Thread: Mundial Knives - Excellent or Rubbish?

I had some, and I wasn't really all that impressed.

Didn't have any that broke, but they never seemed to live up to what I'd expect at their price...I found myself reaching for the $2 mystery brand knife (seemed to cut better, hold an edge better, and sharpen more easily) more often than the $40 Mundial equivalent.

Yes, I could sharpen the Mundial to a ridiculous level, but it still didn't cut as nicely as the cheapie.

I recently picked up one of the 'never buy on full price, wait for the regular 50% off sale' sets of from a local department store...no complaints, but still not quite as nice as the $2 cheapie!

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

Well I thought that these were quality knives.
We have had a set for just over a year and while drying one after washing it, it was dropped - landing flat on our cork kitchen floor.
The result is what you see.
I inquired today at the retail outlet that sold them to us and was told:
Mundial knives are made in two parts and always break when dropped.
Sorry we can't help you.
Now this sounds like a load of cobblers to me.

as you thought cobblers

link is Mundial, Inc. - Cutlery and Cooking Accessories for the Professional Chef and Home Gourmet

I'd be inclined to tell the retailer, "not of merchantible quality" I want a replacement or my money back

From their site...

"Single-piece construction. Unlike lower quality knives that often consist of several pieces welded together, fully forged knives are made of a single, thick steel blade that is integrated into the handle. There are no welded parts, and thus, no points of weakness."

I think I'll stick to my 'stamped out of a single rolled sheet' knives! (I mean, that break isn't even at a stress riser...if it was at the rivet holes, perhaps, but all that way from the section change is weird!! Especially if breaking when dropped is common!)

I am beginning to suspect they are the 'Monster Cable' of the knife world!

I have a Mundial set in a knife block that I bought about 12 years ago, they seem OK, but I bought a couple of Mundials on special at a local knife shop just recently, they are about half the weight of the older ones, they dont seem to hold their edge as well either.

I have had a Mundial fishing knife I bought when I was 16 (now 50) still haven't found one better. But maybe the quality isn't what it used to be.
Mind you these days if I was after a good kitchen knife I would be looking at the $100 range at least.
$40 is the equiv of a carton of beer.

Hi SG,

Looks like a manufacturing faults to me, possibly an existing stress crack on the top there, but that might just be the photo. Other knife manufacturers, higher up the quality scale though, offer a lifetime replacement for breaks like that.

I think Mundial are being manufactured in a country where the cost of labour was minimal, Brazil perhaps. Hence quality control is sometimes not as it could be perhaps.

Give it back, as Ian said, and demand a refund.

I do own one Mundial . Used it for a week and came to your same conclusion, then swore to never by another one. It only gets used for all the worst jobs I can think of, in the garden cutting roots off plants, cutting into retic pipe etc.

As an aside, I have a couiple of Victorinox chef knives, as cheapies, about the same cost as Mundial and they are great, hold an edge much longer, harder steel than most. For the cost of my most expensive chef knife you could probable buy 2 sets, of Mundials, (9 knife and block). I like knives.

Best of luck with the retailer mate.

Cheers
Pops

Never had a problem with out set. Don't keep them sharp though. But's a user issue.

I've had a set for at least 25 years, and the cooks knife has made the odd trip to the floor, no breaks, and hold an edge well except for the vegie knife for some reason. Perhaps the quality has changed but that break is not normal, and if it only fell onto a cork floor it should be replaced. The sales man was talking out of his rear, couldn't be bothered would be my guess.

Yes, made in Brazil was the word when we bought a block set.

Mundial are not the best knife nor are they worst, about mid-range overall. Found they took a bit of getting an edge on, cannot comment on edge holding, always use smoothest steel on knives before every use.

Your knife looks to have had a manufacturing fault that should be replaced, however it could be claimed by them that dropping the knife is outside of normal use (like a car, warranty does not cover a bingle)

So, maybe not mentioning the trip to floor in future correspondence ?

Had I seen this tread 2 weeks ago I would have jumped on and defended Mundial knives.

We have 3 of the black riveted handled knives and always found them fantastic. An oil stone sitting next to the knife block and a quality steel keep them razor sharp. I even bought my old man the 10inch chefs knife for Xmas 3 years ago. He loves it and brings it over everytime he visits to get me to touch up the edge.


2 weeks ago while cutting some raw chicken bones (drumsticks) with the 8inch cooks knife, this happens.



Took a small half moon out of the blade, about 8mm long.



No dramas, maybe I'm abit to strong and rough. Jumped on Ebay and picked up a full set of Mundial 'Future' knives dirt cheap. Knives are only 2 years old and retail for over $400. Great, so far so good with these knives, they do have a nicer edge than the black handled ones.


Dad comes to visit today. Guess what happened to his knife while cutting a pumpkin?




The break appears to be in the same spot as Scribbly Gum's knife.

Seems to be a weak spot for these knives.


Might try a strongly worded email to Mundial! If anything it might make me feel better.



.

Hi Kyle,

Looks almost identical to SG's break. A bit too coincidental perhaps. A bloke from work just had a similar half moon chip knocked out of his 10" knife as well.

Thanks for the photos.

Cheers
Pops

In my book chopping chicken bones is a job for a cleaver, not a French cook's knife.

My partner produced the same result in a similar way.

Originally Posted by rsser

In my book chopping chicken bones is a job for a cleaver, not a French cook's knife.

My partner produced the same result in a similar way.

True, but I was shown by a chef how to cut bones with a chefs/cooks knife. A good hard hit with the blade right up next the handle will do it easy.

As you can see by the section missing halfway down the blade I missed