I am looking at the price on Amazon.
Misen Chef’s knife is: $75
Mercer (Zum, Renaissance, Gensis) Chef’s knives are: $45, $55, $37
Mercer MX3 Chef’s knife is: $112
Interesting, there is a Mercer Culineary Premium line which is cheaper than MX3. I don’t know why. It is $70 for a Chef’s knife.
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Those are much fancier than the Mercers I buy. I only spend about $14. Haha.
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I know. I know. However, since we are talking about Misen vs Mercer, I figure I should bring up the lines closer to Misen (Misen only has one line). You are correct. There are many lines of Mercers.
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No no. My apologies. You’re right to compare apples to apples. I deliberately cheaped out on my Mercers so I could misuse and throw away. 
(I even put them in the dishwasher. 
)
By the way, I figure why the Mercer Premium Grade is out of line “cheaper” than the other lines. This Mercer Premium Grade (also know as Damascus) line is made in China. The rest of the other lines are made in Taiwan.
A couple of reviewers on Amazon point out the quality is not as nice as the other lines made in Taiwan.
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Hi Vecchiouomo,
I can’t imagine my local restaurant supply handing me a Mercer Praxis, a couple of carrots, and taking me into the back room to try one out.
I wish I could offer advice, but I have never owned a Misen nor a Mercer knife.
However personally I try to avoid knives MIC, for political reasons and because I’m a knife snob, and prefer my knives to be either made in Germany, France or Japan.
I have the same problem with my favourite danish cooware brand Eva Solo/Trio.
They use to make all their pans in Denmark or Germnay - now it’s all MIC.
I still buy them, but that’s because not all stuff MIC is poorly made, and Eva Trio’s Multi line is some of the best performing solid made cookware out there and they have 3 different lid options for all their pots, one lid design being ingenious.
Mercer seems like a solid brand you often see in cook classes.
Misen is a brand, that just not appeals much to me.
They are from China, but I get the impression they are from the US.
So they hide their origin - at least that’s the impression I got from the brand.
Cheers, Claus
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Hi Claus,
The Mercer are OEM from Taiwan, which has been a reliable supplier to American designers for decades. My Sir Lawrence carbon steel butcher knife is a perfect reproduction of an American design that was manufactured in Taiwan thirty years ago.
However, both Mercer and Misen now have OEM knives from China that would cost less if they bought comparable knives directly from China through AliExpress.
I’ve been successful with one Chinese company–Xinzuo–and three different knives that are really excellent.
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I really like my misen . I had them for a year . Use them all the time . I have the paring knife and the 6 inch . They cut well and put them back in the box when finished. Hand washed… I use them when I don’t like using the 8 inch wusthoff
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I like Helen Rennie’s pretty scientific approach and down to earth communication style and I’m glad to hear her being cited. Thank you!
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Neither can I. In other posts I believe you make reference to buying from internet sources. How do you test the knives you buy over the internet? Further to the point, I would imagine many of us have made the occasional purchase based on HO reports. Chopping carrots for a few minutes at SLT may be fun, but I have not really picked up a lot of knowledge that I had not already gained from specs and photos. Then there is my penchant for a single line of knives. I knew what the 8" chef would be like before I bought it.
I have sliced potatoes at SLT with several Miyabis. They were all lovely knives, but the experience was pretty predictable based on using other Japanese knives of similar size and shape. I once bought an untested bread knife from Ace Mart. It performed beautifully and felt the way I thought it would feel.
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Look people we can’t be Buridan’s ass. We have to buy an knife here.
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I’ve never used a Mizen but recently bought an 8" Mercer Renaissance to replace an 8" Henckels Pro S that popped its rivets after being dropped one too many times.
I tried out a couple of Japanese knives and returned them for being too light.
I L-O-V-E the Mercer. Feels great in my hand, and I paid $32 delivered the same day from You Know Who.
My $0.02.
Let’s eat!
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OK Ima look up those damn Mercer knives now. You made me do it (not you personally - all y’all)!
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Webstaurant is a little cheaper on the Mercer. I live their knives and I used to have a full set of old Henkels with wood handles, sadly lost in a car break-in, a set of more modern Henkels, sadly lost in a baking accident, & Wursthoff. They are very lightweight which is one reason they are so popular in restaurant settings.
Mercer Genesis has 2 versions of many knives with full bolster or short bolster.
But there is no right knife. It is all personal. Someone above likes Global and I would never use one. Aside from my obviously being right, they are right too. 100% For each of us.
Current Misen knives I have seen in friends’ social media seems to indicate poor workmanship with very sharp edges on work surfaces.
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Yeah. I can believe it. It is cheap though. Henckels and Wusthof still offer some of the best finish on their knives. On the other hand, some people may say "I don’t care. The Misen is 40-50% of a Henckels. "
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Thank you everyone for all thoughtful and useful advice.
I even learned that a kiwi knife is a Brand lol !
I love my new Mercer 8 inch Chef’s knife and even though I already stabbed myself because I’m use to using my Santoku knife which also happens to be a little shorter.
I like that it is light weight and also like the feel in my hands totally agree that your hands must be completely dry or the grip slips.
P.S.
For me, the deal was too good to pass up at 70% off a Genesis that way it’s not a regretful purchase.
I will report back once I’ve had more time to spend with it.
P.P.S.
When Jacques Pepin was asked which knife he uses his response was “the sharp one”.
Gordon Ramsay prefers Wüsthof and other Chef’s probably have their favourite.
Wonder what @JustCharlie would recommend?
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Hi Olunia,
I don’t think Ramsay prefers Wüsthof knives.
I’m pretty sure Wüsthof pay him to use their knives, but I can’t know for sure.
Nothing wrong with Wüsthof, I own 14-15 Wüsthof knives.
The more I’m into this knife hobby, the more I realize, that you know best what you like, but it takes a few blind buys to realize what you like.
I can talk all day long about the knives I like, when you may never ever like what I like.
Also the more I’m into this knife hobby, I realize, that less is more with knives.
I don’t need a 14 cm santoku, a 16 cm Nakiri nor a 18 cm santoku, when my 24 cm chefs knives can do it (almost) all together with a short tournier knife.
I’m keeping most of the 50 knives I own, but I could get along perfectly well with just 2 knives and a couple of cheap Dick raw meat knives.
Wish I knew this 3 years ago.
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Hi Claus,
Today, I grabbbed my Sir Lawrence butcher knife to split my English muffin for Beakfast, grabbed my Wusthof Classic Ikon Chef’s knife to make a salad (with a little help from my 110 mm Kaji).
The previous two times, it was my Fuji Chef knife that made a similar salad, with my Ken Onion 90 mm to cut through the plastic wraps.
Everything grabbable–everything great fun,
Could I have done most of it with my 30 year old Kai Seki Magaroku Nakiri?
Sure–it was even grabbably close if I had wanted it.
But this was much more fun–and that’s what it’s all about. . . .
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Hi Ray,
Of course it’s fun.
This is the only reason why I keep most of the 50+ knives I own now - and most likely will buy new knives in the future to come on top of that.
But at the end of the day, I have to admit I was naive, when I started this knife hobby.
I honestly thought knives in different shapes were a necessity in the kitchen and not just a fun element.
I told myself back then when I saw guys with a Nakiri, that once I got one it would bring me another level of joy cutting vegetables. Turns out it didn’t - I cut vegetables more precisely and as quick with my 24 cm chefs knife.
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