Hi RD,
If you don’t have any any hard steel knives, Rockwell 60 or higher, it’s not a problem for you. When a softer steel knife, like your Mercer, looses an edge, it goes out of alignment–it doesn’t chip.
When I decided to develop cooking into a hobby, I realized that I wasn’t satisfied with my pre hobby knife prepping experiences.
As I described above, I felt that my Wusthof Classic Ikon not only had the right “feel,” but a versatility that allowed me to take on the full range of kitchen knife support tasks my new kitchen hobby would require. I still feel that way.
The one knife I had that outperformed even my new Wusthof Classic Ikon on vegetable prep was the nakiri I had brought back from Japan. It was extra thin, a little bit harder–and it felt great with it’s simple wa handle. Unfortunately, it also had a very slight problem with micro chipping, which could be easily repaired in sharpening.
That nakiri experience led me in the direction of harder steel knives that had an even better “feel” than my Wusthof–and they now dominate my batterie. None of them have chipped yet–but the potential is clearly there.
My Wisthof Classic Ikon is now my final level of defense.
