Newbie and need help

[volta87]

Hi all

Adam from UK

So I got this Kai Shun Chef knife (Kai Shun Premier Chef's Knife) Kai Shun Premier Chef's Knife

I was thinking it would solve my issues of £80-£100 knives being so poor. They sharpen well but do NOT stay sharp. Upon researching more, it seems KS not the best brand.

I am an avid home cook and want a knife that I can use for Chicken, Onions, Peppers, Chillis etc. When i pay for the KS to be pro sharpened it last about 2 uses before it cant cut a pepper skin side up lol

I just want a good sharp knife that stays sharp lol!

I was thinking one of these 2 maybe!

Can anyone help?

 

[Nemo]

Welcome to the forums.

Who is sharpening your knife? I have never used or sharpened VG-MAX but it shouldn't have such poor edge retention unless a burr is being raised and not removed. In the case of a tenacious burr the burr can be quite sharp but is fragile and tends to fold over with first board contact, leaving a fairly dull edge underneath.

If you wish to explore knife recommendations, start a new "which knife should I buy?" thread in "The kitchen knife" forum. Copy-paste and answer the questionnaire (in a sticky at the top of the same forum).

 

[rickbern]

Maybe better to not use the shun to cut through chicken bones. Many have a dedicated knife for that

Nemo is correct. You should question how to sharpen, not what knife to buy.

 

[Benuser]

Welcome aboard, Adam! I agree it seems to be a sharpening problem. Those knives are best sharpened on whetstones, and sharpening on powered tools is far from ideal with this kind of steel and likely to waste a lot of material. Properly sharpened with whetstones they should stay at a very acceptable level of sharpness for a very long time. Technically the crucial point is in complete deburring. Find a sharpener who does work with Japanese waterstones. Certainly not cheap but likely to last. If you intend to learn your own sharpening I would start with simple carbon steel ones.

 

[Nemo]

Where in the UK are you?

IIRC, @cotedupy has moved back to the UK and is involved in knife sharpening.

 

[cotedupy]

Hi all

Adam from UK

So I got this Kai Shun Chef knife (Kai Shun Premier Chef's Knife) Kai Shun Premier Chef's Knife

I was thinking it would solve my issues of £80-£100 knives being so poor. They sharpen well but do NOT stay sharp. Upon researching more, it seems KS not the best brand.

I am an avid home cook and want a knife that I can use for Chicken, Onions, Peppers, Chillis etc. When i pay for the KS to be pro sharpened it last about 2 uses before it cant cut a pepper skin side up lol

I just want a good sharp knife that stays sharp lol!

I was thinking one of these 2 maybe!

Can anyone help?

Welcome Adam!

As @Nemo said - I sharpen knives professionally in the UK (for a knifemaker called Blenheim Forge in London), so give a shout if you'd like me to do anything for you ever.

Obviously I've sharpened quite a number of KAI / Shun knives before, and tbh - although they may not be the fanciest brand among us knife nerds, they're well made and take always take nice edges. And I imagine there are quite a lot of other people here who have a KAI or two, and would say the same, so don't write it off just yet!

Though when sharpening knives for other people I don't get to use them afterwards too, so I can't really comment on KAI edge retention with much authority. But nothing I've seen of them while sharpening would make me think the steel is unusually soft, they've always seemed pretty decent to me.

 

[Matt Jacobs]

This sounds to me like its down to either poor sharpening or what/how your cutting. To be honest VG-Max SHOULD out perform blue steel and will certainly out perform white steel for edge retention. Its not as easy to sharpen but in my experience I would expect at least double the edge retention of white steel and its stainless so if you cutting highly acidic ingredients it's probably going to last much longer. What kind of board are you using? Are you cutting through bone?