Shun Ken Onion 5-Inch Utility Knife

This 5" Utility knife is as outstanding and satisfying as any other Shun Ken Onion knife. I have no doubt that I will use it frequently for a lifetime. Prior to purchase, I was looking for an excellent knife that was slightly longer than my Wustof 3.5" paring knife and was more multi-purpose for small-to-medium size slicing and chopping jobs. Paring knives are appropriate for small slices, but does not facilitate fine dicing jobs. This is because the handle of paring knives are inline with the blade so that finger joints hit the cutting board when the knife is rocked on the down-stroke. (Such a motion might be useful for dicing a small jalapeno pepper.)

Since I already own a Shun Ken Onion santoku and was so pleased with its performance, I looked to the same brand for a utility knife. This knife is extremely versatile -the ergonomic and slightly off-set handle, in combination with the curved blade, promotes a rocking motion that is great for tiny chopping and small-to-medium slicing jobs. The thin but stiff blade allows it to be used for finer jobs like thinly slicing peppers, cutting small fruits, and even deboning fish. Additionally, the blade is extremely sharp and the weighting is superb. So little effort is required to make clean, precise cuts. I highly recommend the 5" utility knife, and I'm confident future owners will be throughly satisfied as well.

This is my first knife of this quality and I hope I can convey what an absolute joy it is to own. Ken Onion has thought through the ergonomics of actual use and his resulting design becomes an extension of your hand. He studied hours of videos of knife use by both left handed and right handed master chefs and the resulting details create what may be the best designed knife on the market.

The upward curve of the handle is designed to fill your palm which gives pinpoint control when using the pinch grip or even just grasping the knife in your hand. Notice the angle of the blade to the handle, that angle is optimized to remain relative to the cutting board regardless of the size of the user. The tang curves backward to accommodate your thumb and forefinger in a pinch grip without causing the muscle tension that a straight tang can cause.

I haven't even gotten the the quality of construction and the quality of the forged steel blade, I'll leave it to the product description to do that but a final word about sharpness! Someone in a review of a Shun described it as feeling like it was "heat activated" going through a tomato, I can't improve on that imagery. :)

If you are on the fence about acquiring a Shun Ken Onion...get off it and get one.

UPDATE 03/18/12:

Be extremely careful about leaving a Shun standing in water. I left one of mine "to soak" and forgot it until the next day, the edge had been destroyed by rust in just 12 hours! I don't mean it lost sharpness, it was notched, actual gaps in the SG edge!

My Shuns are great but the loss of free lifetime sharpening eliminates the need for premium pricing. There are Japanese knives as good for less.

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All the Ken Onion knives I have purchased are fantastic. The were shipped and delivered on or before the time given. I am extremely happy with Amazon and Ken Onion.

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I'm tired of dull knives.... got this at a great (although not cheap) price. My wife used it before I got a chance. When I asked her how it worked she said, "it's like it is heat activated". I was a little confused at first. I cut some peppers, onions and garlic tonight. It requires very little pressure and is simply a joy to use. It kinda does feel like it's heat activated. I now understand the saying about a hot knife through butter. Can't wait to justify my next Ken Onion purchase. By the way, slicing garlic felt like I was using a razor blade.

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Versatile, the perfect size. Very easy to chop because of the grip. LOOOOOVE this knife and more than the other german knives i own.

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