Why all the Shun hate?

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thanks this is great info! What about stainless clad? Is it more corrosion resistant? This is the knife I’m look at in particular:

Wakui Gyuto White 2 stainless clad kurouchi Nashiji finish

https://knivesandstones.us/collecti...urouchi-nashiji-finish?variant=12015834759204

The core steel is white 2 carbon. It's covered in a layer of stainless steel. The stainless layer covers probably 90% of the knife surface, from the spine down. The stainless cladding will prevent rust on that portion. So you only have the little portion along the edge that is exposed carbon steel.

Downside is if you like the look of patina on your blade, the stainless will not patina. Also thinning takes longer because of the soft stainless being tougher to abrade. Not an issue if you don't plan on thinning.
 
Shuns are fine. They're better than what 95% of people have in their houses. The people here are self-selecting to be beyond the top 1% of kitchen knife owners. It's not like the other 99% starve and can't cut things with their knives. They have their place. The first knife I bought 10 years ago was a shun 8" that I still have.

And it is what I give to people to chop lettuce, cut bell peppers, etc. They constantly remark about how sharp it is. It's mostly because they are knife barbarians who wouldn't blink at taking a blade to a glass cutting board. But ya know? gotta choose your battles. Otherwise they're fine people, and I don't want to be the weird uncle that rants about knives all the time.
 
This is mine. It's not horrible by any standard

20200702_190630.jpg
 
Compared to most of the knives used by the general population of the entire world (Walmart kitchen knife block set) they are freaking top fuel dragsters on the cutting board. I have a couple that I bought when I first got into this awful addiction and every time I let my buddies use them they are always blown away. That said I rarely use them anymore, they’re a great affordable beater knife to me....IMO
"This awful addiction". Yeah man, I'm falling into it. Spending an awful lot of time researching the alloy types (Aogami Super Blue!), the knife types (yanigaba will break me), the various knife centers and the generations of blacksmiths. Should just cut up the plastic right now! Thought I was out of it with the German style knives (Henckels, Wustof, F. Dick, Forschner, Solingen, Victorinox, Messermeister, Dexter Russell), and now the Japanese knife rabbit hole. Have over 30 of them.
Should have just picked up a set of Cutco and be done with it!!!
 
They're bad. If any of you like yours thats fine, there's a lot of Facebook chef groups that'll agree with you.
My biggest gripe is their HT, you can easily bend/warp their classic series at the bolster and spine during professional usage. Their edge and grind is weird and very prone to massive "chips", I have no grip with their handles when they get any kind of moisture or fat on them. This is me telling you why I wouldn't buy one and why I'd rather buy a better used knife, a $30 mercer, or a tojiro white steel at half the price.
 
can I have MACs sharpened with a tormek? or they chip too?
I would not use Tormek on anything, but that's just me. Coming from someone with first hand experience (I admit that cbn change something for the better, but still wouldn't solve the system itself). Also the chipping was never a problem with any of them. But long ago I started to consider best possible edge for the job and the knife. So it's very different than nail/hammer approach most people employ.
 
Well, it will have to do. For now.

If I think of it, I don't have any at the moment. Shame. Shame. Shame.
There are a few I would actually buy.

This reminded me of all those broken tips on absolutely any knife that some guys always managed to do well beyond my understanding.
 
The MAC Pro used to be less expensive. They are pretty well finished as far as handle and such, I believe, and have reasonably good geometry. The steel is nothing to write home about, but it's not noticeably bad like early model chippy Shuns or spongy Globals. I've only had passing, years-ago experience with the gyuto. As there are people currently making recs for other knives that are less expensive, I would go with those at today's prices.
 
One of my cooks swore by his MACs and let me use one. I could pick it up, felt good, well balanced, etc and push cut with it all day. He was a rocker and could rock all day. I came across an 8" Pro, well priced and picked it up - great knife for grabbing a knife, doing anything with it, loaning to cooks or guests at home.

But when I wanted to get the 10" I realized for the price of new I could go with Uraku or something similar. I'll still pick up one used if price is right but.....
 
Elitism and saying to folks that they make bad decisions about their knives is a wonderful way to bring more people to the hobby
I hope you are not suggesting we should lie to make people feel better. If a knife works for you, great. If you are here to get recommendations or opinions then toughen up, no need to get upset if someone disagrees with you.
 
Elitism and saying to folks that they make bad decisions about their knives is a wonderful way to bring more people to the hobby

The opening question was "why the hate?" The responses made for a pretty reasonable answer - they were descriptions of objective shortcomings. If the question is "Does this knife make me look fat?" then your asking the wrong crowd.
 
I’m an avid home cook, not a pro. This is probably an important demographic for this forum. Like countless other non-professionals I just never knew that high end knives existed until my interest grew to the point where I searched for a forum like this.

Shun marketing “got to me” about eight years ago. Unfortunately, as so many members have said here, I loved the knives (not knowing anything better), but soon discovered their flaws. Funny as you might think, I am left handed and didn’t find out that my Shuns all had specific handles made for right hand use until well after I started using them. Still, I kept them and used them with decent results


Within just two years a minor kitchen mishap caused several knives to clatter to the floor. Two of Shuns suffered major chips, rendering them mostly useless. Over time the knives have dulled and I wasn’t going to dare try my electric sharpener. I’m aware of their free sharpening service, but thought they had discontinued that a while ago. Can anyone set me straight on that?

I became active here to learn how to sharpen all of my knives, many western and my few Shuns. Thankfully, you have provided me with the confidence to buy Chosera 400, 800, 3000 and Atoma 140 and SG320. I have started to use just the Chosera 800 first and had very promising results, but only on western knives. I’m too petrified to attempt the Shuns.

The next stop for me is to buy a respectable Japanese knife. Been looking at MAC’s for a while. But being as this thread is dedicated to Shun, what should I do with mine? I have six of them. Two are serrated. The 10” chef’s knife is a nice size but chipped. What is the best way to fix? Do I send to a good repair service or try myself?

Loving the forum. So many well informed members here. Thanks for your help.
 
Every now and then there is a thread about "What was your first J knife?" Overwhelmingly Shun was the entry or gateway point.

As far as yours go, I would explore warranty options before I started a repair. Warranty replacement is part of the reason $50 knives cost $120.
 
It's thin San-Mai yeah? Have you considered simply bending it straight?



Tried - perhaps not with enough strength but last thing I want is to break it right now.

Used it for one prep too. Reminds me of my Diplôme. Lighter and more central balance but pretty much a similar experience. Bolster not very comfortable so would need rounding a bit. Couldn’t decide if it was worth taking the risk to fix the bending.

Also different in my case is that the knife originally came this way. It’s one thing to accidentally bend a straight knife and know it should go back the other way without much hurt - another one to fix a new unit not knowing if it can withstand the procedure.

But @Kippington since you make knives do you believe this is doable with very minimal risks of breaking or somehow weakening the metal enough to introduce other kinds of problems?
 
I'd just like to add I've personally had great customer service with Mac. Their US showroom is here in Sacramento, and although the warranty information provided on their website looks pretty basic, they've replace a shattered black honing rod and offered free repair work for a friend's Mac, no questions asked. I don't know what they cover in terms of 3rd party vendors, but should anyone ever have a problem with their Mac knife, you would be dealing with the same folks i did, And although basic, their knives are nice.
 
lol that got some reactions. Fair enough that you can do lots better for the $ elsewhere. There's definitely a reason I don't use mine. My subjective opinion is that mine aren't garbage. Objectively, my bad shun is better than any knife owned by my friends or family. It drives me nuts when I go to a friend's house and they have bad knives, so I find myself bringing good knives. I think there's also a case to be made for shun or miyabi being the best department store knife. If you don't live in a city with a good knife shop and you don't know what you're looking for, they're probably in stock at the local bed-bath-and-beyond. And you could hold it in your hands.
 
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