My Mac knife is here...Finally !

Hi guys...I promessed you that I was going to keep you all updated on my cutlery order, and finally a box from "The epicurean edge" arrived, containing  my Mac Mighty chef's knife,  an Idahone 12" fine" ceramic honing rod , an Oishi waterstone (1000-6000), a Nagura stone and a stone holder.

Thanks for the great advice BDL, Chris Lehrer and LennyD. Now my it's my turn on giving you and everybody else the feedback and an honest review about this fine piece.

My first impression is "wow"  the knife oozes quality, quite different from my Global, Whustoff and Forshners (Victorinox). It's too late and I'm not in the restaurant and I know that if I go to the fridge and start chopping I'll get too pumped up and will not be able to sleep, so, tomorrow I'll start working with it to see if the knife (and me) can walk the talk.

The knife came impecably packed in a nice box and so far I cannot find any chip or micro dent, the handle looks a bit small but once in the palm of my hand feels like custom made when I "pinch grip" it (After some hours of chopping and slicing I'll confirm my impression)

The "Börg" stone holder also looks like a very stiff and professional holder, it caused me a very good first impression. And the stone looks... Well...Like a stone. But I can see that has the borders properly flatted. I'll find out that very soon too.

Ok Guys, it's bed time, but I'll keep you posted, thanks for all your good advices.

Best regards. 

Luis

Hi guys...

Today the world conspired against me and my new knife, I went to the kitchen with the firm intention of not being the boss, just another cook, a prep cook, I wanted to face cases of onions, scallions, shallots, cilantro, parsley and anything that you can chop , cut or slice.

To my surprise, as soon as I got there, my partners called me and we got in a looooong meeting BC we're opening another restaurant, the meeting was supposed to be later, but one of my partners got his schedule messed up and in consequence he messed up mine too  by the time that I went back to the kitchen, almost everything was diced, brunoised, cubed, sliced and chopped (I can't complain about my staff) and my prep cook was getting his hands on the last bunch of scallion. I almost pushed the guy away from his chopping block and started chopping. 

All I can say... The best knife I've ever used. It came with an scary sharp edge, the handle was great ( I worked with it like 3 minutes, so, this is more an impression, the day that I work with it 3 hours in a row I'll have the authority to confirm that) and it has a great feeling. Just when I finished my brief task, I told everybody... YOU DON'T TOUCH THIS KNIFE!...EVER! 

Now my concern is if I'm going to be up to the level to sharpen it back when it gets dull, because this kind of edge is something that I don't experience often.

Wagstaff... Yeah, it's a very nice knife to work with. Let me work with it more and I'll share an honest point of view.

Cake- Artistico... The MAC is a Japanese knives brand. A very good performer without costing you an arm and a leg. Is the knife that I got based on the advice of very respected members in this forums,whom with honest arguments based on their experience, convinced me to get this knife instead of the "trendy" knife that I was going to buy.

P.S. the trendy knife was a shun, wich is not bad , but they explained me why a Mac was more value for my money without disrespecting the fine shuns. 

Hi guys... Incredible but I still don't have the chance of using the knife as much as I'll like to, as soon as I'm in the kitchen trying to enjoy it... Phone rings, somebody calls me in the dining room, a purveyor appears to show his new/freshest product, one of my partners looks for me, a cook asks me the dreaded. Chef may I talk to you? (believe me, it's NEVER  good thing, they want some permission, they have a familly problem, they want to quit, they need a loan, they want a salary rise, be promoted, complaint about another member on the staff, cry on chef's shoulder, and so on) ... Wich adds flavor to the day, and since I'm as supportive to them as they are loyal to me... The good ol' chef  has to leave HIS NEW KNIFE on the cutting board to listen to his fellow and loyal cook, while somebody else is chopping the whole sac of onions...WITH MY NEW TOY!!! Let me tell you, my prep cook is an ex-con with great knife skills, but also the kind of guy that hits the knife with a bit more force than necessary, and trying to be as noisy as possible. This man is quite a piece of work but has been there with me since 10 years ago... The night that he called me at 4 A.M.  to get him out of jail by paying the huge fine I got his absolute loyalty... But that's another story.

Long story short... While I listened the whole story from my cook, that had the predictable conclusion, (wich is asking me for a loan to be deducted from his next paycheck)... My prep cook used and abused my knife, by the time that I went back to the prep area, I saw this guy with my knife in his hand and a container full of sliced onions, cubed carrots, and sliced zuchinni.  I tought... This can't be happening!!... This man inmediately understood the look in my eyes and told me with his big, crooked and sinister smile: This is a good knife chef! Can I keep it?... Hell NO! Was my instant reply  I took it and I was going to use the honing rod, because that's almost a second nature to me (Finishing a batch of something and giving some passes to the knife with the rod) but instead, I went to the fridge and got a Roma Tomatoe to check the damages... To my surprise, the knife felt perfectly sharp. I went to the prep area and all that was remaining was the shallot that had to be diced, something like half a pound (The rest gets chopped in the robot-coupe... That to my surprise has a Sabatier blade) I diced it and the MAC worked impecably for the few minutes that I could use it.

I don't know if this is a "review", but I'm surprised that the edge endured the harsh treatment given by this guy for half an hour on a plastic board (Is kinda soft but I wanted the MAC to be used only on wood) without even needing the passes with the honing rod, seems like the knife is doing great on the "Edge retention" area so far.

I'll keep u posted.

And on a separated note, I started practicing with my new stone (1000-6000 grit) and today I could get 2 old and inexpensive knives sharp enough to shave my arm, still the edge has some kind of grity feeling when shaving and I needed a bit more force to do it than what I need with the Mac, but is a good begining. Before I couldn't get it sharp enough to shave, no matter how hard I tried. 

There are some cool sharpening devices and gadgets that work, but there is no better feeling than having a razor sharp knife sharpened by ourselves with stones. I don't know why it gives me some satisfaction to do it, I have a "Chef's choice 130" wich is a very reliable piece, it gives you nice edge in 10 seconds, but the feeling , and the results of the stone are more satisfying.

Best regards from México.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LennyD 

 

 

 

That has to be the funniest thing I heard all day!

 

Oh and do not forget to use the ceramic hone, and not the steel as I do not want to see you cry if you roughen up that nice sharp edge. Then again you would get to play with the new stone sooner :D

 

Glad to hear your enjoying your Mac!!!!!!

Hi Lenny...

Now is funny for me too, but it wasn't at the very moment. LOL. And don't worry, it get's honed with a Idahone "fine" ceramic rod. Today I used the rod for the first time, 4 light passes on each side for a total of 8, not to fast, not too slow and almost caressing the edge, and it works like magic. I'll post the experience of the day with the knife performing as a sashimi knife. Ande let me tell you... It works! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by chasin elk 

From reading what you have all said about these Mac's, I have one on order should be here Tuesday!

You'll be very happy with the new knife! Congrats!

Slicing fish sashimi style with the Mac...

Today a good friend of mine showed up at the restaurant, he just came back from fishing and he told me... Hey Luis, I have a little gift for you, and he gave me a bag with 3 black bass, each weighting 2-3 pounds, he just took them out of the lake the day before and they smelled and looked almost alive. Nice!!! I fileted them, took out the bones from the filets one by one, skinned them and grabbed my Mac.

That only meant one thing... Black bass Mexican sashimi!!... I have never been trained under a Japanese chef, but I see then working on the sushi bars and just by imitating them as good as possible, I started slicing not too thin, not too thick, I placed them on plates along with sliced cucumber, added a very citrus based quick sauce, some cilantro leaves on top, and "flash cook" with some hot olive oil (Nobu style, like his famous "Flasehd sashimi").

I did 12 orders, and by the 10th I started feeling like the knife needed a few passes with the Idahone fine rod... I did 8 delicate passes, taking care of the blade angle, the force and speed. And it worked like magic, the knife was as sharp as it was with the first order (It was never dull, it just felt like it was not as sharp as at the very begining, and remember that the knife has a week of use, and some abuse courtesy of one of my fellow cooks -you can read about that  in this same thread- )

I know that this is not a sashimi specialized knife, but let me tell you that it worked very well.

Here's a pic of my sashimi, I know that for a sushi chef it will look like cutted by a barbarian with no idea on the subject, but I guess that it's not that bad for the rest of us.

Regards!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wagstaff 

Looks really good, Luis! Again, I love your writing, too. I look forward to more of your Adventures with the Mac.

 

Thanks a lot Wag... I'll keep u all posted on the new adventures of my Mac 

Ok guys... My Mac gave all that it could give on the edge retention department... And it's not bad at all, I'm happy with the time that it kept it's sharpness, and last night it had it's first date with the sharpening stone. I was a bit nervous, it was his first time... I felt like my knife was going to loose his virginity. I was full of doubts on how sharp was it going to end, or if I was going to mess it. But there was no chance of backing off. I soaked my stone for a bit more than a hour and I started with the 1000 grit. 10 pases, 9 passes, 8... And so on. Deburred on a cork and stropped, 10 passes, 9,8 and so on again. Then rinsing and starting over the same process with the 6000 grit side (I made some mud or slurry with the nagura).

I can't be happier with the result. The knife is as sharp...or maybe sharper than it was before. I can't meassure that and I don't know if there is a scientific test that I can do at home to compare how it was to how it is now. But It sliced a tomatoe like a hot knife on butter, it shaved my arm and it got smoother than Christina Aguilera's butt and it shreded paper like a guillotine.

I don't know if I did 12,14,15 or 20 angle. I just followed the feeling of the original angle and I didn't scratched the knife at all. I think that it was not bad for a newbie and it was remarkable how easy it got the razor sharp edge. I was training with dexters, a Kai and a Forschner and I think that the Mac was the easiest to get it right. This knife has just passed another test with high scores. The more I use it, the better it feels. Can't stop recomending it!

The only "incident" that I had and is more about the stone (I think) is that when sharpenning with the 6000 grit, at some point, I felt like the stone had "smooth spots" and sometimes a "grain" it was an odd feeling, what I'm refering with the smooth spots, is a feeling like you're sharpening on a piece of glass, I wasn't feeling the "bite" of the stone on those spots for moments. Then I was rinsing, giving some passes with the nagura, and starting again. And the second "odd" feeling was that at some points I felt like there was a grain of sand or something bumpy. But I proceeded like on the first case.

Maybe the quality of the stone is not the best (Oishi 1000/6000) or I did something wrong.

Best regards guys.

Luis

Hi Adam... Thanks for the words, but let me tell you, I flatten the stone every single time that I use it. No chance of having it clogged or un-even. That's the reason that gets me so intrigued on the different feelings that it gives to me.

I ordered a DMT flattening plate, it's not here yet but in the meantime I'm using sandpaper on top of my marble block, I do the "drawing an X with a pencil along the stone" and I flatten until it dissapears, and after that I give a few passes on the edges of the stone.

I think that I'm following the procedures by the book, but I got those weird sensations yesterday. 

Best regards and thanks for your kind advice.

Luis

Hi Guys...

I spent the last 30 minutes writting a proper reply and when I tried to add an attachment the page sent me a message "you don't have permission to create attachments" and it froze  But I'm writting again.

And the problem si solved, and just like you said BDL, it was a problem of uneven pressure, today I tried with anothe knife, a 10" Tramontina (Looks and performs like a forchner, but is made I Brazil... I think) and I discovered that I was placing my hands at the handle and on the ti of the knife, despite the size of the blade and at some points I felt like I did with the Mac but I realized that it was uneven pressure and at some moments, a bad angle, I even chipped the edges of the stone and I got it chipped (It didn't happen with the mac, at least not that bad). After that I was very very aware of my hands position, and of making a very even pressure all the time and the problem was solved... Or if not totally solved, at least now I know what to correct. :)

And BDL, my stone is one like this http://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=88043 I don't know if is a good or a bad one, but so far I can't complain... My old stone is a 1000 grit mino sharp and this new one looked  like a great deal. But anyway, I'm ordering a new bester 1200 (based on your comments) and I'm not sure what else to order (I want another good stone that can give me a polished edge, and I'm giving this oishi to my kitchen staff and I'll get the new set for my personal use) if you can give me an advice that doesn't  cost muy caro!  I'll appreciate it very much.

About the "burr method", I'm sure that you've written about at least 10 times, so, if you can give me the link of any of your old post with that info, I'll appreciate it big time. I know what is the burr, I can feel it, chase it and deburr it... But how is the "Burr method"?... You mean that I swap the knife until I get a burr?... Then work the other side just like I'm doing with the counting method, but now instead of counting, going by the feeling of the burr?. Sounds interesting and if that makes me work faster and wear down the knife less than I do with the hundreds of passes with the counting method, I'll be very happy. If you can explain, provide the link to read about it or to watch a vid on the technique, I'll follow it for sure.

Thanks a lot amigos!

And Adam... Your technique on turning a knife into a single bevel, must be great, but that's a can of worms that I'm not ready to open yet. I'm just getting serious into this "very sharp knives" thing and first I want to learn the traditional double bevel... Once I get good enough I'll go into sigle bevel or chisel edges... That's something that I really want to try... But not yet. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wagstaff 

Luis, you are my new favorite writer.  Seriously.  There's a guy going by Mr. Quickly who writes Amazon reviews (or did until 2008) that might be your only rival.

Thanks a lot Wag!! I just share with you all my tragedies, comic-tragedies, and the way that I'm learnig, by my own experience, but with the help of you all. The sad part is that I'm learning to sharpen by experience, trial and error, the way that it has to be... And to learn about sex I learned the hard way... By books.