Shun Ken Onion 7" Santoku Knife

There’s nothing better than Shun knives. They are amazing! Also beautiful and durable. The Japanese blades are so sharp & precise. I love them. You can catch Chef Alton Brown in a series of YouTube videos talking all about Shun knives.

i cook for a living, and i’ve been lusting after this knife for almost a decade, but it was always just out of my price range. now i have something to challenge my Global g-33 as my everyday prep knife. thank you woot!

Damascus cladding? What is that, like a Damascus veneer? It says vg-10 cutting core, which is good enough as far as the knife goes (and probably better than a full damascus blade), so I’m guessing the Damascus cladding is just for show. It’s like having a Damascus knife and not having one all at the same time! I guess Damascus etching was too for show only, so they went with Damascus cladding, which is just as much for show but more “real”. Lol

Anyway, Shun makes some primo knives, but every isn’t going to love them. I had one myself and ended up selling it. The handle just wasn’t comfortable for me and I still preferred to use a cheap (but sharp) knife. I’ve tried the other Shuns at Sur La Table, but didn’t care for any of them. Didn’t care for globals either, even though I really wanted to love them. I mostly just use a Wustoff classic, now, and I’m pretty happy with it, although I will surely eventually get a Mac knife, just because I’ve been lusting after them for years now and by the looks of the handles, they’re just what I like.

BETTER than Henckels or Wüsthof.

I have wanted a really good knife for a long time. My Henckels’ that I a bought 10 years ago have been good to me but have never been sharp enough for long enough. I can’t wait to use the Shun.

Effective September 15, 2012, Woot, Inc. was required to begin collecting sales tax on orders shipped to destinations in California.

What he said. Vexingly, I just bought a Shun santoku. Wish I’d held off a few days!

My Shuns are the best knives I’ve ever used; I prefer them to the Wusthofs I have.

It is worth noting that this has a sharper angle than most knives out there. It makes it sharper, but it also means you need to use a steel more often. And for pity’s sake, don’t use an electric knife sharpener on this!

Unless you are breaking down chicken bones. Asian angles are fra-jee-lay.

You know, expensive and stuff.

I can’t say I’m entirely happy about being taxed in California when my purchase beat midnight in the state.

I have AlWAYS wanted this knife. Always. I have been saying for about 10 years if I ever found one for under $100 I would buy it on the spot… and sure enough.

I kind of wish I could hug Woot right now.

((HUGS!))

Being Damascus clad is very eye catching and makes an average looking blade beautiful. Having said that, it also glides through food much easier then a solid blade. You’ll notice it a lot more with fish or other meats but the difference is clearly there. And yes the vg 10 as a core is a much more durable stainless steel and will hold its edge longer.

Put me down for 1.

wood handle? can I still throw it in the dishwasher?

Why would it glide through food better? I thought true damascus was known for making a sort of microscopic serrated edge because of a reaction between the two steels. This being on everything but the edge seems like it would make the knife stick more if anything.

I could be way off, but if someone could explain I’m curious.

I might have to get it either way- I’ve always wanted a damascus knife (mainly for looks) but I can’t really afford $1000+ for 1 knife

Only the VG-10 core is doing the cutting. The stick-resistance is due to the layering and bead-blasted finish; a solid, polished blade is more prone to suction.

Absolutely not; it shall destroy the handle. Also, the Ken Onion knives still rust where the bolster meets the blade.

If it doesn’t, you’re not missing out on much. The Ken Onion Santoku that came with stands were packaged with stands meant for the 8-inch Chef, and they don’t fit properly in them on account of being too short. There’s not much to them, though, and if you have the tools, a custom display stand is easy enough to craft.

I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable using this for paring though…

AVOID this knife like the plague! It’s not a true Santoku knife. I have a number of other Shun knives (including 3 other Ken Onions - a cleaver, a paring knife, and a chef’s knife), and this one…this one does not measure up. At all.

I bought it on an Amazon Gold Box deal some time back. The thing shows up and, true to Shun form, it’s sharp as a razor. True to Ken Onion form, it fits in my hand like a glove…

…so here I am, thrilled to death with it. Then a couple weeks later, I’m cutting a boneless lamb leg that I had in the freezer for a little bit to firm it up. Not frozen, just firm. The damn thing chips. Blew my mind. I’ve never had a knife chip, not even my ceramics.

So I call Shun and explain it to them so they can warranty a replacement for me, and they refuse. Why? They claim that you aren’t allowed to use their santoku knives to cut anything that at one point had a bone.

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

I argue with them for quite a while on this, asking them how it is they are selling a knife that you can’t even fully use in the kitchen. There are nothing in the instructions saying “vegetables only”. But they won’t budge.

So I return it to Amazon, get my money back, and end the whole thing. This knife is ridiculously sharp, but it has zero durability, and Shun no longer stands behind their products the way they used to. Any knife so fragile that you can’t even cut meat with it (keep in mind, no bone in the meat for it to catch), is not a knife worth having, especially not for 100 bucks.

Shun used to stand for the highest level of quality, but apparently those days are over (reading reviews on Amazon reveals a LOT of other people who have had a similar experience). If you want a top-flight Japanese knife, go with Mac or Kasumi.

are these better than the other japanese type of knives like the ginsus or the ones make of pottery material? Some like the ginsus can cut thru nails and bones.

That said, the Ken Onion paring knife isn’t necessarily the solution, either. The 8-inch chef is the only knife designed by Ken Onion, and it was sold alone for some time. Shun finally introduced a complete Ken Onion line, but those knives imitated a design not intended for them. While the aesthetics are satisfied, the angled blade on the paring arguably isn’t so adept for paring tasks–it comes from a design meant for a chef knife.

The Ken Onion design translates well to the Santoku, being a form of chef knife. This holds true for the slicing and bread knives; and while some may not appreciate the design on the smaller knives, such as the boning and utilities, it’s manageable since they are similarly held. But if any is the exception, I’d have to say it’s the paring. I simply have experienced no benefit over the straight design of a traditional parer, and feel it serves more of a collectible value to the Ken Onion sets than a practical. The Shun Classic Vegetable (Sheep’s-foot) paring knives, I do highly recommend for the same cutting performance (Shun Ken Onion and Shun Classic are made from the same material).