Best Chefs Knife Review: MAC MTH-80 8" Chef's Knife w/ Dimples

Chefs Knife Review: MAC MTH-80 Chef Knife 8.5 inch w/ Dimples

MAC MTH-80 8″ Chef’s Knife with Dimples

Sporting the moniker, “The World’s Sharpest Knives”, MAC Knives claim their edges are just plain sharper than those of any major cutlery manufacturer in the world. MAC’s are still 100% hand made in Japan without the use of any automated production lines and nothing is outsourced. This is a company that cares about craftsmanship.

Founded in 1964 by Tatsuo Kobayashi, MAC’s were birthed as an idea to build a knife around the concept of a razor. Mr. Kobayashi was apparently disappointed by the heavy, European style knives he was using as a cook while in college. Upon returning to his hometown of Seki, Japan-which happened to be a small town renowned for its sword and knife making for over 700 years, Kobayashi set out to make the world’s sharpest knife.

The MAC Corporation followed and for nearly 50 years they have probably accomplished their goal over and over with each successful line. The MTH-80 is perhaps one of the most popular, “everyday use” knives. Eight inches is the most commonly used size in both the pro kitchen and at home. The extremely thin 2mm blade allows this knife to easily slice, cut and dice almost any food. The shallow dimples helps the knife glide through “sticky” foods like potatoes, squash and apples.

At Best Chefs Knife we are equally impressed by, well, some of the best chefs that give their endorsement to MAC Knives: Chef Thomas Keller of the French Laundry restaurant and Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin. We have heard that Keller’s attention had been courted by many cutlery suitors, but he was never persuaded until he tried the MAC. Might be anecdotal, but hey, we’re Thomas Keller fans.

Click here to check out current prices on the MAC MTH-80 8″ Chef’s Knife.

MAC MTH-80 8″ Chef’s Knife Features

Made with MAC’s original molybdenum steel blend to be thin and razor-sharp
Hardened to 57-61 degrees Rockwell C.
Lightweight, ergonomically designed and perfectly balanced to reduce fatigue
Famous MAC Dimples to reduce friction along the length of the blade

MAC MTH-80 8″ Chef’s Knife Review

At Best Chefs Knife we found this review to be a little challenging. Why? Well, after scouring the Internet we had a tough time finding many negative MAC MTH-80 reviews. If anything at all we found that the #1 reason people might have even had a negative word to say was in the availability of retailers carrying MAC Knives. If the worst thing you can say is that the item is hard to buy, then that’s a pretty good endorsement right there.

The reviews we found by actual users were definitely glowing. They commented that the MAC MTH-80 is thinner, lighter, harder and holds a edge better than a comparable Western knife like a Henckel or a Wusthof. The edge is ground to a more acute angle than the German knives and this difference was recognized by more than one reviewer.

At Best Chefs Knife HQ we are also always on the lookout for a professional chef’s review, and one we found remarked he uses the knife for 8 hours a day and still considers it the best knife he’s ever had. That seems to fit our bill.

It was noted that in addition to the handle size being best for medium to smaller hands, the thinner Japanese steel cuts with minimal resistance versus thicker blades. The famous MAC dimples add to this greatly by reducing friction and sticking when cutting potatoes, for instance. Several users actually warned that you use caution, as this light knife can be fast!

The reviewers were so impressed with the thinness of the blade that the only drawback we could uncover may be that the MAC would not be best used for cracking shells or bones. Wuhstof knives are certainly superior if you do a lot of working with bone-but if that’s the case then you’d be best switching to a cleaver instead of a chef knife. Best Chef Cleavers, anyone?

Hot Chef Knives Recommendation

Overall, the user response has been so positive with the MAC MTH-80 8″ Chef’s Knife that it simply is an easy choice to give it our recommendation. The incredible sharpness of the blade combined with the light flexibility make it in our eyes comparable to the best ceramics without any the drawbacks (See our review of the Kyocera). You simply will not be disappointed with the MAC.

We have found Amazon.com to have the best prices on chef’s knives including the MAC MTH-80. Click here to check it out.

Best Chefs Knife | MAC MTH-80 Chef’s Knife | Honing vs. Sharpening