Mundial Knives

About ten years ago I decided to upgrade my knives that I generally use for food prepping . Having 2 chefs amongst my relatives I decided to seek their advice as knives to them are stock in trade . I was thinking of buying some Wusthof knives due to the excellent reports I had heard about them . Also I considered Henkel , Solicut and Global knives . My Chef relative advised me to have a look at the Mundial brand . Two reasons . First I have very small hands for a male . As you can see from the picture , the Mundial knife is the top one , the handle is considerably smaller than the Analon Brunello series below it . I also like the traditional 3 rivet tang design as well .They are both 17cm Santoku bladed knives . As my cousin said to me about Mundial . "You will get better quality knives but you wont get the same qualty at the price " I paid $139 for a block of 9 knives ten years ago.It is called the Bonza Block .I think now they are around the low to mid 200 dollar mark .Still excellent value .
Over the ten years I’ve used them I have found them excellent . They have a life time guarantee both commercially and domestically . The Santoku did not come with the block set .I purchased it about a month after . They get a lot of use .I’m a vegetarian so am always slicing and dicing away to create an interesting and varied diet for myself . Any further info just Google it up . They are quite popular knives and represent excellent value for money .

3 Likes

Thanks for sharing @vax2000!

For anyone interested, we have also have this kitchen knife buying guide.

1 Like

Mundial knives sound great. I am still using a stainless steel 30 cm kitchen knife (English Sky-line brand) with a 2 riveted wooden handle given to my wife as a wedding present 55 years ago. I used to occasionally dip the handle in polyurethane varnish but haven’t bothered for years. It holds an edge well, with just a quick strop on the steel now and then. Sky-line knives were never in the top price range. I hope they are still available!

2 Likes

I hope the Sky Lines are still available . It’s great in life when you find a product that you feel comfortable with and really works for you .

@vax2000, you always come at the right time! I am in the market for a good set of knives, so thank you for this review.

And thank you, @BrendanMays, for the buying guide. I shall check that out

2 Likes

@natural.thought Thank you for that mention . One thing in reading the Choice review on knives was that,from memory , they did not discuss the bevel angle of the edge of the knives . Mundial , Wusthof , Henkel , Solicut run a standard 20 degree bevel .Makes sharpening a breeze . Tojiro , Kyocera and Shun and alot of the Asian knives run stepped or faceted bevelling on the knife edge which may requite professional sharpening . That can be very expensive . Just thought I would pass that extra info on to you . Use Google for more info on knife bevel edges . All the best with your purchase .

2 Likes

I spent my earlier years in the family restaurant until I was about 25 and did a complete change of profession. I sliced fish, about 1400 slices every Friday. (good Catholic population) cut salad ingredients, meat, bread and vegetables. We catered for weddings that could small or our largest was 450! We catered for the town festival ball and served a 3 course sit down meal for 1028 people. I feel confident in saying I have some experience with knives. My father would carefully examine the 10 kilos of diced carrots for uniformity of size.

I use a Wusthof cooks knife and have a full setof other Wusthof knives that have lasted me about 40 years. Although the small paring knives are replaced regularly as my wife cleans up without her glasses and they end up in the garbage.

I use a steel on my knife each day and the steel is NOT for sharpening but realigning the edge. I use a stone to get an edge and as vax2000 points out, 20 degree bevel, although I use about an 18 degree bevel as that is what I am comfortable with. My knives are stoned (love that!) each week or before I cut a roast or slice a large roll of fillet steak.

When using a steel, you should run the edge of the knife across the tip of the steel after you have the edge back to pick up the small metal fillings with the magnet. The end of the knife before it enters the handle has a raised ridge, that is for your index finger and allows you to walk your knife down the vegetable you are slicing. Always use wood cutting blocks and a recent high magnification of composite plastic blocks show chipping in the cuts. Where do those chips go? Even worse with a glass cutting board. Your board should be cleaned with a light soap and a stiff brush and very hot, preferable boiling water. I wet my boards about once a month and cover them with cooking salt and let them stand in the sun for a few hours. They end up almost white. Good knives do NOT belong in the dishwasher. I also clean my knife block with boiling water each month.

3 Likes

My wife has been a professional chef for 30 plus years and she and her chef colleagues generally speaking swear by Trident knives. I think they may have something to do with Wusholf nowadays.
But like any good professionals they adapt to new ways and designs as they also buy specialist pieces from other manufacturers who cater (no pun intended) for a specific task when they become aware of that items superior performance.

I know the trident brand is expensive but she has many of her original knifes and other working implements still in great condition after all these years.

1 Like

@tndkemp The Wusthof Tridents and Wusthof Ikon Tridents are no doubt excellent knives . I was quite surprised when Choice tested all the knives that Wusthof did not come out on top . I would certainly have put them up there . But each to his own I guess . What a boring world it would be if we all liked the same thing and agreed on everything . Our differences on these things does make life very interesting .

1 Like

I have a Mundial cooks knife but after i tried a cheap $4 knife with a wooden handle from an asian food shop have switched to that, very good at slicing veggies and doesn’t weigh as much to hold when your wrists are not so strong. I never use the Mundial now

I’ve had a set of Mundial for years, and while they seem ok for home use, my perception is they are on the soft side and lose their edge more quickly than I’m happy with. That said, I have a set of Scanpan knives - and while the larger ones seem good the smaller ones seem brittle and end up with almost a serrated edge fairly quickly. The only steel I have is a Wusthof, and that is excellent - knowing a couple of people with the Wusthof knife sets I wish I’d gone with them as they seem very good. I use high carbon cold steel, ka-bar and swibo ‘in the field’ but thats another story :wink: Swibo do work very well in the kitchen …

1 Like

For field use I use a Buck 703 filleting knife for fishing . 25years old and still going strong . For skinning out foxes , rabbits and Roos I have a Buck skinning knife .A 4 1/2 inch blade model similar to their modern Open Season Skinning Range. Great knife a bit older than the fillet knife . Re the Roo shooting they are shot on permit to cull them .

2 Likes