Shun Vs. Global Santoku - Page 3

I'll keep that in mind BDL. About the Shun Premiers. As I said it's a shame we (new to high quality knives) can't borrow them for a few weeks. To see how they feel over a long period of use. Are they suited to your habits of knife maintenance? Etc. But I think I will still have a look at the Shun Premiers while I'm looking at the other brands at the shop. Just to compare. 

 

How do you feel about K-Sabatiers? Have you owned or used their Vintage Au Carbone?

 

Is there any particular brand (s) of steak knives you favor? 

 

This is the knife shop I'm planning to buy from http://www.sliceandsear.com/knives/ (1st choice) or http://www.internetkitchenstore.com/store/dynamix.asp

Edited by BDD8 - 5/19/12 at 1:25pm

You should try the Twin Cermax Santoku 7" by Zwilling JA Henckels, its rentention to sharpness is indeed very good and long only downside is that you need to use a Henckels whetstone to sharpen it, nothing else would do, but the plus side is that everything feels like softened butter to cut.

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Edited by chinacats - 6/2/12 at 8:50pm

I love my Shun, and bought the one below for a friend who used it to cut through Chicken and hit the bone. They're extremely delicate since they're so thin, and retailers advise not to cut anything that is too hard. Even a Yam should be avoided. Always have a good european for those harder things.

 

 

Most of the responsibility for THAT particular Shun disaster probably lies more with the fact that Shuns -- like many Japanese made knives -- are somewhat brittle, rather than that thin knives chip easily (they don't). For instance, several of my antique, carbon Sabatiers are just as thin as Shuns but have no trouble with splitting a chicken; but they're made from tough (as opposed to strong alloy) and only hardened to around 55-56RCH.

There are also often technique problems which go along with chips: For instance, if the friend in question not only hit a bone but torqued the knife when he did so.

In my experience VG-10 knives tend to be a little "chippy" anyway, and more so until it's been sharpened a few times. I've heard a lot of speculation on why that's true, but don't find any of the reasons particularly convincing. My speculation: Since a few makers (e.g., Hattori) seem better than others (Shun, in particular) it seems it's not just the alloy itself or single-steel vs san-mai construction and may have something to do with hardening. Whether I'm right or (just as likely) wrong, it seems to be a good prophylactic to sharpen a VG-10s -- especially VG-10 Shuns -- early and often, as a well-deburred, fresh-metal edge is a LOT more resistant to damage.

For people who like ultra-thin Japanese knives (me included), the best answer to the chipping problem, is of course, to keep one or two "heavy duty" knives for heavy duty tasks.

BDL

I'm pretty much "over" VG-10.  To the nOOb J-knife buyer it's a "Super Steel" but compared to the better alloys it just okay.  I still have maybe 4 knives in VG-10 but I don't expect the same out of them as I do my knives in Super Aogamo, Shirogami, SRS-15, etc.  And as they get traded or sold over the course of time I probably won't be buying anything else in that steel.  At least not for kitchen use- I'm still very fond of my Spyderco knives in VG-10.