advise on getting shun or global

I've used Global for 20+ years. Global definitely gets my vote.

 I like global over shun, but fujiwara fkm over both.

I'm interested as to why just these two brands?  Is it a school requiremnt?  I'd think for a student's needs you could find better (or at least as good), cheaper...

I guess I am one of the few that aren't into Global. I feel that the tang is too thin in some of the knives, and when roll chopping, they didn't feel as solid as other knives I use/prefer.
 

I have 2 Shun, and I love them both dearly.

 

For everyday, all around kitchen knives, I have stayed with Wusthof Trident. Not the best, certainly not the worst. Great all around durability, consistency, hold a good edge, and like a good set of knives, will last generations.

I'm sure there will be many opinions, and I have many expensive knives...but my daily work horse is the Tojiro--great knife for the money IMHO

I've used Global for more than ten years now. I use primarily the 8" chef and the paring knife, also have the flexible boner. Love the weight and overall feel. The paring knife fits perfectly in my hand when I flip it around and hold like a pencil. The biggest knock I have against them is that the handles get pretty slick if you let it get wet or touch something slimy with your dominant hand. Not a major issue now that I've trained myself pretty well to not touch things with my right hand. The spine is a bit thin and can dig into your hand pretty good if you haven't built up calluses.

That being said, my next purchase will be a 10" Shun Classic. It's got a little more heft to it than the Global, which I would prefer for bigger jobs, and keep the Global for more delicate work. I also prefer the Global butcher knife to the Shun(it felt a bit heavier), but I would take the Shun Ken Onion butcher over both of the others. It felt great in my hand and I've never felt more confident lifting a knife up and bringing it down hard through a bone right next to my fingers.

I use only Shun knives and I do not think I would ever change. I have tried others but if you have smaller hands I would go with them. 

I've used and owned Global and Shun in the past.  While they are both decent brands, for me I've settled on the Misono UX-10 for my general all purpose chef's knife for the past 7 years and have no desire to change to another knife.  While the Misono is a bit more expensive, the balance, ease of maintenance and sharpness exceeds any other chef's knife I've tried.

 

For a beginning chef/cook on a limited budget, Global is hard to beat though and it's a good knife to start out with.

I also agree with misono.

Stick with Ux10 if constant wiping is an issue.

I just dont like Global personally. They are quality knives, but I just dont find them comfortable. Shune makes a good knife, and I have their Shun classic boning knife which I like alot. In my opinion, they are overpriced. And with popular brands, you run the risk of getting your knives mixed up with someone who has an identical knife (especially in culinary school) Go to japanesechefknives.com for great knives for a great price.

 

I have three knives from them and I am more than happy with them all. The knives are categorized by the knifemakers and gives a bio of all of them.

 Ryusen Tsuchime damascus series Guyoto

Takeshi Saji Yanagiba

Inazuma Sujihiki

You'd like the global more than the shun. I had a girlfriend that cooked and she loved her globals and hated my shuns.

Still after about 2000 hours of using my misono Swedish sujihiki it is easily my go to knife.