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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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I found this forum right after I bought a Shun:slaphead:
 
The students get quite a few 10" Shun Premier chef knives.Have sharpened a dozen of these.On Amazon they are 199.99 at the school under 120.00.

They have alot of bling & looks when new,easy sell.For 120.00 it is not a bad knife,to much rocker at tip for my tastes,but much better than some of the other ridiculous shun profiles students have picked up.

None of the chef knives I reccom. are fancy damascus.Some students have bought these.I push stones more than knives,cuz if not willing to get a stone learning freehand is remote.
 
right on keith, sharpening is crucial. i rather have/use a properly sharpened beater knife than a not so optimally maintained high end knife any day.

i find myself more interested in trying new stones than knives these days..
 
labor of love said:
besides the profile, the shun premier is pretty decent. check out the choil/grind on them sometime, theyre surprisingly nice.
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+1

I have one that was given to me as a gift one year for a birthday that I can't bring myself to get rid of for sentimental reasons. (Grandparents bought it) Aside from the fact that it's been back to Kai twice for a tip repair, I like the feel it has in my hand. I don't use it at work, because I have too many fun toys to play with there that are far better cutters. I dulled the factory shine with a green 3M and some 1000 grit paper, and I think it looks better than the tacky super shine that comes factory. To each his/her own...maybe it's just the way I grab my knives.
 
Lefty said:
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.
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+1 Well said
 
panda said:
right on keith, sharpening is crucial. i rather have/use a properly sharpened beater knife than a not so optimally maintained high end knife any day..
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Exactly. I think a lot of people would buy shun because they are "sharp" without realising they don't stay magically sharp...

Take a rosewood victrinox add some stones and some skills and you have a better performing knife than most people would ever use... At a fraction of the price.
 
Lefty said:
...Martha Stewart's recommendations owns Shuns and knows jackshit about knives.
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Martha Stewart doesn't use Shuns I thought. I remember seeing a post on this forum awhile back where she was praising her Fujiwara knives, or maybe it was Suisin knives; I just remember that it wasn't Shun.
 
You're right. I just picked the most notable/influential "celebrity chef" I could think of. I don't have anything against Martha Stewart or other celebrities (in fact, I quite like many of them), but I do hate that brownies can no longer be brownies; They have to be double fudge, Bailey's infused, salted top brownies, done Au Bain Marie. Everyone has to look/appear to be the best, and Shuns are a very good embodiment of this statement. I'm glad people care about food and their tools, but why is it that every time we go out for dinner some dipwad has to pull out his camera to show his 54 Twitter followers what he's throwing down his throat hole?
 
There have been times, at restaurants, where I have felt like I was the only person not taking pictures of my food.
 
Lefty said:
...why is it that every time we go out for dinner some dipwad has to pull out his camera to show his 54 Twitter followers what he's throwing down his throat hole?
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Haha! Fortunately, my wife doesn't do that, but just about every other Japanese female I know does!
 
On the subject of shun knives, I have owned a few and gave them away, I like them my go to knife is a 10 in Shun Kramer, why is it my go to knife, I have big hands, it fits my hands, and it's stainless for when I am in a hurry. Chipping issue, let's just say I had a couple of adult beverages a while back and it slipped out of my hand and fell on vinyl covered concrete slab floor, I watched it bounce on the floor three or four times as I was jumping out of the way. I thought, that's trashed....not one chip not one ding etc. Overpriced? You bet but I got it on clearance. Why do I use it? It is the only knife that truly feels good, yes I know it's Kramer's design that's why it fits my hand. Now I am just dying to try a Zwillings Kramer in 52100 because I love carbon and I can't afford a real Kramer. You go with what feels best. I have used other knives, got a kochi, got an Ealy 240mm in O1, a Sabatier 10 etc, but I keep coming back to my Shun.

It's kind of like cooking, no matter how upscale a dish one can fix, I can't help but think some always come back to meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a veg when seeking some comfort and reminder of simpler times. Meatloaf reminds me of that threadbare t-shirt we all have, it should have been thrown out three years ago but we still wear it because it fits and feels good. Sorry it's Friday and didn't mean to hijack the thread. Came to some realizations this week about cutlery.
 
If you like the Shun Kramer, the Zwilling version is going to blow you away.
 
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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I disagree. It's not that people aren't "smart enough to find a forum like this". When I started looking at knives, I was considering a Shun because there are many, many reviews out there by people who really like them. I asked someone who was a professional cook which were the best knives, and he recommended a Shun. Who knows--I might have bought one and been perfectly happy with it. (And my wallet would be much thicker!) Shuns are probably much, MUCH better knives that what you see in most home kitchens. Are the they best knives for the price? Many on this forum tend to think not. But they are readily available from well known vendors, and if you check reviews from vendors like Amazon, most people are really happy with them. Add celebrity chef endorsements (and you KNOW celebrities would never lie to us!) and there's a comfort level in buying a knife that is widely known and generally well liked and getting it from a big-name store who can be relied on to stand behind their product. Going from a $39 knife set to a knife that costs $100 or more is a big step for many people, and it's easy & convenient to just buy the same thing that hundreds of people love rather than trying to dig deeper.

Most people don't give a rat's behind what a choil or distal taper is, they just want something that will chop their carrots.
 
Wise Woman

LOL: Rats ass about distal taper or polished choil.

Lucretia, true, their mostly concerned with proper HT and Rockwell scores.

Lucretia said:
I disagree. It's not that people aren't "smart enough to find a forum like this". When I started looking at knives, I was considering a Shun because there are many, many reviews out there by people who really like them. I asked someone who was a professional cook which were the best knives, and he recommended a Shun. Who knows--I might have bought one and been perfectly happy with it. (And my wallet would be much thicker!) Shuns are probably much, MUCH better knives that what you see in most home kitchens. Are the they best knives for the price? Many on this forum tend to think not. But they are readily available from well known vendors, and if you check reviews from vendors like Amazon, most people are really happy with them. Add celebrity chef endorsements (and you KNOW celebrities would never lie to us!) and there's a comfort level in buying a knife that is widely known and generally well liked and getting it from a big-name store who can be relied on to stand behind their product. Going from a $39 knife set to a knife that costs $100 or more is a big step for many people, and it's easy & convenient to just buy the same thing that hundreds of people love rather than trying to dig deeper.

Most people don't give a rat's behind what a choil or distal taper is, they just want something that will chop their carrots.
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Yamabushi said:
Haha! Fortunately, my wife doesn't do that, but just about every other Japanese female I know does!
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:)So true.Then again when I went to Japan a couple times I took alot of pictures.The japan tourist like to pick out signs for group pictures to show where they have been.It's all good as long as your having a good time:bliss:
 
I seem to remember Jon posting alot of pictures of food on his last Japan trip:whistling:

Be well,
Mikey
 
mkriggen said:
I seem to remember Jon posting alot of pictures of food on his last Japan trip:whistling:
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Yeah, that's a little different than posting a picture of your spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy's.
 
Jon's the man. And, yes, he posts A LOT of food pictures. However, it's all related to his business, in a roundabout way.
 
Lefty said:
Jon's the man. And, yes, he posts A LOT of food pictures. However, it's all related to his business, in a roundabout way.
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Closer to travel journalism than what we are complaining about. :)
 
And, yes, I'm being a bit hypocritical with this one, as my Instagram account has a few of those types of pictures. However, most of them are knives, food I've made and pictures of my dog. Also, sometimes I bug myself when I take these pics. Haha.

Meh, honestly, I'm glad we all love great food here, but the cultural change regarding food is a tad hard to swallow.

Back to Shuns. They aren't all bad. Are they what we all know and love? No, but for mass produced knives, they're pretty impeccable and perform well.
 
It this knife didn't say Shun on the side, I think a lot of people here would be very interested. Hell, I'm interested, I just don't have the budget to try it right now.
 
Rerun but apropos.


breakfast tweets.jpg
 
EdipisReks said:
It this knife didn't say Shun on the side, I think a lot of people here would be very interested. Hell, I'm interested, I just don't have the budget to try it right now.
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Link goes to home page of website, not knife. But if you are talking about the Blue Kiritsuke Im with you.
 
Once you sharpen out the chippy bit of the knife you're pretty much all good. Then there's also the free lifetime sharpening service for those who don't wanna bother.
 
easy13 said:
Link goes to home page of website, not knife. But if you are talking about the Blue Kiritsuke Im with you.
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I own the blue Honesuki and the blue Utility for about 3 weeks now and so far they've been pretty good to me. I bone out a lot of chicken and the Utility sees quite a bit of action as well. So far no issues with chipping and such and as of now I would recommend these knives, but they do require attention. Now I need a good all-arounder . Great site, you guys are a very knowledgeable group. Gary
 
Yeh I think the 10" Premier is one of the better Shuns.Fairly long flatter edge profile heel toward the rise in the tip.Nice grind,easy to sharpen,& hammer finish.I have had a couple hammer finish carbons over the years they do work for less stiction.
 
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