Generally speaking, I have found this sort of testing to be less informative than we might otherwise wish. The reason for this is the fact that your knife and the "commercial grade" knife don't necessarily have the same edge geometry. If your knife is ground with a thicker, more obtuse angle, or is convex ground, it will have better edge support, which means the edge will be stronger, even if the steel is identical in compostiion and heat treat. That stronger edge will hold up MUCH better to this sort of abuse, even if it won't necessarily cut any better.
Interestingly enough, this sort of test is sometimes used as a parlor trick for sword shaped object makers to prove how superior their sharpened crowbars are.
If you ground both edges identically before starting the test, and put both knives in a vise to squeeze the edges on, instead of whacking them together, you may come up with some useful conclusions, but this sort of abuse should be done only with a sacrificial test peice. Even still, I can't say I'd reccomend it, as it would still have limited utility.
Personally, for testing so far, I like to cut stuff. I'll take a knife and whittle some hardwood. Then I'll chop some hardwood cross grain. I'll take it into the kitchen and make a stir fry or fried rice, or something else that requires a lot of cutting.
If I like the way the knife cuts, it's a cutter. If not, then something is wrong. That something might be edge geometry, or it might be heat treat, etc. Try to do everything the same every time, then test small changes one at a time, so you can isolate the difference one change makes.
Also, examine your edges when they get dull. Are the edges rolling over? Are they chipping out? examining the mode of failure will give you some valuable information on how to fix that failure.
