If you prefer to showcase your artistic culinary abilities, having some excellent knives is a must. After all, not all knives are suitable for all kinds of kitchen applications. Right?
But within a limited budget, we have no choice but to be selective of our purchases, and some of us face the most significant dilemma in deciding between Santoku vs. Vegetable knife as a priority.
They both are fine knives worthy of being purchased. A Santoku knife is an excellent choice for a multipurpose knife, while a vegetable knife is the most suitable choice for cutting vegetables.
Well, this guide will help answer your dilemma by comparing a famous branded Santoku knife and a vegetable knife. Hopefully, you will get your answer by the time we reach the end of this guide.
So, without any further ado, here we start:
Deciding on the Better One: Santoku Vs. Vegetable Knife
While both the Santoku knife and Vegetable knife are great examples of high-quality knives, some qualities set them apart from one another.
One of the defining differences between them is that the Santoku blade has a rounded front edge while the vegetable knife has a flat edge.
To find out which one is the better one, we first need to thoroughly understand their merits and demerits. We can only do that when we compare the best examples of Santoku knives and vegetable knives.
For this reason, we have selected a famous Santoku knife named Mercer Culinary Genesis, and a popular vegetable knife called Global Vegetable Knife to make a viable comparison between Santoku vs. vegetable knife in overall.
Now, let’s have a broader look at them:
Santoku Knife: Mercer Culinary Genesis
An outstanding example of a Santoku knife is Mercer Culinary Genesis, beloved of the cooking maniacs. Mercer knife, a perfect blend between German and Japanese knife technology, is 7-inch long with a blade angle of 15°.
As for this blade’s dimension, you will see that it is 1.75 inches in its widest part and 1.625 inches in the center. The blade narrows down from 1 inch in the last part—a wide edge with little weight of 0.16 ounces.
Key Features:
- A handle made of Santoprene, one kind of thermoplastic elastomer.
- A blade made of steel having a high carbon percentage
- Granton-edged blade
- Knife size- 7 inches
- A one-year warranty period
5 Best Santoku Knife
Notable Benefits!
No need to fear rust
One of the worst things to befallen your knife is rust. Rust compromises not only the knife’s looks but also its functionality.
Let’s be honest; many times, we have to throw away our favorite blades because they rust over time.
But if you use Mercer Culinary Genesis knife, you can rest assured that your knife will remain rust-free for a long time.
As mentioned before, the percentage of carbon in German steel used to make the blade is very high. According to chemistry, the higher the carbon rate in the steel is, the better its rust resistance.
The result? Long-lasting rust, discoloration, and corrosion-free durable blade! Cool, isn’t it?
Knife With A Superior Balance
Only the ones who use knives can understand how important it is to have a well-balanced knife. A knife’s tip control, precision, and the cutting force depend hugely on its balance.
We have heard of many people injuring themselves due to the misjudgment of the knife’s precision. The knife balance also impacts the comfort level of the person using the knife.
The producers of Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku knife have taken the balance issue very seriously, no doubt.
If you notice the knife, you will see that the Mercer knife’s handle ends in a short bolster.
This bolster, along with the specifically designed handle, plays a significant part in keeping the knife well balanced so that you may cut comfortably with precision.
A Helpful Granton-Edged Blade
Remember the times when you need to slice your vegetables quickly and thinly, but the slices keep sticking on the blade?
Due to this dilemma, not only do you have to lose time, but also vegetables come out looking bad. How irritating!
If you look back to the key features, you will notice that this knife’s blade has a feature called Grarton-edge.
The term refers to the ground shallows near the blade’s edge. Besides, the inclusion of these enables the blade to create tiny air pockets while cutting.
Due to the air pockets’ presence, when you use it to cut thin slices, they release quickly from the blade, increasing its efficiency.
Comfortable And Non-Slip Grip
Sometimes it can be hard to get an OK grip on the knife’s handle with a wet hand. But no, not Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku knife.
To precisely avoid this issue, the manufacturers have ensured a high-quality, rubbery-plastic wrapping over the handle to cover it entirely. The cover is made of Santoprene, one kind of thermoplastic elastomer.
This unique plastic keeps the handle from slippery and aids the knife holder to hold a superior grip on whether the hand is wet or dry. It is strong enough to withstand oil and temperature exposures, adding to its durability.
Another important quality that needs mentioning is the length of the handle. The handle is designed to be of an appropriate length to fit most hand sizes, especially the average ones.
Thus you won’t need to fear your hands getting pained from holding the knife for longer times. Beneficial, right?
Pros
- Has multiple uses
- Rust and corrosion-free blade
- Designed to prevent thin slices from sticking
- Well balanced
- Comfortable handle made of plastic
- NSF certification ensures the safety
Cons
- The blade dulls easily
Vegetable Knife: Global Vegetable Knife
As you can guess from its name, a Global vegetable knife is specifically designed or cutting vegetables with precision.
Unlike the Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku knife, this knife is hefty, weighing a solid 10.2 ounces. The widest part of this knife is 2-inch, and it is near the handle.
Despite its weight, its blade is skinny and sharp. These features make it one of the best possible choices for cutting vegetables.
Key Features
- Dimpled handle made of stainless steel
- High-tech molybdenum or vanadium stainless steel made blade
- Square tip
- Razor-sharp edge
- Knife size- 7 inches
- Warranty for a lifetime
5 Best Global Vegetable Knife
Notable Benefits!
Corrosion, rust-free blade provides longevity
As you can see from its key features, Global Vegetable Knife comes with a lifetime warranty. And what makes the warranty even better is that it is against defects and breakage.
No company can provide such a bold warranty without ensuring the quality of the product.
Stainless steel containing a unique mixture of molybdenum, vanadium, and chromium is used to make the blade.
The name of the end product is Cromova. This particular material is not only durable but also highly resistant to discoloration, corrosion, and rust.
And that is not the end. After the blade’s formation, a long taper is used to keep the blade’s edges extremely sharp for a more extended amount of time.
This means that you will be able to use this knife for years without needing any replacements and save your time and money.
A Comfortable, Well Balanced, And Safe Handle
Unlike Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku knife, a Global knife has a handle made of metal, precisely, stainless-steel. These handles are one of the defining features of Global knives.
To resist slipping, the handles are dimpled. As for the size, the handles’ length is comparatively smaller compared to many European knives. If you have an average-sized hand or smaller sized hand, you will love it.
Again, stainless steel’s use in the making of the handle protects the knife from many issues related to plastic handles and increases its lifespan.
The handle also will make your knifing experience smoother by controlling the balance. How?
The global vegetable knife’s handle is not a solid one, but a hollowed one. In the hollowed part of the handle, a precise amount of sand for a particular blade is inserted to make it flow inside in co-ordination with the blade’s movement.
And lastly, to make sure that your fingers are not hurt during the use, a finger notch is inserted between the blade and the handle. Perfect, right?
Razor-Sharp Edge At The Blade Tip
A knife’s edge is one of its most essential features. You can rest assured that you will not be disappointed with this knife when it comes to this feature.
First of all, this knife’s blade is sharpened on both sides, making it an ideal choice for left-handed people. This makes it similar to some western knives.
But what makes it even better is its steeply ground and acutely angled pointed edge. The edge contributes to maintaining the blade’s sharpness for a longer duration. In fact, you can quickly identify a Global Vegetable Knife by its edge.
Why? Because the edge on a Global knife extends a quarter of an inch or more up from the knife tip and thus is easily visible.
A Hefty Knife With a Thin Blade for Strength And Precision
Mercer knife is a lightweight blade. But the Global vegetable knife is different is this area. This blade is perfect for cleaving root vegetables and thick-skinned vegetables, making it heavy by default to keep its practicality.
Yet, the heaviness of the blade does not compromise its preciseness. Its ultra-sharp thin blade is just what you will need to dice or make thin slices out of your vegetables.
Also, its smaller size and flatter blade add to its advantages. As it is smaller, it is easy to maintain precision while cutting. On the other hand, the flat edge will help you chop better.
Pros
- Ideal for chopping vegetables
- Specially made blade to prevent rust and corrosion
- Well-balanced
- Slip-resistant, comfortable handle
- Warranty for a lifetime against defects and breakage
Cons
- In a No protective sheath included in the package
Facts to consider between Mercer Culinary Genesis and Global Vegetable Knife
When you want to differentiate between these two amazing knives, you need to consider some basic facts like usability, chef preferences, blade angle, and materials. Let’s jump right into it, to find out more about these facts.
Areas of Use
The first difference one can make between the Mercer Sankoto knife vs. Global Vegetable knife is their area of use.
Santoku knives are similar to chef’s knives and have more significant usage areas, such as deboning meat and fish, chopping, dicing, and slicing meat, fish, vegetables, etc. But cleaving foods with this knife can be problematic.
On the other hand, a Global vegetable knife is unsuitable for deboning meat or fish. But it is well suited for cleaving, slicing, dicing, and mincing foods such as vegetables, meat, and fish.
The Knife Tip
Well, another significant difference between Santoku vs. vegetable knife, or Mercer Sankoto knife vs. Global Vegetable knife is the knife’s tip. The Santoku knife has a round trip, while the vegetable knife has a square end.
The Blade
Both of the knives have well designed functional blades. Mercer’s blade has a Granton edge to prevent soft foods from sticking while Global’s blade has a steeply ground edge to retain sharpness.
Size and Weight
The knives also differ in their size and weight. Both of them indeed have a 7-inch long blade. But that is where their similarity ends.
In both size and weight, the Mercer knife is smaller and lighter than a Global knife. SignificantlySignificantly their weigh just can’t compare to one another. After all, Global is 10.2 ounces in weight while Mercer weighs only 0.16 ounces!
The Handle
One more area where the knives have a stark difference is their handles. The Mercer knife handle is covered with a special plastic to ensure a stable, comfortable grip and resisting oil and temperature. It is also attached to a bolster to maintain balance.
On the contrary to Mercer, a Global vegetable knife has a hollow handle made of dimpled, stainless steel. Thus the handle not only ensures a comfortable, non-slip grip but also increases the overall knife’s lifespan.
It does not have a bolster. The balance is ensured with a precise amount of sand inserted inside the hollow part of the handle.
Mercer Culinary Genesis vs. Global Vegetable Knife: Which is Best And Why
For the central part, determine which one is the best, Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku Knife or Global Vegetable Knife.
As you have noticed from the above sections of this article, they both are great. But they also have some characteristics which make them both suitable and unsuitable for some tasks.
When it comes to the versatility between Santoku vs. vegetable knife, Santoku wins due to its ability to debone, chop, dice, and slice vegetables, meat, fish, etc. with high precision.
While it can’t leave and mince and a vegetable knife, you will be able to achieve a satisfactory result.
But as you can understand from its name, a vegetable knife is perfect for only vegetables. You can use it to cut other kinds of stuff like meat and fist, but they will not be as well cut as vegetables.
You also will not be able to debone meat or fish with a vegetable knife as its flat tip will get in the way.
Mercer knife is also more precise and easy to handle due to its tip, size, and weight adding to its comfort level.
It doesn’t matter how comfortable and long-lasting Global’s handle is. Moreover, its weight will make your hands tired a lot faster. The knife’s size and the square tip will also affect your knife-movement.
As for the quality and lifespan, you can see that the Global vegetable knife is superior to the Mercer Santoku knife. You will be able to use one blade for a long time. But Mercer knife is not too bad either.
Let us look at the comparison chart to determine which one is better:
Comparison table: Mercer Santoku Knife vs Global Vegetable Knife
| Mercer Santoku Knife | Global Vegetable Knife | |
| Utility | Suitable for various uses | Suitable for cutting vegetables |
| Sharpness | Sharp blade but gets dull easily | Extremely sharp blade designed to be long-lasting |
| Blade tip | Rounded tip | Square tip |
| Durability | High-carbon stainless steel blade makes it durable | Secret stainless steel makes it extremely Durable |
| Handle | Covered with plastic | Made of stainless steel |
| Size (product dimensions) | 2 x 1 x 13 inches | 14.7 x 3.5 x 0.9 inches |
| Weight | 0.16 ounces | 10.2 ounces |
| Warranty | Has a one year warranty | Has a lifetime warranty |
In a word, both Marcer and Global vegetable knives are fine examples of kitchen blades, and they both fulfill their tasks exceptionally well.
But maybe Mercer as a Santoku knife is a little better than the Global vegetable knife despite its durability due to Santoku’s practicality and higher comfort level.
Frequently asked questions
You are almost end of our article. Not last but least we can do is come up with some amazing Question & Answers part. With the help of this FAQ section, your knife experience can be a bit better than before. So, what are you waiting for? let’s dive more into this FAQ section.
What Is A Santoku Knife Best Used for?
While it is unsuitable for mincing herbs, it is perfect for dicing and slicing. Using a Santoku knife, you can easily cut thin slices out of vegetables, meat, and fish.
Which Knife Is Best for Cutting Vegetables?
The Santoku Knife
The Chef’s Knife
The Paring Knife
The Utility Knife
The Gyuto Knife, etc.
Do I Need a Santoku Knife?
With this one multipurpose knife, you will get results similar to using several types of knives. If you don’t have a chef’s knife in your house, you can get this as an alternative.
What Is The Best Santoku Knife?
Global G-48-7 inch, 18cm Santoku Hollow Knife
Wusthof Classic 5-Inch Hollow Ground Knife
Mercer Culinary Genesis Santoku Knife.
Victorinox 7 Inch Rosewood Santoku Knife.
Yaxell Gou 6-1/2-inch Santoku Knife, etc.
Bottom Line!
From this article, you can see that Santoku wins, but not by much compared to Santoku vs. vegetable knife.
If you have enough money to buy both knives, they are both fine knives worthy of buying.
But if you are down on cash and need to use one knife for multiple purposes, then the Santoku knife is undoubtedly a better choice!
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