Looking for upgrade from Shun Classic

[barrabas74]

I am looking to upgrade from my Shun Classics which I have had for 16 years now. I have the Alton Brown Santuko and the boning knife and the bread knife. They are great knives. I was looking at the Miyabi Artisans though and was thinking about upgrading and passing along my Shuns to my parents who I had bought Wustoff's years ago. The Shuns have the VG-10 core while the Miyabi's I am looking at are SG2. Does anyone know whether the upgrade in steel and overall fit and finish is worth it? I am the cook and do all the food prep etc and take excellent care of my cutlery. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience with Miyabi or if there were another company that was just as good or better quality. Or am I just nuts and should just hold onto the knives that have served me so well for all these years?

 

[Brandon Nelson]

A lot of people on here seem to like customer builders. I recently got some Yaxell Gou's and think they are an improvement over my neighbors Shun Premiers. Their fit and finish is top notch. The Miyabi's are also supposed to be good.

Cutlery and More is clearanceing the Gou's right now as they are revising the series to have hand engraved Kanji vs. Laser etched. Unfortunately C&M is the only distributor of Yaxell in the US so no price wars. I think the Miyabi Mizu's are also on discount at the moment.

 

[Ourorboros]

In the J-Knife world, the Shun Classic line has a reputation of not having a great heat treatment. Miyabi's are seen as better across the board.
Personally, I like the Miyabi's I've tried, but that is also because the profiles of the knives suit me better. For me it would be worth it. The Miyabi Artisan would also be more comparable to the Shun Premier line - comparing to the Classic is not really fair. So I'd get the Miyabi Artisan myself.
As for passing them on to your parents, it depends on what kind of knife user they are. The thinner, harder steel is not for those who abuse knives.

I think there are better blades for the money, but without the same fit and finish that Miyabi or Shun provide.

 

[SLOsmokin]

I bought a set of shun Ken onions 12 years ago. Over the last few years I have been buying knifes from knifemakers on this site. @timos- made me a petty in nitro v that has become my favorite. I really like looking into my knife block and seeing all different color handles with a variety of steels, I still have 3 of the onions in the block. If a miyabi interest you, I would buy one and give it a try, I personally will never buy a set again.
Best of luck to you.
Tom