Mercer Culinary M19901P Millennia Black Handle, 3-Inch Slim Serrated, Paring 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.

Back in about 1980, I found The Bread Knife in a hardware store in a small city. Since I was baking 6-8 loaves a week & was frustrated with slicing them, I gave it a try. It was perfect! Fast forward to 2006 when I lost the knife during a divorce. I've been searching for a replacement ever since. I probably have at least 6 'bread' knives in a drawer. None of them came close. I'm not one to give up when it comes to my bread! So, I ordered this without expecting any better results than previous attempts. Wow! Not only does it easily slice w/nary a crumb, the handle fits my hand better than my old trusty did! My daughter is in the market for a knife set. After seeing my experience, she says she's probably going to order Mercer Culinary.

I can't recall what prompted me to get this knife, but I remember wanting a better tool for chopping up vegetables. I've got a couple decent santokus but I wanted to try the nakiri style and see if it was measurably better. First impressions were good, came razor sharp and ready to cut. I've sharpened it a few times since after substantial use, it holds an edge very well.It's become my default knife, not just for veggies. I use it for thinly slicing meat, processing chicken, even just for a super clean sandwich cut sometimes. It lives front and center on my magnetic knife strip and though I don't abuse it, I also don't baby it. It sits in the sink for a while sometimes, I managed to slightly bend the tip doing something dumb with it a while back, but it's still great. Highly recommended, I expect I'll buy another at some point.

I didn't buy this knife for it's maneuverability or ergonomics. I wanted a great bread knife and got one! Super sharp and glides through sturdy bread as well as soft croissants. Only problem is I should have measured my knife drawer - the knife is a little too long, 8 inches would be better.

Well made knife. Quality control is very spot on. No defects. It came very very sharp. The handle has a textured silicone feeling. The blade is springy and can probably be used to fillet a fish. We used it all around the kitchen for different various tasks and it preformed nicely.

Got this for some trimming and this knife is fantastic. I wanted something cheap I didn't have to worry about and it's much better than I had guessed. It's not pretty, that's true, but it comes extremely sharp, works really well, and has a somewhat stiff blade which I prefer. For the price I'm blown away with the quality.

I bought a smoker so I've been playing with Smoked salmon for a while now. Cold and hot smoked salmon for days, but I aven't been able to get the feel of thin slicing my salmon until I got this knife. It is a game changer! Slices so thin, you can see the knife throught the transparent salmon!

I am a tiny person with small hands and I worked in a garde manger station where we have to prepare variety of sandwiches, soups and salads everyday. It make my life easier and performance much more efficient.The price is also a plus and I have to say it worked better than some of the expensive ones myco-workers have.Overall, really satisfied with the product.

For the price, it's a really great knife. I don't know much about knives but this cuts through everything I've tried. The handle is also really sturdy and thick which is nice.

Lovely sharp blade ideal for cutting vegetables