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Keith Sinclair

Keith Sinclair

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At the Culinary school here students & teachers get shuns 70% off.So have sharpened tons of shuns.Never owned one.One of the teachers said he had 3 shuns that chipped really easy.Told him I would restore them if I could use them for couple months since he was not using them.115mm petty,155mm small slicer,& 210mm Gyuto.All had major chipping.I got them cleaned up 2K sharp finished leather strop.

He also had a Sabatier 150mm carbon petty with alot of rust.Cleaned that up some leftover pitting on bladeface.

Another teacher had a small 210mm Yanagi also rusty esp. around Buff. Horn & some on bladeface.Cleaned that up know the carbon steel is pretty good was able to get a very sharp edge on it.

I will not return the Sabatier or the Yanagi until they get some mineral oil learn how to care for their carbons.

I have found that VG-10 is not that hard to sharpen.Also Shun's get a bad rap as well as VG-10.Have a VG-10 Tojiro cleaver over a year that performs well.I have felt that the Shuns get damaged more from knife abuse because everywhere sells them so there are alot out there.Now I will put these to the test doing all kinds of cutting to see if they really are prone to chipping or if it is because of abuse:knife:
 
I've read a few people say that vg-10 being chippy is a myth... Im thinking most likely shun is usually a choice by people who have limited knowledge on knife care... So chipping results from abuse. I've seen a lot of them and sharpened a few. All the damage I've seen resulted from drops, aggressive steeling & improper use( e.g heavy tasks)
People who look after them have had no issues with chipping.
As for sharpening. I have found them easy to sharpen if there regularly sharpened from day one. But I sharpened one old shun that just would not take an edge. My first encounter with very fatigued steel I think. It took an extreme amount of thinning / metal removal before it took a great edge.
In summary: I've found their not that bad if you look after them ... But let's not forget you can still get better knives for much less. Although 70% off would be a good deal.
 
I think as you said, there are millions out there. Most have no idea how to sharpen them properly. After extended use on a fatigued factory edge, I would expect them to chip.
 
NO ChoP! said:
I think as you said, there are millions out there. Most have no idea how to sharpen them properly. After extended use on a fatigued factory edge, I would expect them to chip.
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+1. Nothing to do with VG10 being "chippy" or Shun doing a crap heat treat. User error, plain and simple. If you gave them a high end Japanese carbon they'd chip the hell out of that too.
 
Interesting thread. I like the idea of the direct comparison.

I tend to agree that there are a lot of Shuns out there in inexperienced users hands, and improper use is likely the issue for a lot of damage that occurs. I have also heard that the factory edge tends to be chippier, although I can't remember the reason why (or maybe it was never explained). But I can recall seeing that a few times. Would be curious to hear an explanation if anyone out there has one.
 
I can't stand shuns but I think your are right about them getting more abuse. For me it's not that I think they are bad knives but that they are over priced.
 
The couple Myoubi's I have tried were very expensive for what you got. As for vg10 I have seen quite a few that is very nice and very little chipping, even with my banging the board work.
 
Have seen a lot of other blades - non VG-10 - that came chippy OOTB. Must have to do with factory buffing. Once the factory edge removed everything got alright.
 
Is $120 over priced for an 8 inch VG-10 "Japanese Chef Knife" with solid F&F and a handle that isn't some cheap porous wood with a plastic ferrule that you pretty much have a life time warranty/return policy for (As long as you buy at Sur La Table)? I have a 7 year old 10 inch Shun Classic that I havent used in many a year and definitely did chip when my former naive self tried to crack chicken bones with it. Now fixed it serves as a fine beater knife for prep cooks or a friend to use.
 
$120 for a 8" VG10 blade with good fit and finish is not overpriced imo. Shuns are generally bashed because the profile (massive belly/upswept tip) doesn't fly round here in general. However, I also think the fact they are common/vanilla comes into play too.

If you like the Shun profile, check out the "Zhen" VG10 Taiwanese knockoff. $50 for an 8" last time I checked.
 
I can't find any 8in shuns for $120. Found a 6.5 utility for $120 and a 7in chefs for $140. Most of the larger knives seem to be $180 to $300 depending on the series and I'm not sure the more expensive knives are much different. In fact some look worst like the edo and ken onion. There are many better japanes knives in this price range.
 
ChuckTheButcher said:
I can't find any 8in shuns for $120. Found a 6.5 utility for $120 and a 7in chefs for $140. Most of the larger knives seem to be $180 to $300 depending on the series and I'm not sure the more expensive knives are much different. In fact some look worst like the edo and ken onion. There are many better japanes knives in this price range.
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8 inch - http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-268912/Shun+Classic+Chefs+Knives

I don't use and am not really endorsing Shuns and there are definitely lines that are both overpriced and ugly. The classic paring knives have always been solid though. Just commenting on my experience in the past with em
 
I own three Shuns (a classic utility and parer that I use pretty often, and a 5.5 inch Santoku that my wife uses), and I've owned several others. I've never had chipping issues. I've sharpened many Shuns for friends, and they invariably come to me badly chipped, but so do the other knives they send me, including Forschners, which aren't too chippy in my experience. One thing that I've noticed is that the knives have become inconsistent in regards to the grind. The Shun classic chef knives I owned were all pretty thin behind the edge, and had decent distal tapers. I've recently seen some that were really quite impressively thin, and others that were complete pigs. Anyway, if they didn't have such a pronounced belly, and were all thin behind the edge, they would be a great deal, in my opinion.
 
bahamaroot said:
Shun, over hyped and overpriced when I can buy a Tojiro DP VG10 at have the price. VG10 is getting the bad rap but not Shun.
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Sure, the Tojiro DP has a much better profile than the Shun classic chef knife, but it's a lot harder to walk into a store and buy one, in the US, and the F and F is inferior to Shun.
 
Anyone with a computer can buy a Tojiro as easy as all the rest of us and the better F&F is not worth double the price to me considering the Tojiro isn't that bad. I'm sure many Shun owners did research and looked at Shun's on a computer, read deeper into the marketing hype and then went out and bought them. Many probably even came across the Tojiro but there was little hype and the Shun cost more so it must be better.
 
bahamaroot said:
Anyone with a computer can buy a Tojiro as easy as all the rest of us and the better F&F is not worth double the price to me considering the Tojiro isn't that bad. I'm sure many Shun owners did research and looked at Shun's on a computer, read deeper into the hype and then went out and bought them. Many probably even came across the Tojiro but the Shun cost more so it must be better.
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You aren't the target audience. If the Shun classic chef knife had the same profile as a Tojiro, I think it would be worth the extra money.
 
Actually I am the target audience. I am just a home cook that went looking for better knives. But unlike many others, through my research I saw through the hype and bought better j-knives for the same price. I was just more thorough and didn't just see and read what I wanted to to justify my purchase.
 
Shuns are good knives, hated by guys like us, because we "are better than that". The profile on the classic sucks, but they seem to be getting much closer. They are nice looking knives and they feel good in hand. I won't get into Tojiros, but given the choice between Tojiro and Shun, I'd take the latter. If my wife bought me one, I'd quite happily use it, and likely grow to really enjoy it. We can be our own worst enemies.
 
I don't hate Shuns, I hate the marketing hype that drives the prices up on products like "Shun". But hey, it's the job of a lot of people to create hype to get people to pay that premium to own that product so they can tell people they have that "name your product here".
 
bahamaroot said:
Actually I am the target audience.
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pkiiVRJ.jpg
 
bahamaroot said:
I don't hate Shuns, I hate the marketing hype that drives the prices up on products like "Shun". But hey, it's the job of a lot of people to create hype to get people to pay that premium to own that product so they can tell people they have that "name your product here".
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The last time I saw Shun hype was on an episode of good eats 2/3rds of a decade ago.
 
I guess your right. Their target audience are those that buy the BS and aren't smart enough to find a forum like this. I found this forum when I first started to research knives, Shun included.
 
I honestly think we hate that they are mainstream, and that our neighbor who is a good cook, but lives by Ray Ray's recipes, and Martha Stewart's recommendations owns Shuns and knows jackshit about knives. We pride ourselves on understanding the nuances and to an extent, the process that goes into high-end knives.

Success and being able to charge top dollar (and get it by the boat load) is what Shun can do, and does very, very well.
 
I totally agree I think I hate how they are marketed more then the knives them selves.
 
bahamaroot said:
I guess your right. Their target audience are those that buy the BS and aren't smart enough to find a forum like this. I found this forum when I first started to research knives, Shun included.
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That's pretty silly.
 
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