Shun knives are amongst the best Japanese knives on the market, which have come to be immensely popular in the US, where they sell in their thousands, despite their relatively high price tags.
Style and manufacture
Shun Knives are comprised of 32 layers of SUS410 Carbon stainless steel folded around a core of V10-Gold high carbon blade steel. This V10 Gold is an incredibly high-density steel with a 1% carbon content (much higher than in many competing companies’ knives). The strength of this core, combined with the layered ‘Damascus effect’ steel allows the knife to be honed to an incredible sharpness.
One of the features that differentiates Shun knives from a large proportion of other Japanese knives is that they are sharpened to a double-sided blade (ie. sharpened on both sides) as opposed to the Japanese tradition of only sharpening one side. However it is still possible to get traditionally sharpened Deba and Sashimi knives.
Our views and advice for buyers
These knives are available in a range of traditional sizes and shapes, combined with the Western double-sided sharpening, making for a very high quality and supremely effective hybrid knife. Practical.
