A quality addition to the kitchen, or shun-able? Let’s get some reviews!
I can’t say enough about the quality of the Shun products. I have the Ken Onion 8" Chef’s and only wish I could afford an entire set. These knives are super balanced and stay rediculously sharp with relatively infrequent sharpenings. My wife won’t even use it because she’s scared of bumping the blade. Get rid of your Henkels and get a few of these and you will never look back.
There are so many spelling and grammatical errors in this event, the spell-check monkey must’ve been asleep.
Fiance turned me on to these. my only criticism is that they’re TOO sharp! As someone who loves to cook but has no knife skills, I like to carefully position my blade before I actually apply pressure to get my slice right. I positioned the shun on my cucumber and felt the wood of the cutting board- no sense that i was actually cutting anything, yet the 2 bits of cucumber suggested otherwise.
How I would LOVE to be in for a full set of shun steak knives. Also, the spare $600 isn’t lying around…
These are pretty good deals, somewhat surprising for a Woot Plus side deal. The 10" Chef’s knife is 189.99 at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Shun-DM0707-Classic-10-Inch-Chefs/dp/B0000Y7KN6/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1350059818&sr=1-5&keywords=ken+onion+10+chef
The 8" is $164.94
http://www.amazon.com/Shun-DM0707-Classic-10-Inch-Chefs/dp/B0000Y7KN6/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1350059818&sr=1-5&keywords=ken+onion+10+chef
I got some of the steak knives, really thinking about adding a Chef’s knife.
I have wanted a couple Shun knives for a long time. I want one for veggies and one for meat. Suggestions? I need to bite the bullet one of these days. This may be the day.
those are the classics, these are elite=sg2 steel, completely different beast T 64ish hardness…
they are being discontionued though 
I’m wondering about the Knife Sharpener. I have a Global chef’s knife, and I’m wondering if this would work well for it. I’ve heard that the Japanese knives use a different angle for sharpening. Anyone know?
Disappointed there’s no santoku on here. Keep wanting to grab one of those.
The title of the items says they’re the Ken Onion Elite knives, which have a very distinctive shape.
The pictures show a shape more like the Classic knives.
Which is it?
when u open them, it states it correctly, its the elite series
sharpener is ok, better then carbine pull throught and is 16degrees, but not as good as a whetstone, or factory edge
Woot has fixed the description/title of the knives. They are now correctly labeled as Shun Elite.
Indeed! If anyone has any concerns or questions about what they ordered as a result, please feel free to contact service@woot.com!
Eh… can someone please explain what that means to someone like me who has very little knowledge about steel?
Thanks!
edit: Google found How To Choose Kitchen Knives Kitchen Knife Steel FAQ Stainless Steels which has some bad comments but good ones for these knives.
the hardness is measured in rockwell
cheap knives below 55
henckles and wufstof 57ish
shun classics 60-61
shun premium(elite, kaji, fuji, reserve, ect) 64-65
custom handmade japanese knives 66-68(might be higher, but dont know any)
the harder the steel is, the sharper the edge it will take and last, but with a higher possibility pf chipping.
these elites are kind of like ceramics, but they start sharper, and you are able to sharpen them
Can anyone tell me about the height of the blades on the chef’s knives? The proportions look kind of weird in the photos. Compared to the Shun Classic or my Tan Ren set, it looks like the handles on these would be much closer to the cutting board during use.
I’ve said before that I would buy a 10" Shun chef’s knife in a heartbeat if Woot! offered it for under $100, but I also have large hands, and I don’t want to be banging my knuckles on the board every time I dice an onion.
Those are the Shun Classic line, the cheapest of Kai’s Shun-branded blades.
Amazon doesn’t have the Shun Elite line anymore, but the Shun Premier which is replacing it runs $210 for the 10" model and $180 for the 8".
Yes it does! Thanks for finding that.
For comparison, my Kai Tan Ren 8" chef’s knife measures 1.875" from edge to spine at the heel, and is proportioned similarly to the Shun Classic chef’s knives (at least visually).
I’m guessing the 1.9" quoted for the Shun Elite 10" on the page you referenced is rounded from the same 1.875" as my Tan Ren. That means the handle must be fatter (again, judging by the photos), which could be good or bad. I’ll have to think a little longer before I pull the trigger.
(edit: measurement corrected, I misread my wife’s sewing tape which was the first measuring tool I found)