Mercer Culinary Chef Knife is one the best budget chef knife around. While the low cost might throw off some people, this knife gets sharp and stays sharp. It uses a polyprolene handle that is soft and comfortable. While it might not feel as nice as a wooden handle, this rubber handle helps you maintain superior grip even if your hand is greasy. This review will take a closer look at the design and feature of Mercer Culinary Chef Knife.

Mercer Culinary Chef Knife (Millennia) Review Quick Summary

Categories	Mercer Culinary Chef Knife (Millennia)
Performance	Good
Handle	SANTOPRENE®, POLYPROPYLENE
Bolster	Half Bolster
Steel	HIGH-CARBON JAPANESE STEEL
Blade Angle	15 Degree
Rockwell Hardness	Around 53-54
Place of Manufacturer	Taiwan
Thoughts	A great kitchen workhorse knife. While it comes sharp brand new, the softness of the blade means that it will dull fast. However, they are great for cutting harder things like butternut squash. The affordability of the knife also means that if you break it, you can easily replace it.
Reviewed Knife	Mercer Culinary M22610 Millennia 10-Inch Chef’s Knife, Black

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History of Mercer Culinary

There is little to no information about Mercer Culinary. The most I could find was that it was started around 30 years ago. Currently, they are operating out of New York. They are a brand that is inspired by Chef and for chef. As such, there is very little marketing for the consumer market. Most of the people who buy their products use to be people who work in professional kitchen. However, it seems like that recently that the public found out how great their products are. Their product are also NSF certified meaning that its safe to use in a professional kitchen.

Mercer Culinary Chef Knife Design

This section will talk about the design and features of Mercer Culinary Chef Knife. We will go over handle, blade and general performance.

Handle

Unlike most high end knives, they use a Santoprene and Polypropylene handle. It is soft and grippy. Making it perfect for when you cut up bones and the such. It is also shape to contour to the shape of your hand. Throughout the handle, there are little texture to improve the grip. While it does come with different colors, they tend to look tacky. I recommend that you stick with the black color. It also hide stains better.

There is no traditional metal bolster. But rather, the handle itself acts like a half bolster design. This is better overall. Since knives with full bolster can get in the way of sharpening. With a half or no bolster design, you can sharpen the full length of the blade.

Blade Shape

The shape of the blade is a western type of blade. There is a significant belly that encourages you to rock it back and forth when chopping. The height of the blade is quite a bit taller than your traditional chef knife but it help especially when chopping. You get more contact point when you use a claw grip.

At either side, the blade use a 15 degree angle. At this angle, the knife will feel razor sharp.

Metal

The blade is made of a single piece of high carbon Japanese steel. These are more resistant to staining and rust than carbon steel blade. At the side of the knife the number x30cr13 is stamped on. You can actually find more information about the
chemical composition and manufacturing process online. They are used in many kitchen knives and they resemble stainless steel more than carbon steel. However, you should treat the knife like a carbon steel knife. You should never use a dishwasher on it. Handwashing is always recommended and drying it with a towel after washing. Bleach can cause pitting and discoloration on the blade. When storing, use a sheath or block to prevent damage to the blade.

Usually, these blades are stamped out via a machine for quick manufacturing.

In the hardness scale, they have a rockwell hardness rating of 53-54. This is actually quite soft compared to Japanese knives. What this means that they can dull fast but are more ductile in general. They are great for a all around kitchen knives. Given the price of the knife and the softness of it, I would not hesitate to hack chicken bones with it. Something that I would never do with higher end kitchen knife.

NSF Certified

If you work in a professional kitchen, you will most likely see a NSF certified stamp. They are a third party party that certify product to be safe for the public. It usually cost more to have a product to be certified. However, kitchen professional need these stamp to protect the public health.

Mercer Culinary Chef Knife (Millennia) Thoughts

Overall, these are a pretty good bargain chef knife. While the knife itself is good, it feels cheap of the plastic handle. Nevertheless, I would not let that distract you from how good it is. If you are just starting out or you want a knife you can abuse, Mercer Culinary Chef Knife is the way to go. The relative softness of the blade means that you can hack away at Chicken Bones and Butternut Squash without much risk of chipping.

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