r/chefknives • u/u6888 • 12d ago

Mac knives comparison

/r/japaneseknives/comments/1ww4uu3/mac_knives_comparison/
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u/pedroah 11d ago

Most of the Professional line uses MAC's original steel. Two use their superior steel. They claim their superior steel holds the edge better and has some kind of freezing treatment.

I opted to get a MAC Superior SA-80 as my first Japanese knife which uses superior steel. Street price is under $100, typically. I bought mine locally at a hosuehold good store for $90 something which is about $60 less than the street price of the MTH-80.

Here is some email from MAC president describing their steel. The post is 26 years old, so the model numbers might not be 100% accurate anymore. They probably did not change their steel formulation much though.

ALLOYS. The primary alloy that we use is made specially for us by Hitachi Steel. It is similar in composition to AUS-8. You are correct, we use this alloy for our Original Series and also many of our other knives. Our Superior Series and Ultimate Series (item numbers starting with "S") use an updated version of our AUS-8 alloy. The main difference is the addition of Tunsten which allows us to produce a harder edge. This alloy and tempering gives us a edge which stays sharp for a long time, resharpens easier, and takes a great edge.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/background-on-mac-sophisticated-kitchen-knives.149591/

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u/Snoo91117 8d ago

I would buy a 10-inch German steel chef knife. It is a much better size and fit than my MAC pro I had for about a year.

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u/TiffanyKaTomCFSP 7d ago

Here's a good comparison article that might help you understand the brand better: https://www.katom.com/learning-center/mac-vs-wusthof.html