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Mac Knife Professional Chef's Knife, 8-1/2-Inch

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Mac Knife Professional Chef's Knife, 8-1/2-Inch

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Product Description

Bolstered to concentrate the bulk of your knife in the center of your hand, the Chef’s Knife glides right through pineapples, meat, and anything else you need to chop. With an even weight distribution to maximize comfort and control and a Pakka wood handle that replicates the feel of wood yet lasts much longer, the MAC 8 1/2” Professional Chef’s Knife will be a major player in your kitchen for years to come Read More

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Jun 22, 2014

I've been looking into professional knives for a while now and the comments on here have been a tremendous resource. I really hope we get enough people to jump on board because I would love to unlock this drop for $124.99.

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gyams

Jun 20, 2014

mac knives are fantastic. we have a set of wusthof professionals, and my mac MTH-80 is by far sharper and easier to use than the various chef/santoku knives i have from wusthof. three-michelin chefs thomas keller and eric ripert both use mac knives...they're a known and highly respected brand.

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atdc

278

Jun 20, 2014

Hm, I'm on the market for a new knife. Maybe I'll grab this one.

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rphung

Jun 20, 2014

A version of this knife (with dimples and made from Tungsten) is on Amazon for $145, so not much of a savings here on MassDrop. This version is recommended by Thomas Keller and Eric Ripert.
You can check out The Sweethome for a detailed analysis, but I'd actually recommend the version off Amazon since it's only $20 more than the lowest MassDropped price.

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LQDForce

538

Jun 21, 2014

rphungThe MTH-80 (8" w/ dimples) that goes for 145 on amazon is made from a different alloy entirely (MAC's Superior), and is also 1/2" shorter.
The knife in the drop is the MBK-85 , is better overall and longer. Dimples are not so great with MAC knives, and I always prefer the straight blade. And anyway, the only practical use is for cutting stuff that sticks to the blade, like 'starchy' food etc.
fyi, MBK-85 sells for 160 @ amazon http://amzn.com/B0017VK3UI
source:
http://www.macknife.com/kitchen/products-by-series/professional-series/33-mbk-85-professional-series-8fq-chefs-knife.html
http://www.macknife.com/kitchen/products-by-series/professional-series/3-mth-80-professional-series-8q-chefs-knife-with-dimples.html

nelson

5275

Apr 8, 2014

Hey everyone, Happy to report that all the orders from the drop have been shipped out! Thanks again for the support guys, and please feel free to share your experience of the Mac Knife Professional Chef's Knife with the rest of the group afterwards. If there’s anything else we can do to make your Massdrop experience better, feel free to email us at support@massdrop.com.

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nelson

5275

Mar 28, 2014

Hey everyone, We have just been informed that our order of Mac Knife Professional Chef's Knife has been shipped out. We have already alerted our warehouse staff about this shipment, so we should be able to process the bulk shipment upon arrival, and repackage them into individual orders before shipping them out to everyone very quickly. We are expecting to have these out to everyone within 24 hours after the shipment arrives. Cheers!

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nelson

5275

Mar 25, 2014

Hey everyone,
We have just submitted our order of Mac Knife Professional Chef's Knife.
Massdrop is a platform that helps members within the community shop together at wholesale pricing. It’s pretty incredible that we managed to get 30 people in this drop within the 7 days it had been active.
Now that the bulk order has been placed, Mac Knife is preparing the order for shipment. In the meantime, we will also be preparing our warehouse to handle the reshipment of the product to everyone as soon as the order arrives.
We are just waiting for confirmation on the shipment schedule from Mac Knife now, we will be sure to update again here once that’s available.
Cheers!

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t3hd0n

Mar 24, 2014

any tips on caring for this thing? i went to their website they don't have any instructions. this is my first quality knife.

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walczyk

Mar 25, 2014

t3hd0n @t3hd0n I just did some reading myself. I'm buying a japanese 1000 grit whetstone, and a new honing steel for it. This knife has a 15 degree edge, so keep that in mind; this store has simple directions on how to use the whetstone: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/chroma-haiku/800-grit-japanese-whetstone-base-p113186

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Cujobob

133

Mar 25, 2014

t3hd0nBasically, never use a pull-through sharpener. If you wish to use a whetstone, practice on some poor quality knives first as it does take some practice. Now, if you don't want to go through that, you can purchase a decent sharpening/honing steel and follow what's shown in many youtube videos to keep the edge true (aligned properly). When it comes time to sharpen (depending on how much you use it, anywhere from a month to a year later), you can always pay someone a few bucks to sharpen it for you. These services are available online or at locations that may be near you.
Other care tips: always hand wash and DRY when done using it, consider an end grain cutting board to minimize dulling your edge, and watch what you use to cut with it. This is not meant to be a butcher's knife.
For sharpening steel, I would likely stick with ceramic instead of diamond, but be careful not to drop it as ceramic can shatter. Diamond steels will do a fine level of sharpening, themselves, which can be desirable for some but for an average user I would say it's a poor choice.

Cujobob

133

Mar 19, 2014

Unlike for pocket knives, kitchen knife steel is more about the treatment of the steel than the particulars of the composition. What I don't quite understand is that I've seen a similar sized knife from Mac, also with what appears to be the same steel, for like $80-90 on Amazon, which makes me wonder what else it offers for a modest upcharge.
What you don't want from a kitchen knife is for it to chip or prematurely wear and finding that right balance on a consistent basis is not very easy.
Most likely, Mac sees their steel as a 'trade secret'...you don't see Victorinox give out the specifics on their steels either, yet they put out fine products at all different price levels. I've read nothing but good things about this particular knife, but there are some handfinished options near this price that are making me unsure of which way to go.
Anyone have a comparison between this, a Masamoto, and a Misono?

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guvnor

735

Mar 20, 2014

All knives are about the heat treat. Assuming they all go through proper heat treating, the biggest differences left will be in the steels.
It's not like MAC is heat treating these individually by hand - they're gonna sit in an oven via an automated process as most modern mass production knives do.

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Cujobob

133

Mar 20, 2014

guvnorHeat treat is not only about the QC of the process (consistency of RC from blade to blade) but also about the choices made for that heat treat. It's why I advise against getting Kershaws with 14C28N but advocate people get knives with that steel, in general. I have an Elmax knife that is better than anything you'd find in production knife Elmax simply due to it's heat treat. The steel type is often about tradeoffs. With one you'll get better max edge retention, but is more difficult to sharpen. That same knife might lose it's peak sharpness the same speed as one that's easier to sharpen, so why would you go for that in a kitchen knife? That's why you won't see high carbide kitchen knives, I imagine, but low carbide kitchen knives should excel. It's also possible that 440A has a bad reputation because many companies using it for cheap offerings were using a simple heat treat that was cost effective for them to do, but not effective for the end user. Some makers have been able to take 1095 and get insane performance out of it, but it's not feasible to do it in mass production. So the question becomes, with these $100+ knives, are they selling you a brand name or are they selling you performance? I would like to get one and compare it with one of Spyderco's re-launched kitchen knives.

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