Shun Classic 7-Inch Santoku Knife | A Chef's Best Friend

Shun Classic 7-Inch Santoku Knife | Buy this knife

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Shun Classic 7-Inc...

	Shun Classic 7-Inch Santoku Knife Shun Shun average customer review:based on 27 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Santoku knife is versatile, as its name in Japanese implies ???three virtues???. Use the entire, wide blade of this Shun Pro for all three tasks--chopping, mincing and dicing--especially for larger or hearty produce or thick cuts of meat. The single bevel is easy to maintain using a whetstone or professional sharpener.Made in the ancient city of Seki, Japan, Shun Pro knives rely on extremely sharp 2.5mm blades, made of a single piece of Japanese VG10 steel for strength, called the Honyaki style in Japan. It offers precision slicing, cutting and chopping that is unprecedented by any of its German competitors. Sharper out of the box than other knives, Shun Pro knives feature a traditional Japanese blade, with a one-sided beveled edge and hollow-ground or concave back. Japanese chefs in particular prefer the single bevel because it can be honed backed to its original sharpness, even after hours of slicing, using a whetstone. In addition, the hollow ground divots on the back produce air pockets that remove friction when slicing, so food releases easily without any loss of flavor. The ebony Pakkawood handle, a highly durable combination of layers of white birch wood and resin, is designed in a ???D??? shape to fit firmly and comfortably in the hand, with the bonus of being dishwasher safe and NSF approved for commercial kitchens. Shun Pro cutlery is suitable for right-handed users only

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A Chef's Best Friend

Shun brand kitchen knives are some of the best products from a culinary stand point. I've worked in many kitches and held many knives but this by far is the best. Light weight, razor sharp edge even from the abuse of everyday proffesional kitchen stand. If you are just a casual home cook, I'd look for something a little cheaper but if you do a lot of cooking and cutting than by all means buy this knife.

Buy this knife

Alright. First read all the other reviews and see what they think. Chances are, they're right.

I've been looking for a knife like this all my life.

I like the thinness of American knives like Chicago Cutlery (the original Walnut, not the cheap ones they sell now), but am envious of the heft of the German knives (I had a full set of Henckels Professionals).

The problem? The thin knives are too light, the heavy ones are too thick.

Now, we have the best of both worlds with Shun.

Wait, I know what you're saying. They're too expensive. No. Listen: if you pick and choose, you can get a lifetime of cutlery pleasure out of just a few samples.

First, buy the 7-inch Santoku. You can get the Granton edge (the scalloped thingies) if you want, but it will just mess up the beauty of the Damascus steel finish. This is your workhorse; a little hotrod that will lightly and competently saw through most of your daily chores.

Then, you need a little parer--the 3-1/2 inch or 4 inch will do nicely.

Big, small.

But, we need bigger still, so get a ten-inch chef's. You'll like this knife. Owing to it's fairly small profile (height), it does double duty as a slicer. Chop up heads of cabbage and slice a turkey or ham, your choice.

Get one of the six-inch slicers (utility or tomato) and you're done.

That's all the expensive cutlery you will ever need.

Anything else: serrated, bread slicers, or other novelty knives, just by cheap stuff.

Now, you need accessories. Get the Shun sharpening steel for sure. It's got a cool magnetic angle on the hilt that supposedly gives you the correct angle for sharpening. You can do it the wussy way--blade down--or pick it up like I do and steel toward yourself in a grand, flourishing manner.

We're not done yet.

You've got a lifetime investment here (You think I'm kidding? Any time you want, send your knife to warranty service and they'll either fix it or send you a brand new one, and they'll always sharpen it. Don't tell them I said so, but that's a pretty sweet way to keep your knives sharpened. I don't think I'd trust any local shop to touch these blades).

But, let's talk wood.

Don't even think about slamming these things down on just any crappy surface. Use a poly board for yucky meat, but you must have a good end grain board for chopping. One word: Boos. Their best (and trust me, I've researched this) is a 12X18 reversible hard maple. Don't be put off by the flatness of this. What I did was buy some little stick-on nylon bumpers and put them on the bottom to prevent sliding and water damage underneath. After, say, ten years, flip it over for a brand new board. If you've got a bigger kitchen, I'm envious, and I recommend the Totally Bamboo 22X16.5 board. It's got feet on it and, hey, it's like a renewable resource to boot.

You know what you'll get for your trouble? The most beautiful ringing sound you've ever heard each and every time you put edge to board. I'm not kidding...it's melodic. And, it protects your knives.

Whichever one you pick, get some Boos Mystery Oil. I don't know what's in it (hey, it's a mystery) but it will keep your rock maple or bamboo boards seasoned and like new for years. Hey, you can use regular olive oil or some other cooking-safe wood protectant, but that's like, I don't know, just too weird. Not to mention not product-specific.

Finally, one small caveat.

While these Pakkawood handles are truly an exquisite thing (and, despite what they say, NEVER put them in the dishwasher), they have one drawback: they're slippery. There's virtually no ergonomics evident from the hilt to the butt, and, while sleek and sexy-looking--and very comfortable in your hand--they don't provide much traction. On more than one occasion, I've found one of the larger knives sliding right out of my hand. It was frightening to think what devastation these sharp blades could have done to my bare foot as it hit the deck. Maybe I'm just clumsy (or drunk), but as any cook knows, food prep requires a lot of water, and your hands get dried and slick. Be careful. And, I don't know, maybe wear shoes.

But, if you can keep them in your hands (and really, I know you can), you will never for one minute in the rest of your life regret this purchase.

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Truly an oustanding knife!

What a beautiful knife. The damascus layering and the highly polished edge gives it a cool and different look. But what is form without function - especially in kitchen tools? Well, for over two years, the knife has peformed fantastically! The edge is still quite sharp, the finish is still a beauty and have not sent it off to be sharpened. Grant it, it is not in a commercial kitchen setting, just a home where my wife and I like to cook. Also, it is well maintained: I hand wash and steel the knife after every use and it is stored properly in its own cell so that the general population of utensils don't come into contact with it. I have looked at the edge lately with a lupe and it still looks true, no nicks or missing pieces or rusting. It still cuts through vegies, meat, (cooked and raw), pineapples, ginger, etc effortlessly without the resistance and slippage like in a dull knife.

It will require getting use to if your experience is with a French style knife. I own a wusthoff classic 8" cooks knife and started with the french style but it is rarely used now. Also, my wife prefers the 4" wusthof for her work so you need to put your hands on it say at a Williams-Sonoma and see if you like the feel.

Lastly, the experience of using these high end knives is like getting a breath of fresh air after being in a stuffy room (or in an airplane delayed on the runway) for hours and hours. You ask your self why and where have you been? Get good tools for the tasks you use everyday.

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Great Knife

So, I've been in food for my entire life, and at 15 i started full time work in a kitchen. At first I used the typical industrial knives i.e. Dexter Ruseel and Forschner, that we had in the restaurant. I loved these knoves but knew I wanted my own. So being a dishwasher and prep guy, I did not have much to sprend on knies but made a hodge-podge set of knives. MY first santoku was a Wusthof Gourmet 7-in. hollow ground, which was terrific for forty dollars. But that knife has been blown away by this Shun. So when I recieved the knife, i had also ordered two more and a new knife case and began to put my knives in. In the second minute of having the knife, my finger recieved a nice nick. The knife was so sharp that when my finger moved as I put another knife in the case that cut happened. i was so impressed I had to use the knife. I grabbed a tomato, some scallions and a onion. The knife glided through all the products, and just did a tremendous job. If you do by this knife, don't use a steel made by a Western knife company, it won't hurt the knife, but i recognized a slight difference after honing.

So if you are willing to spend a hundred + dollars get this knife. Also people have aid that this knife is bad for big hands, it's a lie. I have huge hands and have not had a problem with my grip, a pinch.

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becareful, don't submerge the knife for too long in water

If you submerge the knife in the water overnight, the cutting edge will be damaged. The rust will eat away the VG10 steel core and you may have to remove a lot of material to put the edge back. I got this problem with my knife when I accidentally left it in the sink overnight. The best way is to wash by hand and dry it right away. Wushthof won't have this problem but the edge won't be as hard as VG10. Personally, I don't see much of the different on the edge retention between the two.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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