Shun Ken Onion 2 Piece Carving Set

Shun Ken Onion website

Kershaw - Ken Onion

$299.95 on Amazon! That’s the cheepest I’ve found anywhere. Will this arrive by Thanksgiving?

Special Shipping Note: This item witll ship Federal Express 2 Day in order to arrive before Thanksgiving Day

These are great for carving Bodies!

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Turkeys!

so tempting…

The tip of the knife seems to point up. Is this for flexibility (more like a boning knife) or for looks?

The “storage/presentation” box looks like the same kind of cardboard box Shun knives usually come in.

This will make a splash on Thanksgiving, although you may want to practice your carving skills first so you don’t spoil the moment in front of an audience.

Here is Shun spokesman Alton Brown carving a turkey (although he’s not using a Shun knife here, nor is he using a fork, and he’s not doing it at the table).

This is not the same quality as the previous Shun-Ken Onion Knife ensembles offered on Woot. Those were further designated as “Shun Kaji Fusion” to indicate they were made from the superior SG-2 steel rather than the lesser-grade VG-10 steel of this set.

(The “Ken Onion” label only refers to the style of the handles, not to the knives themselves. The “Kaji” mentioned above indicates better steel; “Fusion” indicates the merger of Kaji steel and Onion handles. It gets complicated!)

Four things to look for:

  1. Shun (All excellent knives)
  2. SG-2 vs. VG-10 (SG-2 is better)
  3. Handle design: Ken Onion or Classic (A matter of taste)
  4. Knife style and length (Taste again)

Before everyone starts asking: Yes it’s worth the money, and yes it’s better than Cutco.

I picked up the Fusion* version of this in a wootoff just before Culinary D-Day last year and it’s awesome enough that I’d use expletives if it was permitted here. It can definitely make its way around a bird better than any carver I’ve ever handled and is better for slicing breast pieces (technically it’s a “slicer” anyway).

*the only difference between this and mine is the blade steel (the Fusion has SG2 and this one has VG10) and a decorative steel end cap on the Fusion.

Thanks for puttin’ us some knowledge here. A further question, though – does this carving knife have any good cross-purposing potential? In other words, is it something I’d likely use more than 3-4 times per year?

Here’s a description of Shun Ken Onion knives from collaborator Kershaw:

Gorgeous Style Meets Perfect Function

It began with a single knife, the Shun Ken Onion Chef’s Knife. But our customers demanded more. So we’ve expanded the series to include all the most-wanted styles from the can’t-live-without-it paring knife to our versatile bread knife.

The Ken Onion series features the clad VG-10 blade made famous in our Shun line. But then the handsome, non-stick blade is combined with Ken Onion’s signature ergonomic handle design and the unique blade sweep found only in a Ken Onion knife. The result is a series of knives that are not only beautiful to look at, but a pleasure to use.

Some more info:

About Ken Onion and his knives

It’s probably for looks, although it will give you a slightly longer edge length. Cool carving is all about single strokes.

Short Course on Shun:

Shun 101

(KAI are the folks at Kershaw who distribute and maintain Shun products. They have been very responsive to me in the past and offer free lifetime sharpening for Shun knives but you pay the postage back to them.

Note that sharpening is not the same as honing, which you do yourself with a so-called, misnamed “Sharpening Steel.” Real sharpening is actually slightly destructive of the knife as some of it gets ground away each time, so don’t have this done until it is actually needed.

Also, the Shun’s steel strength allows them to be ground at a sharper angle than are normal knives (16-degrees vs. ~20-degrees) so don’t let just anybody grind them.)

I have a bigger set of 6 Shun Ken Onion Kaji Fusion knives and use the carver all the time for such things as chicken and roast carving. I don’t have the fork and would get that just to match the set but it is minimally important. I wouldn’t care if it were VG-10. The knife is the thing.

(Insider info: Shun rhymes with Moon.)

How to Carve a Turkey

How To Carve A Turkey (Step-By-Step PHOTOS)

Video: Alton Brown on How to Carve a Turkey

Video: Turkey Carving by Cooking.com

anybody else rather have that plane shaped snail/ snail shaped plane. the knife’s just too expensive for me, i guess i’ll just have to get some zwillings

Not really a fan of the Ken Onion handles personally… I find them awkward. If I’m going to buy any of their VG-10 knives, I would rather buy the classic handle any day, and it’d be really cool if Woot put up Alton Brown’s own Shun line, “Alton’s Angles” which are basically just the classic handle, but angled upward a bit to create clearance for the knuckles while chopping… quite a neat idea.

Either way though, the recent Shun Elite set was fantastic (also SG2 core as opposed to VG-10), but it’d be nice to see the even better Shun Kajis (not the fusion/ken onions), which are SG2 as well but have a superior cladding.

Speaking of cladding, what I’d REALLY love to see up here on Woot is some All-Clad copper-core cookware. I’d sacrifice my first-born to see that happen, heh

SG-2 steel is only about 3 Rockwell points harder than VG-10 . . . it outperforms it, but it’s not the only attribute of the Fusion lines which are further clad in a protective nickel-alloy layer and feature full-tang construction with embossed end-caps.

Also, the Ken Onion design is not limited to the handle and bolster, as is seen in the style of its singular flowing blades.

This may not be SG-2, but there ISN’T an SG-2 carving set in the Shun line, so this is the best one can get within Shun and if you consider Shun the best, as many do, then this is the best set available, period.

I must have that large fork…