Shun Classic Chef's Knife

I'll start by saying that I own both this knife and the Wusthof Classic 8" chef's knife, and I love them both to death. I tend to use the Shun more for cutting up poultry and such, because the steel is harder (less steeling when doing heavy work); and I use the Wusthof more for mincing and dicing veggies (much easier to use the bolster grip when doing these tasks). Quite frankly, in my humble opinion, when you are in this price range, comfort and aesthetics are going to be bigger factors than relative sharpness. Provided you clean and maintain the knives properly, you will be putting them in your will to a deserving heir.

Note to sharpness snobs: NO stainless knife can touch an old-fashioned carbon steel knife for sharpness. If you don't believe me, go and see what your butcher uses. The problem with old-fashioned carbon steel knives is that they are very highmaintenance and will look ugly after a while no matter what you do.

Personally, if I had to choose, I'd take the Wusthof solely on the basis of my personal feel and the fact that the blade is a little easier to hone than the Shun. I am just glad I don't have to choose, but if you do, I can't recommend strongly enough getting out to a store and handling the knives before you buy. When you're in this neighborhood, about the only way you can choose badly is by not buying the knife that feels best in your own hand. You're going to get a top-quality product whichever way you go.

After using a few of the Global knives, with the 7" oriental chef's knife being my everyday knife, I decided after a marathon day of chopping that I wanted someting a little heavier. After holding a few 10" chef knives, I decided these were bigger than I needed, and settled on the 8" chef as my new workhorse. It came down between the Global GF series 8", a Ryussen, and the Shun. After holding and test-driving all three, I settled on the Shun. It is by far the best combination of sharpness (wow!), weight (slightly heavier than the Ryussen and the Global), handle comfort (you don't notice the offset handle when you hold it, until you pick up the Ryussen or Global and it's not there, and then you miss it terribly), and price. In fact, for the rather small price difference between this beauty and the Global, I wouldn't even consider not spending it. Of course, it doesn't quite have the balance of the $1300 Hattori they also had on hand, but this is a great knife that makes me want to stop writing this review and go out and slice something. Highly recommended.

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I'll get this out of the way: I love Wuesthof and Shun knives. I prefer Wuesthof and Shun over Henckels and Global because the handles of the latter two brands don't fit my hand well. The MAC 'Ultimate' series feels good in my hand (their other lines don't), but I can't justify spending double of what a Shun costs if I'm not a professional cook.

These are my personal needs. Try different knives, and choose what fits your hand, budget, and cooking style. If you do like the way a Shun feels, I guarantee that you'll like it.

Despite the pleasure one gets from turning a mound of raw ingredients into a beautiful meal, that prep is a b$7@h! So, having a good knife (or knives) is essential for making things go quickly and smoothly, counter-side.

I have to admit that I was a total kitchen-hypocrite, in that I had THE BEST knives for my outdoor activities (I worked as a fishing guide in Alaska, so I filleted a lot of fish and just plain cut up a bunch of stuff), and I always preached about having the best tool for the job, but all I had for kitchen use were REALLY bad knives. I would tirelessly sharpen my work knives so that I could literally shave my face with them, but I would rarely keep my cooking knives keen.

I recently inherited my grandmother's Wuesthof 8" chef's knife. It was sharp, but so old that the wood (yes, wood. It was _that_ old) handles were splitting off of the tang, and her white, mechanical, counter-top sharpener from hell had ground out the belly. I wanted to get another chef's knife to keep it company, and after a lot of research settled on this 8" Shun.

The Shun has a slightly thinner blade, so it's not uncomfortable to forego the bolster-grip that I feel is required for the heavier Wuesthof (unless you're hacking the crap out of something with a Wuesthof) for a whole-handle grip. Each knife has it's place in my kitchen, though, so I'm glad that I have them.

This knive is beautiful to look at, beautiful to hold, and beautiful to work with. It does what it's supposed to do -slice and chop thingsreally well.

If you're not the type of person who will properly hand-wash, sharpen, hone, and all-around love your knives, you should go with a knife that has a serrated edge and a synthetic handle. If you treat your Shun knife well, though, it will make cooking fun... trust me. This thing is a work-horse, despite it's beauty, so be prepared to let it chop as much as IT wants to.

WARNING: DON'T USE BASIC MECHANICAL OR PRE-ANGLED SHARPENERS ON YOUR SHUN! Shun knives have a smaller-angled edge, and this will be ground down to a wider angle if you use most standard sharpeners. Wider-angled blades are less prone to getting dinged edges (and the bane of any knife: a chipped edge) and their sharpness will "last" a little longer (for what we can tell, comparatively), but they'll never be as blisteringly sharp as knives with smaller-angled edges. Be careful, or your razor-sharp knife will become plain-ol'-sharp.

Read Best Reviews of Shun Classic Chef's Knife Here

This was a difficult knife to rate, because on the one hand it is a very nice knife, and on the other, I can't recommend that you buy one.

1) This is a beautiful knife. I don't prep with it, but it has a permanent place on my magnetic strip, because I just like looking at it. If you want a Damascus-pattern Japanese knife that looks pretty, this is a good choice. You must also look at the Hattori HD (different Damascus style, black Western style handle with visible rivets), and the A.G. Russell Damascus (better Damascus pattern with white Eastern handles and visible rivets). They are harder to find, but nothing a quick Google won't fix.

2) Do not buy this knife unless you have held it, and preferably used it. This is true of any knife. Handle comfort and balance are extremely personal issues. My love affair with this knife ended as soon as I took it out of the box. I'm a right hander with large hands and I use a pinch grip. I like my knife balanced exactly on my working fingers. With its curved, offset bolster and ridged handle, it's specially designed for a right hander with small hands, using a pinch grip, and even then it's mediocre. Using that grip, the balance is 2cm (3/4") nose heavy. My $25 10" Forschner Fibrox embarrasses this knife in term of handle comfort and balance. The only Shun knife with a real handle is the Ken Onion custom.

3) This knife is razor sharp out of the box. But really, any good knife will take a 15 degree edge, you just have to be willing to put it on yourself (or find a pro you can trust to do it for you). My Wusthof Grand Prix has a 15 degree edge and is as sharp as this knife, and gives me at least 50 hours on the board before I need to touch it up with my Sharpmaker. The same goes for my Forschner. VG10 is better steel, but you will still need to hone it with a sharpening steel, and it will still go dull on you. It's only 7% harder than the average good knife and the Vanadium helps but isn't going to change your life.

If you just want a light knife with a thin spine, you can get the same thing for a quarter the money from a Forschner or some other industrial (F. Dick Pro-Dynamic or Messermeister Four Seasons, etc) If you want a light, razor sharp Japanese knife with a hard blade, you can get the same blade performance and a better handle for half the money from a Tojiro DP.

4) If you're in the market for a Japanese knife and want a complete set of Eastern and Western shapes, your only real options are the Shun or the Globals. I'd rather have a Hattori, but they don't make a bread knife, or a western boning knife, or a Chinese cleaver, or a paring knife (although the petty knives will do most of the same jobs). But unless you're really attached to the idea of a matching set, buy this knife and the 3.5" paring knife, and go industrial on the rest. A $15 Forschner boning knife will spank the $90 Shun boning knife. The same goes for the bread knife. All pimpery aside, if you ask Alton Brown, he'll tell you that a $100 bread knife is a waste of money (but he'll still be more than happy to sell you one).

5) The 9" Shun sharpening steel is too short for this knife. Find a nice 12" sharpening steel, or buy a 12" fine ceramic steel. The ceramic steel will take off metal, so if you don't really know how to use a steel, stick with metal; it's more forgiving of bad form.

All that said, this is a good knife. The edge is flawless, the steel is good, it's pretty, it has a nice blade shape, and the price is reasonable. If you like the hand-feel and don't have any trouble paying the mortgage, it will be money well spent. But I still prep with my Forschner, and leave the 10" Shun on the strip next to the 10" Global and the 10" Wusthof to impress any foodies that happen to wander through my kitchen, and as a silent testament to Brown, Bourdain, and my dream that Rachel Ray will someday learn how to use a real knife.

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I got into Japanese knives via Shun, and they are fine knives in general, but in the case of their chef's knives I think there are better alternatives. The Shun 6" Chef is lightweight, to my way of thinking, and the radical shear of the blade is not the most useful on the cutting board. The 8" doesn't suit me either, the handle too long and the edge of the blade too curved to provide a good chopping edge.

I've done better with the 7" Hattori HD, also of the "Damascus" type, though more discreetly banded. It's a less exotic-looking knife than the Shun, with a conventional Western handle, but makes for a more useful cutting tool and, for me, is better balanced and more comfortable in the hand. The blade is sharper too, but may be more fragile. Finer still are the somewhat more expensive Misono UX 10 chef's knives, among the best short of truly serious-money Japanese masterpieces. The Misono is still more Western-looking than the Hattori--no Damascus effect, not a single Japanese ideogram on it, and even the steel is Swedish, although the cutting edge is honed 80/20, nearly one-sided, rather than the Western 50/50--but it's as fine any reasonably affordable knife I've seen and it's sturdier than the Hattori. The edge differential shouldn't scare you off unless you're left-handed, in which case you need the appropriate model.

Shun makes good knives, but can be faulted for going for exotic looks above all--a marketing move that has worked well for them, but showy. On the other hand, the blades are good, and the D-handles have a special ergonomic appeal. I think their santokus and utility knives provide good value. With the chef's knives, though, I'd suggest investigating other possibilities, though it will cost you a few dollars more in the case of Hattori and nearly 50% more for the Misono UX 10s.

For less money and greater sharpness than anything I've mentioned, you can hunt up the Hiromoto AS series. Their downside is that their high-carbon edges require more care against corrosion, and as Japanese knives go, they look crude, even ugly; but you can split an atom with them, easy.

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