M22707 Millennia Black Handle, 7-Inch Granton Edge, Santoku Knife

> The 7-Inch Granton Edge Santoku Knife is very sharp and feels "good". It quickly became my favorite knife for slicing and dicing soft to firm (but not hard) vegetables. It is hands-down my "go to" tomato, zucchini, and (already filleted) fish knife. > Practically speaking (because of the shape of the blade) it is the same size as a standard 8" chef's knife. But the Mercer Santoku It is thinner and lighter than a standard chef's knife. Yet, I often choose the Mercer Santoku when previously I would have chosen a smaller knife for a particular task. It's almost like getting a two-fer, the utility of both an 8" chef's knife and a 6" chef's knife in one knife. > The handle is very ergonomically designed, and will never slip in your hand. LIMITATIONS > The "Granton Edge" refers to the scallops ground into the edge for the purpose of making the blade less "sticky". And indeed cheese, tender meat, and moist vegies (such as tomatos and onions) do not stick to the blade of the Mercer Santoku as badly as they do to my standard 8" chef's knife (an expensive Henckels). However, the The Mercer Santoku is not nearly as good in this regard as a hollow-ground chef's knife. Hollow-ground chef's knives are hard to find -- Mercer sells hollow-ground chef's knives, but only with fat 2 1/2" high blades. I have a Mercer 8" long x 2 1/2" high hollow-ground chef's knife, and it is a great knife, but it is substantially larger and heavier than even a standard 8" chef's knife, and much heavier than the Mercer Santuko. The Mercer Santoku is a great companion to the 2 1/2" high Mercer hollow ground chef's knife. > EXAMPLE 1 -- I've test sliced a 4" x 1 1/2" block of cheddar cheese into thin slices with my 8 1/2" Henckels chef's knife, the Mercer Santoku, and my Mercer 8" long x 2 1/2" high hollow-ground chef's knife. The cheese stuck so badly to the Henckels that it crumbled instead of sliced. It was possible, with difficulty, to slice the cheese with the Mercer Santoku. But the Mercer 8" long x 2 1/2" high hollow-ground chef's knife sliced the cheese beautifully. Hint: to slice soft cheese, leave it in the freezer for 1/2 hour first. > EXAMPLE 2 -- I'd choose the hollow-ground Mercer for slicing anything harder than a big 1 1/4" thick carrot, but I'd choose the Mercer Santoku for most lighter slicing task. It's a tradeoff between slicing friction and the effort to physically move the blade. The heavy hollow-ground Mercer probably actually cuts a tomato with less friction than the Mercer Santoku, but the Mercer Santoku is my choice for slicing a tomato. To some extent, the less effort that is required to move the blade to the next slice, the greater the precision, when working fast --- and the less likely that you'll overshoot and slice a finger instead. > The "stickiness" of the blade also has another aspect. If the blade is is "low sticky" (e.g. a hollow-ground blade or a Granton blade), slices (e.g. of tomato, onion, zucchini etc.) "automatically" fall away where you want them. If the blade is "high sticky" (as are most standard chef's knives), the slices stick to the blade until pushed aside by the next slice, and then (Murphy's law applying) roll away (maybe into your sink, or to your floor) or fall under the blade while you are in the middle of your next down slice --- so you wind-up having to wipe every slice off the blade with a finger --- which makes slicing a slow frustrating tedious chore (and may result in a sliced finger if you are distracted). ASIDE -- So, I hear you ask, "Why not a Santoku-like knife with a hollow-ground edge?' It's not possible. You can only grind a useful hollow-ground edge into a thick blade. A Granton edge is a compromise, a way to make a thin light blade a little less sticky. > The Mercer Santoku knife is less-than-ideal for most chopping and mincing, because it is so thin and light. My much heavier and thicker 8" long 2 1/2" high Mercer works well for chopping and mincing because you've got momentum going with you. The edge of the Mercer Santoku blade is flatter than a standard chef's knife, so it doesn't rock as easily for mincing using the rocking method. > For the same reason as above (being so thin and light), the Mercer Santoku is much-less-than ideal for cutting tough sinewy meat or hard vegetables (such as carrots, or hard gourd-like squash) , and definitely should not be used on bones. > CONCLUSION: The Mercer Santoku is a great workhorse "vegetable" knife (which is great for slicing tender boneless meat)-- but you'll also need a larger chef's knife for more heavy duty tasks, and indeed for most general cooking chores. My choice for heavy-duty cutting is a 2 1/2" high hollow-ground Mercer. >>> What about that expensive beautiful Henckels chef's knife? I haven't retired it yet, but I rarely use it. I can't think of a SINGLE thing that the Henckels does better than these two Mercer's --- except look pretty. I've got a couple of other special-use Henckels knives, which are a joy, and the 8" Henckels chef's knife IS a great knife. But bottom line, the Mercers are simply more useful and user-friendly.

Excellent knife! Very sharp. Makes cutting so easy! Don’t have to struggle or press too hard. Sturdy handle.

I've purchased several Mercer knives and they are extremely sharp, hold an edge for a very long time, and generally do what a knife is supposed to do. You could pay a lot more money and not get a better knife. The molded handle may not look as fancy as higher priced knives, but I haven't any issues with the handle and if fits my hand well.

Very sharp,gets the job done in record time

I bought five sizes of various Mercer Culinary knives last year and I am very happy with them. They won't win any knife beauty pageants, but they do great for everyday kitchen work. All of my knives have held up very well, but if I do have a problem I know that a replacement isn't going to break the bank. The only drawback I can see is that handles of some of the larger knives are a little big for small hands. My wife likes the small knives just fine, but she says that the chef's knife is a bit unwieldly for her (but I don't fault the design of the knives for that).

Love this knife. Cuts through veggies with ease.

Santoku-style preparation knife. Bought after getting their (deservedly) wildly high-rated Bread Knife. This is not quite as amazing, but still way easier and effective, therefore safer, than my more expensive other-brand knives. Glad to have both. And to keep the BIG price differences in my wallet! If you haven't bought their bread knife yet, do so! They got the top award in "America's Test Kitchen" magazine over imports costing over $150, when I bought mine for $12.95!

Very sharp and good grip

Este es un excelente cuchillo para la cocina del día a día, llevo meses usándolo y no ha perdido un filo considerable, obviamente se ha desgastado después de meses de uso pero sigue picando perfectamente bien sin nunca haberlo afilado. Es importante que se entienda que este cuchillo sirve para vegetales únicamente, cualquier vegetal pero para carne es pésimo, batalla mucho para cortar cualquier tipo de carne, por eso el título de esta Review, yo uso un cuchillo para carnes y este para vegetales y funciona de lujo, excelente relación calidad-precio.

Bought this for work and was impressed enough that I bought almost every knife in the set. Sharp and quality. You can get a good set for a kitchen for less than $200 if you are just starting out in the trade

It's easy to see why these - and when I say these I mean any knife from the Mercer Culinary Millenia range - have so very many great reviews. Comfortable to hold and work with. They arrive sharp, and more importantly are incredibly easy to keep sharp. And when I say sharp I don't mean, 'Oh that's pretty good' sharp - I mean the sort of sharp that makes your eyes widen a bit, swear under your breath and think about jokes centred on splitting the atom and slicing time. These are all very, very good knives. I simply cannot believe how inexpensive they are, whilst at the same time superb. Should I suddenly find myself fantastically wealthy and for some reason in need of a new knife, I won't be looking any further than these.

Excellent knife! The best I’ve ever had. Perfect sharpness, comfortable handle, great quality and price. I’m so pleased.

Llego muy afilado y el mango es muy comodo. El precio es bastante razonable. Muy buen cuchillo en general.