$40 vs $160 knife

hey guys welcome back Ricky here all right so today I have a comparison between the Mercer Renaissance shift knife and the wof icon these two knives are knives that you guys definitely want consider if you guys are into European knives and you are shopping for a new knife so I'll start with the wsof give you guys some of the specs of the wof then we'll go to the Mercer see the wof icon is one of those knives that you really cannot go wrong with the handle is one of the most comfortable handles that you can buy on any knife The Cutting ability of this knife is also very fantastic it's a very stable knife has a great cutting profile it has a decent Edge holding ability of 4 to 5 days for a German knife that is very very standard and also the fit and finish is also fantastic it really is sucking To None when it comes to fit and finish the Germans really know how to build their knives and this knife here is one of those knives that really has uh changed the way I feel about German knives because for a long time the handles of German knives were never really comfortable for my hands uh but when this knife came out and the way it actually is sculpted and is shaped it is perfect for hands of my size I really enjoy the way this knife feels on The Cutting Board it has a very precise stop so it has a very short flat spot towards the end of the knife for me it gives me a really good indicator of when to rock the knife or bring the knife back towards the belly it is a little bit heavy in terms of the weight of the knife especially in the handle area it uses a palm handle so a polyoxymethylene which is a very good handle it's very heat resistant shrink resistant and also bacteria resistant it has a really nice diso taper so the tip actually has a very very thick thin Cutting Edge so the baller itself is actually fairly large right behind where you would hold your thumb if you were in using this in a pinch grip or the chil the neck area and it has a very sharp aggressive taper down to The Cutting Edge really checks all the boxes in terms of what you would want in a German style knife now the Mercer is a knife that has really surprised me in terms of how well it performs first off is the steel this uses the x50 CRM Mo v15 steel so that designation is basically telling you what the composition of the steel is surprisingly the wof actually uses the exact same composition of Steel in terms of cutting performance how does this compare to the wof actually it performs extremely extremely well and actually in some ways it is better so if you look really closely here it has a very gentle radius from tip to heel and it actually has no hard stops anywhere which is really really nice for those who like rocking on their knives sometimes a knife that has a flat spot in the back will have a come more abrupt stop when you are coming down from the belly uh this knife doesn't have any of that it is extremely smooth if you were to finally chop mushrooms cilantro and onions uh really really nice for that it definitely is a very comfortable knife to use in that regard the Wood stock has a very slight stop as we said and so it feels a little bit more precise so really depends on what you're looking for if you're looking for more Precision the wof will offer that but if you're looking for more free form cutting the Mercer actually feels a little bit better on The Cutting Board coming down to the handle I was actually surprised to see that there are no gaps anywhere on the handle and the Palm handle and the steel I mean this thing is airtight now this knife here is NSF certified so basically it's designated as it's actually restaurant safe and you can take this knife into any kitchen a professional kitchen and actually use it uh the woff is also NSF certified now just to be fair this handle is really more comparable with the woff Classic knife there are no sharp Corners anywhere uh I wish it would be slightly more sculpted in my personal opinion but it actually is very very comfortable it also has a really nice polish behind the bolster now also with this bolster something that is actually kind of surprising to me was is actually more comfortable to hold in a pinch grip than the wof if you look really closely here the fser on the Mercer is actually shaved further the back and actually has a more even tapering the Polish on the spine is also very good it's actually more rounded than the wof the only time that that is actually an issue is when you actually are sharpening this knife and your finger is on the spine it actually because of its very angular cutting it actually is a little bit uncomfortable again not dangerous and not hard just slightly uncomfortable the immerser has a rounded spine which to me is actually much more comfortable to use uh it has a exension about four to 5 days which is actually on par with the wof on the cutting board I would say that they are neck and neck in terms of raw performance so really the only thing lacking on the immerser relative to the icon is the lack of the sculpted handle but also keep in mind that sculpted handle is not found anywhere else on any other knife 99% of the German knives that you guys will buy will have the same classic style handle which is very very comfortable for most standards the only really negative thing about buying a mercer is that they are not widely distributed like the wofs are I mean you can go to any retail store and find a wof with Mercers I think you have to buy them either on their website or on Amazon or on eBay so they don't really have any major retailers actually carry their knives other than maybe some uh restaurant supply stores which also are kind of hard to find depending on where you live so in terms of sharpening these knives both knives can be sharpened fairly well on a wet stone I find that most standard steel rods will actually work fairly well with most European knives that are heat treated under 59 and so I recommend you just using your stock steel that you have at home so for those who want to bring your knife's Edge to another level above what you would get on a standard Rod or a ceramic Rod go and pick up a $20 $30 strop and Buy $5 $10 worth of stopping compound that combination right there will actually give you an edge that was equal to any Japanese Redstone of 8,000 10,000 grit normally every week or two I take my knives and go into the studio and do a a long 3 or 4 Hour session where I sharpen every knife that I'm using that week but having a stop that actually has the ability to actually bring the knife's edge back to razor sharpness with just you know 10 12 Strokes has been just really really nice however after 6 months to a year your knife may need sharpening on a wet stone um some people take them to a professional sharpener for 10 to 20 bucks per knife that's fine I really recommend you learning how to sharpen your own knives on a wet stone and then just keeping the STP around if you actually do this stopping method every four to 5 days you can probably keep your knife's Edge for at least 6 months to maybe even a year in this comparison I really just want to talk about performance um and price to Performance and that's the thing that's where the Mercer really shines I mean it does not give up any performances uh relative to the wisoff it is just as sharp as the woff it holds the edge just as well as the wof it is not quite as comfortable so I will give you that however the fit and finish of the spine and the chil is actually better than the wof if you are looking to buy a knife and you don't have a lot of money to spend this Mercer right here shows that you can really get a high quality knife that is sharp that is comfortable uh excellent ergonomics excellent fit and finish and just an overall really good performer so which knife do I actually recommend well you guys know I mean I'm a really practical guy I think that if you guys really just want to spend 40 bucks and get a knife that actually works really really well the Mercer is that knife however you really cannot deny that the wiof has one of the most amazing comfortable handles out there and for some folks that is everything ergonomics for some people is everything and again uh with anything guys don't listen to any one person I know that some of you guys uh really respect my opinion uh I thank you for that uh but please take my advice with a grand of salt and also compare it to other reviewers out there and really get a better picture of what certain knives are versus just one person's opinion um I'll have links to both knives in the description if you guys want to check them out on your own time I will have a sideb side comparison a cutting comparison of these two knives with vegetables and meats and whatever else that I'm making at home um so you guys will see the cut test with these knives as soon as I can get them up uh thank you guys for watching and I'll catch you guys in the next video if you guys are curious as to what my life looks like on a daily basis head over to my Vlog at Ricky Tran which I will leave in the card here or in the description below my Vlog is much more an in-depth look at my life and to kind of show you guys exactly what happens um nothing's being edited you guys are seeing exactly me as I am it's the same person just kind of in a different context you guys will get to see everything how my channel gets put together what my schedule is like every single day what my routine is like every single day and for those who are curious about how to run a YouTube channel I show you guys that as well uh that's something that a lot of folks have asked me about I basically show you how I run my channel and show you what goes on in terms of how I get my knives um how I started getting my knives and what the process is of me producing my videos I'll show you my setup and and show you basically everything that I use so if you guys are curious about that would love to have you guys join me there again I will leave the card here in the corner of the screen or in the description below

Channel: Burrfection

Views: 228,175

Keywords: mercer knives, wusthof chef knife, mercer chef vs wusthof chef, budget vs premium knife

Id: 9gJu8CZtxsg

Length: 8min 42sec (522 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2017