Shun Classic 8-Inch Ultimate Cooks Knife

The knife edge has a very pronounced curve, the 'belly' of the knife doesn't transition to a straightened out 'edge' before ending up at the 'bolster'. This may be a great feature if you rock the knife alot mincing herbs and vegetables, but I personally prefer a more traditional chef's knife profile where the 'edge' of the knife is more flat creating a longer cutting edge that is actually in contact with the board. When you place the edge of the "Ultimate Cook's" knife against the cutting board, you will see that at any angle, very little of the knife's edge is in contact with the board.

What I noticed when quickly slicing, dicing, and chopping various vegetables (green onions, bell peppers in my case), was that I was not completely slicing through items that were closer to me. Because of the continuous curve of the 'edge', items closer to the bolster weren't getting cut completely. You really have to adjust your slicing motion to account for part of the blade / edge that you might say is missing from a traditional chef's knife or santoku.

Bottom line, I am happier with the 8" Shun Steel Chef's Knife. The U-Cook's knife is beautiful, sharp and well made, but it did seem a little blade heavy. The serrations on the U-Cooks seemed like a great idea, but when you have a razor sharp Chef's knife you don't really need them.

This is by far the best knife that I own. I wanted to buy a set of shuns for a long time and finally bought this one to hold myself over until I can afford a small set. AND I LOVE IT!

This knife is fantastic for 90% of the prep work that I do. I make a lot of salsa and bruschetta and this works perfectly. The top third or so of the knife is serrated which makes slicing through tomatoes and fruit skins a breeze. The bottom part of the knife is a flat blade which works really well for chopping veggies and dicing onions and tomatoes, etc.

I bought one of the Ultimate Utility (U-2) knives by shun instead of this one because an employee at sur la table said it would be the greatest thing ever. Honestly, it was just okay. When I used it the first night for making salsa I found myself wishing that 1, it was bigger and 2, that it had a flat section of the blade. So the next day I took it back and bought this one. Best decision I could have made. And sur la table was really cool about exchanging it even though I'd already used it.

And to top it off, it's a shun so it is insanely sharp.

The only con that I can think of is that it is not as sexy looking as the other shun knives. But you know what, that doesn't really matter. It is an amazing knife. It wasn't even THAT expensive because I got it on sale for like bucks.

Long story short, If you purchase only one good knife, make it this one. Even at bucks, it would be worth it.

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