Testing The Highest Rated Chefs Knifes On Amazon - NOT What I Expected!

[00:00] I bought a bunch of the highest rated

[00:01] shift knives on Amazon to see if they're

[00:03] actually good knives or just cheap

[00:05] garbage regardless of the positive

[00:08] review count. We're going to do this by

[00:10] testing a knife specs as well as their

[00:12] performance with edge retention testing,

[00:13] toughness testing, and real world usage.

[00:17] I'm also throwing in a $300 custom and a

[00:21] $170 Woo stuff for comparison purposes.

[00:24] Which one of these knives is the best

[00:26] overall knife? And which one is the best

[00:28] value? The answer may surprise you.

[00:33] Oh man, like it's not even close. But

[00:35] first, this is not your typical YouTube

[00:38] chef's knife review. We need to get

[00:39] something out of the way. I don't care

[00:41] about the manufacturer's specs or the

[00:43] knife styles. Choosing a knife based off

[00:45] of the manufacturer's specs or style is

[00:47] kind of like taste testing based off of

[00:50] reading the ingredients on the packaging

[00:52] or recipe. It depends on how well these

[00:55] ingredients are put together that

[00:57] actually matters. Now, taste testing in

[00:59] the knife world would include things

[01:00] like hardness testing, geometry, edge

[01:02] retention, sharpenability, or how well

[01:04] the knife resharpens after use, how well

[01:07] the knife actually feels to use, and

[01:09] most importantly, how the knife cuts. I

[01:11] also asked another opinion on what

[01:13] should be the most important part of

[01:14] this review. So, I asked a fellow

[01:16] YouTube knife reviewer, Erica from

[01:18] Erica's EDC, what she thought was the

[01:20] most important. Like at the end of the

[01:22] day, the knife is meant to cut things.

[01:23] For me, the most important thing is that

[01:25] it cuts and it's comfortable in your

[01:27] hand.

[01:28] >> So, does it cut?

[01:30] >> As well as many more questions answered.

[01:31] But first, what knives are we testing?

[01:33] First, in no particular order, is the

[01:35] Mercer Culinary 8-in chef's knife for

[01:37] about 19 bucks with about 43,000

[01:40] reviews. Next, we have the Imarco 8-in

[01:43] chef's knife for about 30 bucks with

[01:45] over 16,000 reviews. Next, we have the

[01:48] Babish 8-in chef's knife for about 27

[01:50] bucks with over 10,000 reviews. Next, we

[01:53] have the Woof 8-in chef's knife for

[01:55] about 170 bucks. This is a little lower

[01:58] on the review count, but still a very

[01:59] popular high-end chef's knife. Next is

[02:01] the Moss Fiata, or however you say that,

[02:04] 8-in chef's knife for about 44 bucks and

[02:07] over 17,000 reviews. Next is the Shanzoo

[02:11] 8-in chef's knife for about 70 bucks.

[02:13] This is a lesserk known knife, but it

[02:15] did very well in one of my previous

[02:16] reviews, so I included it in this test.

[02:18] And last, but not least is a custom from

[02:20] Edge Knife Works for about 300 bucks. I

[02:24] did pay for all of these with my own

[02:25] money for this review, except for the

[02:27] custom, which was given to me to mess

[02:29] around with for demonstrations like

[02:31] these. And here's a quick and easy way

[02:32] to visualize the difference in price

[02:34] between the knives that we're testing

[02:36] today.

[02:39] I tested all of these knives on my

[02:41] Rockwell hardness tester. Steel hardness

[02:43] is a major contributor to the knife apex

[02:45] toughness and edge retention. Something

[02:47] I'll show here in a minute. To simplify

[02:49] this majorly, harder is generally better

[02:51] in all cases, especially when it comes

[02:53] to lower strength applications like

[02:56] chef's knives. Even though hardness is

[02:58] super important, it's not everything.

[03:00] And I'll leave a link to a video I did a

[03:02] couple of years ago explaining this.

[03:04] Now, we have a lot going on here in some

[03:05] of these graphics, but I will give an

[03:07] overview in the end of this video

[03:09] showing all of this at once. Now, a lot

[03:11] of these knives were better than I

[03:13] expected on the HRC testing. However,

[03:15] most of our more super budget options

[03:17] are grouped pretty close together in the

[03:19] mid50 HRC range with the higherend

[03:22] options coming in much higher. Now, it's

[03:24] important to note here that HRC testing

[03:26] isn't a linear scale, but it's more of

[03:29] an exponential scale with a onepoint

[03:31] hardness difference equaling a larger

[03:33] percentage of hardness gain than the

[03:35] previous. So, even though some of these

[03:37] knives only look like they are a couple

[03:38] of points higher, this actually equals a

[03:40] significant increase in steel hardness.

[03:43] This is due to the cone-shaped indenttor

[03:45] being applied using the same force for

[03:47] each test. Now, we could spend a whole

[03:49] video on this subject alone, but we

[03:51] aren't going to. Sharpness out of the

[03:53] box. Now, this is sort of a useless

[03:55] test, but I did it anyway, which was to

[03:57] see which knife was the sharpest when it

[03:59] was new. Now, to test this, I use a

[04:01] fishing line bite test. Basically, I see

[04:04] how far away each knife will bite into a

[04:06] piece of monofilament 50 lb test fishing

[04:08] line until the knife stops biting into

[04:11] the line. I'll talk more about this test

[04:13] in a minute. And the results were close

[04:15] but apparent. In seventh place, we have

[04:17] the Mercer coming in pretty dull. This

[04:20] was no comparison the dullest factory

[04:22] edge of the test. In sixth, fifth, and

[04:24] fourth, we have the Mosviata, the

[04:26] Babish, and the Imaru. These were all

[04:29] very close together and I doubt anybody

[04:31] could actually tell a difference without

[04:32] doing some very fine test work. And tied

[04:34] for second are the Shanzoo and Wotoff.

[04:36] Both of these came extremely sharp right

[04:38] from the factory. In first place

[04:40] definitely goes to our edge knife works

[04:42] blade which was absolutely hairsplitting

[04:45] sharp when I got it and that's why it

[04:47] came in first place. Geometry or behind

[04:50] the edge thickness. How thin a knife is

[04:52] ground has almost everything to do with

[04:54] how easily it cuts stuff. Thin stuff

[04:56] passes through other stuff more easily

[04:59] than thick stuff does. So, we measure

[05:01] this by measuring the behind the edge

[05:03] thickness. Now, to measure this

[05:04] accurately, we need to have all of the

[05:06] knives sharpened to the same angle. So,

[05:08] I sharpened all of the knives to the

[05:10] lowest angled stock edge, which was 15°

[05:13] per side, and took some measurements.

[05:15] And here are the results. Our top three

[05:18] contenders are the Edge Knife Works, the

[05:20] Shanzoo, and surprisingly, the Babish.

[05:23] all at or below about 10,000 behind the

[05:26] edge. This is really good. Next is the

[05:29] disappointing Woof at around 15,000

[05:32] behind the edge. In my opinion, this is

[05:34] borderline unacceptable for a knife at

[05:36] this price range. This should definitely

[05:38] be closer to the 10,000 mark for a good

[05:41] cutting chef's knife. Will the edge

[05:43] retention make up for it? We will see.

[05:45] And last are the rest of the budget

[05:47] options. coming in at around 19,000

[05:50] behind the edge. This is really thick,

[05:53] almost survival knife thick, and that

[05:55] definitely doesn't help in relatively

[05:57] delicate kitchen cutting tasks. Now, you

[05:59] may be saying that the thickness on some

[06:01] of these knives is to help keep the

[06:02] knife from catastrophically chipping

[06:04] during hard impacts or cutting tasks.

[06:07] Well, let's see about that with our next

[06:09] test, the brass rod test. The brass rod

[06:12] test is testing the apex toughness by

[06:15] dropping a calibrated 2x4 onto the spine

[06:17] of the knife and measuring the damage

[06:19] after it impacts a small brass rod.

[06:23] As mentioned before, hardness plays a

[06:25] major role here by keeping the apex from

[06:27] deforming. Now, all of the knives are

[06:30] sharpened to the same 15° per side angle

[06:34] for this test, which is quite extreme, I

[06:36] may add. So, how do they perform?

[06:41] In last place, we have the Imaru,

[06:43] sustaining pretty severe damage. Well,

[06:46] this isn't the softest knife here at

[06:48] 56.5 HRC. I believe combined with some

[06:51] of the other tests later that this is

[06:52] one of the worst steels and heat

[06:54] treatments of the bunch. Next, we have

[06:56] the Mercer at 54.5 HRC, the softest

[07:00] steel of the bunch. However, the Apex

[07:02] held up fairly well, coming in very

[07:05] close behind the others in this test.

[07:07] Next, we have the Babish at 55.2 HRC.

[07:11] This knife performed ever so slightly

[07:13] better than the Mercer. However, the

[07:14] steel also has some slightly better

[07:16] qualities than the Mercer, which we'll

[07:18] discuss later. Next, sustaining slightly

[07:21] less damage than the Babish, is the Mos

[07:23] Fiata. This is actually surprisingly

[07:26] good for 55.8 HRC. Next, we have the

[07:30] Wotoff at 57.5 HRC. To be honest, even

[07:33] though this knife came in third, at

[07:35] $170, I would like to see better,

[07:38] especially when compared to the next

[07:40] knife on the list, the Shanzoo. At about

[07:43] 60 HRC, the Apex definitely held up

[07:45] slightly better than the WoF while being

[07:47] about $100 cheaper. This is very

[07:50] impressive results for a $70 knife.

[07:53] Last, we have the Edge Knife Works at 63

[07:56] HRC with extremely minimal damage. This

[07:59] could easily be honed out on a fine

[08:01] ceramic rod very quickly on the go with

[08:03] no need to go back to a stone in order

[08:05] to fix it. Very impressive results. It

[08:08] seems as if sometimes you may actually

[08:10] do get what you pay for.

[08:12] [Music]

[08:14] Finally, what I think a lot of you are

[08:16] waiting for. Now, edge retention is a

[08:18] very tricky thing to test. Now, the

[08:19] reason for this is due to how the test

[08:21] is measured. You see, we need some sort

[08:23] of way to measure knife sharpness or

[08:25] dullness as we are cutting whatever it

[08:27] is that we're cutting. The problem here

[08:28] is interpreting what is dull and what is

[08:31] not dull. In the past, in order to test

[08:34] sharpness, I've used everything from the

[08:36] shaving test, the paper test, the paper

[08:39] towel test, hair whittling test, fishing

[08:42] line test to specialized sharpness

[08:44] measuring scales, which I no longer have

[08:46] or use. And I've come to the conclusion

[08:48] that there are extreme variables in

[08:50] every test. Personally, I think that the

[08:52] simplest and most effective test out

[08:55] there is the fishing line test.

[08:56] Basically, it involves holding a strand

[08:58] of monofilament 50 lb test fishing line

[09:00] in your fingers and recording the exact

[09:02] moment the edge stops fully biting into

[09:05] the line about a/4 in away from your

[09:07] finger. I know, super scientific. This

[09:09] seems to be a very hit or miss test,

[09:11] meaning that one cut can mean the

[09:13] difference between biting in and skating

[09:15] the line. This is not a test that you

[09:17] try to beat in a sense where the goal is

[09:19] to try and score as low of a number as

[09:22] possible or as low of a score as

[09:24] possible on some sort of push test or

[09:27] try to interpret exactly when the knife

[09:29] stops cutting something like paper. It's

[09:31] more of a hard stop rather than an

[09:34] infinite sliding scale of dullness. The

[09:36] reason I like this test is because as

[09:38] the knife gets sharper or duller to the

[09:40] extremes, it becomes more and more

[09:42] difficult to differentiate between the

[09:45] extreme ends of the sharpness or

[09:47] dullness scale. You can kind of

[09:48] visualize this like this where as the

[09:50] knife gets sharper, the difference

[09:52] between ultrasharp and ultra ultra sharp

[09:55] gets very difficult to measure. And we

[09:57] don't really have a test we can perform

[09:59] that gives us this type of precision. On

[10:02] the opposite end, as the knife gets der,

[10:04] it gets harder and harder to determine

[10:06] what is dull depending on the test. The

[10:10] paper test, for instance, has a very

[10:11] large window where the knife will sort

[10:13] of cut paper, but it won't cut it great.

[10:16] So, there's this game where the tester

[10:18] has to decide what is or isn't cutting

[10:20] well enough to continue. I think what

[10:23] this line bite test does is test this

[10:25] middle range where the knife is still

[10:27] pretty sharp when it fails biting into

[10:29] the line, but it's obviously not ultra

[10:31] sharp or ultra dull. I think this test

[10:34] focuses more on this middle range of

[10:36] sharpness rather than the extreme ends.

[10:39] So, here's an example of this. We have

[10:41] one knife

[10:44] that immediately bites into the line.

[10:47] You can see how it pulls right up on the

[10:50] line. it immediately bites into it. The

[10:52] next knife

[10:54] does not

[10:57] does not bite into the line

[10:59] whatsoever. However, on our paper test,

[11:13] it becomes a little bit harder to

[11:15] distinguish between the two

[11:18] between the two knives.

[11:20] Now, some may say that they can actually

[11:22] hear the difference, which you can, but

[11:24] back to our chart. As a knife gets der,

[11:26] it becomes harder and harder to hear or

[11:29] feel this difference. Well, this is the

[11:30] theory anyway, so I went with it. I

[11:32] taped up the knives exposing about 1 in

[11:34] of blade length and cut cardboard until

[11:37] the knives stopped biting into the line.

[11:39] And here are the results. The best

[11:41] performer was the $300 Edge Knife Works,

[11:44] cutting 240 in of cardboard before it no

[11:47] longer bit into the line. In second

[11:49] place was the $70 Shanzoo cutting 176

[11:53] in. Next was the somewhat disappointing

[11:56] $170 Wotoff cutting 112 in before it

[12:00] stopped cutting the line. The last four

[12:02] knives cut about the same with only 16

[12:05] in of cardboard or one cut separating

[12:08] them, which is probably within the

[12:10] margin of error for this test. Now, on a

[12:13] pure dollar per inch of edge retention

[12:15] value standpoint, I know the Mercer at

[12:19] $18.74

[12:20] will give you the best edge retention

[12:22] for your money. And the worst is the

[12:24] Wotoff. However, this chart is somewhat

[12:27] misleading since in order to achieve the

[12:29] same number of cuts as some of the

[12:31] better edge retention knives, you would

[12:33] have to resharpen some of the lower-end

[12:35] options in between your cuts. Now, we

[12:37] can look at this from a time standpoint

[12:39] or how much time does it take to make

[12:41] the same 15 cuts as our best performer,

[12:44] including a quick restropping or honing

[12:46] in between to maintain the same

[12:48] sharpness standard. And this shows that

[12:50] in a pure testing format, it takes about

[12:53] twice as long to complete the same task

[12:55] as our best performer with the lower-end

[12:58] knife options. However, this is on a

[13:00] very small scale, not taking into

[13:02] account the middle of the road knife

[13:04] options, which get cheated somewhat on

[13:07] time based on a resharpening they

[13:09] otherwise wouldn't need if we increase

[13:12] the test sample size.

[13:16] So, one of the things not talked about a

[13:18] lot in knife reviews is how well or how

[13:21] easily does a knife resharpen from a

[13:23] dled state. Now, this has to do with the

[13:25] heat treatment, the hardness, and the

[13:28] steel quality of the steel that these

[13:30] knives are made out of. And basically,

[13:32] the better those three things are, the

[13:34] steel quality, the heat treatment, and

[13:36] the hardness, the easier it's going to

[13:38] be to resharpen or get these knives back

[13:40] to a super sharp state. So rather than

[13:42] this being a completely subjective test

[13:45] and giving my opinion on which one was

[13:46] the easiest to sharpen, I timed myself

[13:48] sharpening each one to hair whittling

[13:50] sharp after dulling each one from a

[13:52] sharpened state on a sharpening stone.

[13:55] And here's the results. Initially, the

[13:57] results look very close, but there's

[13:59] definitely a difference between our

[14:01] times from the good knives to the

[14:02] lower-end knives. The lower-end knives

[14:04] definitely take a little extra work in

[14:06] order to minimize and remove the burr on

[14:08] both the stone and the strap. Now, we

[14:11] could test these things forever, but I

[14:12] don't think we have to because for me,

[14:14] there's an obvious trend line

[14:16] developing. Have you seen it yet? But

[14:19] before we get into that, we've got to do

[14:21] something. And this is something that

[14:22] you can't really test with pen and

[14:24] paper.

[14:24] >> Like, at the end of the day, the knife

[14:26] is meant to cut things. For me, the most

[14:28] important thing is that it cuts and it's

[14:30] comfortable in your hand.

[14:32] >> That's why I have such a hard time doing

[14:33] these reviews is because sometimes you

[14:35] just like something and you can't really

[14:37] explain why that is. You're like, "Oh,

[14:39] this is this is my favorite." But I

[14:41] don't know why. I know why. At least in

[14:43] this case, because after sharpening and

[14:45] testing and resharpening and retesting,

[14:48] cutting everything in sight, both on

[14:50] camera and off, I noticed for actual

[14:52] kitchen tasks, I gravitated towards

[14:56] three knives in particular. Now,

[14:57] something I didn't mention at the

[14:58] beginning of this video was I actually

[15:00] already own several of these knives. So,

[15:03] yes, I bought duplicates just for this

[15:05] test. And after using all of these

[15:06] knives side by side, there was most

[15:08] definitely a huge difference in actual

[15:11] use. That is cra like you. It's crazy

[15:15] how much you can feel the difference.

[15:17] Not even close. So, here's my subjective

[15:19] rating. Rating the knives 0 to 100 with

[15:23] 100 being a theoretical perfect score.

[15:25] With the Edge Knife Works scoring 90 out

[15:27] of 100, this is a fantastic knife. Not

[15:31] only is it thin behind the edge, but

[15:33] it's also the only knife of the bunch

[15:34] that's hollow ground, which means it

[15:37] will keep its thinness throughout

[15:39] multiple sharpenings. It just cuts the

[15:41] best here, plain and simple. This is the

[15:44] outlier of the group, though, but it

[15:46] does give us a reference for a

[15:48] comparison. Next is the Shanzoo. This

[15:50] knife just feels very neutral, and it

[15:53] cuts very, very well. It's super thin

[15:55] and has good food release, which is

[15:57] surprising given its somewhat mirror

[15:59] finish. I think combined with the rest

[16:01] of its results in all of these tests,

[16:03] it's the best overall value here. It's

[16:06] just a fantastic knife for the price,

[16:08] and it looks pretty cool, too. Next is

[16:10] the Babish. This knife was surprising

[16:12] since it didn't look very good in most

[16:14] of our other tests. However, in actual

[16:16] use, cutting food, its thin geometry

[16:19] paid big dividends. It just cuts really,

[16:21] really well. It also notably takes a

[16:24] very sharp edge. I think its only

[16:26] downside is its handle. It may not be

[16:29] for everyone, but I really didn't have

[16:31] that big of problems with it. It just

[16:33] has superior cutting performance than

[16:35] most of the other knives here. And that

[16:36] is simply due to its super thin

[16:38] geometry. Next is the disappointing

[16:40] Wotoff. Unfortunately, despite this

[16:42] knife sharpening very well, getting very

[16:45] sharp, having a great handle and feel,

[16:47] it just doesn't cut that well due to its

[16:49] super thick geometry. Sure, it feels

[16:52] nice, but you'll need that comfort

[16:54] because you'll be gripping this thing

[16:56] harder than you should.

[17:00] Really not a fan of this Woo stuff. It

[17:04] just doesn't cut that well. If this

[17:06] knife was just 10,000 behind the edge,

[17:09] it would be in a completely different

[17:11] world. Maybe that's something we'll fix

[17:13] in a later video, but for $170, it's a

[17:16] hard pass for me. Sorry. Next on the

[17:19] list is the Moss Fiata. This knife was

[17:21] noticeably better than the last two

[17:23] here, mainly due to its food release.

[17:26] For some reason, nothing seemed to stick

[17:28] to this knife. I don't know if that's

[17:29] because of the pattern on the knife or

[17:31] what it is, but for some reason, nothing

[17:34] stuck. And yes, they were all 20° per

[17:37] side on the bevel. So, I scored this

[17:39] slightly higher than the last two, even

[17:42] though in other areas, this knife

[17:45] performed about the same as the last

[17:47] knives here. Now, the last two, both the

[17:49] Mercer and the Immaru, just didn't cut

[17:51] that well due to the geometry being

[17:54] super thick and the food sticking to the

[17:56] knife. I would say that they have better

[17:58] edge retention and sharpenability than a

[18:01] $1 knife from the dollar store would,

[18:03] but other than that, the cutting

[18:04] experience isn't a night and day

[18:06] difference. Sure, the handles are a

[18:09] little better than a $1 knife, but at

[18:12] the end of the day, I don't think that I

[18:13] could really tell a difference in a

[18:15] blind cut test between these last two

[18:18] knives and a $1 knife from the dollar

[18:20] store. Now, finally, the total results

[18:22] combined, where I combine the subjective

[18:24] rating that I gave the knives with the

[18:25] objective testing to give a clear

[18:27] picture of exactly what's going on.

[18:29] where lower is better. On this chart, we

[18:31] actually have somewhat of a perfect

[18:32] situation where we have a $300 Edge

[18:34] Knife Works as the best expensive

[18:36] option, the $70 Shanzoo as a good medium

[18:39] or value price point option, and the $26

[18:42] Babish as a good super budget option.

[18:45] The only slightly weird thing here was

[18:46] the WoF and the Babish, where the Woof

[18:49] scored significantly higher in the

[18:51] objective testing than the Babish, but

[18:53] in actual use, the thicker geometry on

[18:55] the Wotoff really was a detriment to its

[18:57] cutting performance. So, here we are.

[18:59] All the knives from best to worst. So,

[19:01] believe it or not, I had a lot more

[19:03] testing that I did that I didn't include

[19:04] because it was redundant. Now, thank you

[19:07] for watching and we'll see you in the

[19:08] next video.

[19:15] [Music]