What Every Shun Classic Knife Shares

Every knife in the Shun Classic series is built the same way, regardless of shape. The cutting edge is formed from VG-MAX, Shun’s proprietary stainless steel, which is strong, fine-grained, and resistant to wear and corrosion. Shun hardens it to 60 to 61 on the Rockwell C scale, hard enough to take a very keen edge and hold it through extended use.

The core is clad on each side with 34 layers of stainless Damascus steel, 68 layers in all. The cladding supports the harder core, adds stain resistance, and helps food release from the blade; it also produces the flowing pattern that identifies the series. Most Classic blades are hand-sharpened to 16 degrees on each side.

The handle is D-shaped ebony PakkaWood, a durable wood-and-resin composite that does not harbor bacteria. The shape is comfortable in either hand, and a full composite tang keeps each knife light and balanced. Every knife is handcrafted in Seki City, Japan, and requires at least 100 individual steps to complete. Because every piece shares the same construction and handle, the series can be built into a matching collection one knife at a time.

Because every piece shares the same construction and handle, the series can be built into a matching collection one knife at a time.

Choosing a Chef’s Knife

Shun Classic offers the chef’s knife in more lengths and variations than any other shape. The Western-profile models share a wide blade that keeps knuckles off the board and a curved belly that allows a rocking cut through herbs and spices. Shun Classic blades are also thinner than comparable European-style chef’s knives, which makes them lighter and less tiring to use.

The Standard Choice

The 8-inch Chef’s Knife suits fruits, vegetables, and proteins alike, and Shun describes it as the knife to own if a kitchen holds only one. The 8-inch Hollow Ground Chef’s Knife shares its length, height, and handle and adds a row of indentations along each side. The indentations create small air pockets that reduce friction, which helps wet and starchy foods such as potatoes fall away instead of clinging to the blade.

For Dense Foods and Rocking Cuts

The 8-inch Western Cook’s Knife has a taller blade (2.2 inches against 1.9 inches for the standard 8-inch model) and weighs 7.8 ounces against 6.7. Its 22-degree edge is less acute than the rest of the series, which gives it the strength for winter squash and large heads of cabbage. The trade is a slightly less keen edge for fine slicing.

Longer and Shorter Blades

The 10-inch Chef’s Knife provides more cutting leverage and lets the cook process more food per stroke, such as several carrots at once. That efficiency matters most in commercial kitchens and for anyone who preps in volume. At the other end, the 6-inch Chef’s Knife is lighter and more maneuverable, and many cooks choose it for small and medium-sized foods or simply for its nimbleness.

The Japanese Chef’s Knife

The 7-inch Asian Cook’s Knife is a gyuto, the Japanese counterpart to the chef’s knife. Its profile is narrower than the Western models, which makes it lighter and quicker in hand, yet it still leaves enough height for knuckle clearance. It excels with meat and fish and performs equally well on vegetables.

Japanese All-Purpose Shapes

The series also includes the principal Japanese all-purpose shapes, and many cooks choose one of these as their primary blade in place of a chef’s knife. A santoku has a flatter edge and a rounded tip suited to straight up-and-down chopping and push cuts. A nakiri has a straight, rectangular blade that meets the board along its full length, which makes it efficient for vegetables. A kiritsuke combines a long, relatively flat edge with an angled tip for detail work. Cooks who prefer a rocking cut will generally find a Western chef’s knife more comfortable; cooks who chop with a push cut often prefer these flatter edges.

Paring, Utility, and Specialty Knives

Smaller knives handle the work that is awkward with a chef’s knife. The 3.5-inch Paring Knife is the compact choice for peeling, pitting, coring, and trimming in hand, and the 4-inch Paring Knife adds edge length for larger produce such as extra-large potatoes and apples. The curved 2.5-inch Bird’s Beak Paring Knife follows the contour of round foods and is the traditional tool for the seven-sided tourné cut.

The 6-inch Utility Knife sits between a chef’s knife and a paring knife, with a narrower, straighter blade for trimming vegetables, sectioning fruit, and slicing sausages and cheeses. Its serrated counterpart, the 6-inch Serrated Utility Knife, cuts through tomato and avocado skins and tough sausage casings without tearing the soft interior. The 6.5-inch Master Utility Knife is a wider blade with a kiritsuke-style tip; it has the height of a chef’s knife in a compact length, which suits cooks who prefer a shorter knife for full prep.

For bread, roasts, and fish, the series includes bread knives, carving and slicing knives, and a boning and fillet knife.

Where to Start

A chef’s knife and a paring knife cover most daily prep, and Shun pairs exactly these two in the Shun Classic 2-Piece Starter Set: the 8-inch Chef’s Knife and the 3.5-inch Paring Knife. The third knife should depend on how you eat.

If you bake regularly, or simply enjoy a slice of sourdough with breakfast, a bread knife is the best third choice. If your diet includes meat and fish, a boning knife is the better choice. It breaks a whole chicken into its individual parts, trims fat from beef and pork, and processes fish. It is also the knife that typically pays for itself, because it allows you to buy less expensive cuts that need a little more preparation before cooking. Specialty shapes can follow as particular tasks call for them.

The boning knife is the one that typically pays for itself, because it allows you to buy less expensive cuts that need a little more preparation before cooking.

The choice of chef’s knife depends on the cook and the food. Cooks with smaller hands or smaller cutting boards often prefer the 6-inch Chef’s Knife or the 7-inch Asian Cook’s Knife. Cooks who find that food sticks to the blade should choose the hollow-ground model, and cooks who regularly cut dense produce should choose the Western Cook’s Knife. For several pieces at once, a knife set or block set is the most direct route.

Classic, Classic Blonde, or Premier

The Shun Classic Blonde series shares the Classic construction, VG-MAX core, Damascus cladding, and D-shaped handle; the only difference is a light blonde PakkaWood handle in place of the ebony one. Shun Premier also uses a VG-MAX core but has a hand-hammered tsuchime finish and a contoured walnut PakkaWood handle, so it differs from Classic in both appearance and grip. A cook choosing between them is choosing a handle shape and a finish rather than a different cutting steel.

Care and Sharpening

Hand wash each knife with warm water and mild dish soap immediately after use, then dry it completely with a towel. Shun advises against dishwashers, soaking, and air-drying, because prolonged moisture, heat, and contact with other utensils can damage the blade, handle, and edge. Rinse the blade promptly after cutting acidic foods such as citrus, tomatoes, and onions.

• Cut on wood, ideally hinoki, and avoid glass, marble, granite, and ceramic.
• Do not cut bone, frozen food, or very hard rinds, and avoid twisting the blade during a cut.
• Move food across the board with the spine rather than the edge.
• Store knives in a blade guard, an in-drawer tray, or a knife block, inserting them spine-first, and never loose in a drawer.

Honing and sharpening serve different purposes. Honing realigns an edge that has shifted with use and removes no steel; it can be done regularly with a sharpening steel. Sharpening removes a small amount of steel to form a fresh edge, and Shun states that once or twice a year is sufficient for most home cooks.