Newbie with a Shun Elite Knife

If I had $200 burning a hole in my pocket and am not happy with my existing knives, I would probably buy a Miyabi 7000MC.  It's the same hardness as the Twin Cermax (66 HRC), but some online reviews say that it has improved heat treatment and less chipping than the Cermax.  The only thing I see as a potential issue is the Japanese handle shape -- "D" shaped, and so would be either left or right handed.  If you and your wife have different hand dominance, or would prefer the western handle, it might not be the way to go.

The Shun, like Global, are kind of hybrid that combine features of Japanese and western knives.  The defining features of Japanese knives are that they are much harder steel (so they can hold sharper edges, and longer), and thinner (so they can pass through food with less effort).  Shuns are very hard but are shaped like western (that is to say, German) knives.  Globals are thin but softer than most Japanese knives.  The Miyabi lines (all of them), however, are Henckels' attempt to create a Japanese line.  They bought a Japanese knife maker in Japan to do it because the Japanese place restrictions on exporting some of their best steels.  I believe it is a better knife and a better bargain than Shun.  There are also many other great knives out there though.

How did you end up with a "fake" Henckels set from Macy's?  Do you mean a Henckels set made outside of Germany?  That's not fake but just Henckels' low end line.

shun elite knives are great, made from powdered steel, any other knife is made from vg-10 steel, after owning the shun elite 10 inch now for 1 year and haveing 10 other shun brand knifes, i would only buy the elite, just remember thou, the harder the steel, the harder to sharpen, and they are very brittle, the powdered steel is very good to sharpen if you have the means and the skills 

When the edge hits something that it cannot handle, whether because it's something that it inherently cannot deal with (a ham bone, for example, or if it hits a dish or mug in the dishwasher), or because bad knife techniques drove it into hard stuff at a bad angle, they fail in different ways.  Softer knives typically deform or roll, while harder knives may chip.  This is just speaking generally -- high hardness knives may roll and low hardness knives may chip, but this is what is typical.  The characteristics of steel are influenced as much by composition as the heat treatment it receives, so the same steel, with different heat treatment, will act differently.

And, no, it will not "break" the way a dropped wine glass would.  There might be a small chip at the edge, like when you clip the rim of one bowl or plate against another.  I have not heard that this was a huge issue with Shun.  The first Cermaxes got some complaints, but from what I read subsequent batches of Cermax and then the Miyabi 7000MC line got better.

This site, Fred's Cutlery Forum, Knife Forum, and many other sites like ZKnives, have a LOT of information.  If you would like to take this on as a hobby, there is a good sized community out there, and endless information.

Most people who consider this their hobby call themselves "knife nuts" or "knife enthusiasts."

I use the elite shun 8" ... super knife. but indeed you need to know how to use it... very gentle

http://www.wildfirecutlery.com

Very high end hand made carbon steel kitchen knives.

I highly recommend as I have a full set.

Both chips are pretty small and should come out eventually in normal sharpening.  The one on the edge should come out even with one sharpening.  The one on the tip would take a few.  If you wanted to grind the one on the tip out for cosmetic reasons, do it from the spine side of the knife