carbon steel nakiri.

I bought this because I wanted to try this style of knife before splashing out on anything more expensive. As others have pointed out, despite the shape, it's not a a 'cleaver' in the sense of something to bash bones with, it's a general purpose tool for cutting up relatively soft things like meat and veg. It's taken me a few cutting sessions to adapt to the geometry, but it is a very versatile tool when you get the hang of it. The wide blade seems to make cutting thin slices of stuff without wandering easier and being able to 'scoop' things from the cutting board to the pan in one go is a plus. Out of the box I found the 'factory edge' very sharp - good enough to score pork rind cleanly and with control, which needs a good edge. The edge has held up reasonably well for a stainless steel knife. After two cutting sessions it was noticeably dulled, but a few swipes with a ceramic rod restored it. This isn't unexpected for the steel - there is always a trade-off between corrosion resistance and edge quality/retention and the compromise here leans towards corrosion resistance. I've left it out wet on the draining board, and not a spot of rust. It's a very good knife for the price IMO. I'd recommend, but don't expect the edge to hold up like super-hard high end knives. Much easier to sharpen though!