Talk me out of this knife

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K80Shooter

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I'm considering purchasing a Shun Hiro sg2 5.5-inch Santoku knife. I know that I'm somewhat purchasing the name but it's on sale for 150ish. Considering it has sg2 steel I'm thinking it's a pretty good deal.

Does anyone know any good reason not to purchase it? If so feel free to lend me your thoughts. Are there better options? I'm also planning on buying a larger one in Hap40 a little later on.
 
Buy Yanabi or Tahamagane ..I have more Shun brought to me for sharpening, all chipped up than any other brand. I believe they leave them to hard from the factory.
 
Sounds like good advice from Laurence. I don't have a lot of experience with Shun, but I've heard the same thing about chipping. I love R2/SG2 steel, but not a lot of other makers run it at 64 HRC.

You might want to take a look at a Takamura Migaki R2 Santoku. It's definitely not as fancy as the Shun, but it performs unbelievably well, holds an edge nicely, and isn't hard to sharpen at all. I love mine. If you want something with a little bit more panache, you could look at a Kurosaki Shizuku in R2. The Santoku is a little bit more expensive than the sale price on the Shun, but it's a beautiful, handmade knife.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
Buy Yanabi or Tahamagane ..I have more Shun brought to me for sharpening, all chipped up than any other brand. I believe they leave them to hard from the factory.
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+1 I see the same thing. Sucks having to tell a customer that I see that on the blades they spent a grip of money on. Worse yet is the pepper flake looking pits that may be all over them. Durability in the typical home kitchen is not Shuns strong suit. The Miyabi SG-2 seem to hold up better. I have one and no issues.
I have a special sharpening routine for chippy Shuns or others with the same symptom.
 
Spideyjg said:
+1 I see the same thing. Sucks having to tell a customer that I see that on the blades they spent a grip of money on. Worse yet is the pepper flake looking pits that may be all over them. Durability in the typical home kitchen is not Shuns strong suit. The Miyabi SG-2 seem to hold up better. I have one and no issues.
I have a special sharpening routine for chippy Shuns or others with the same symptom.
Click to expand...
The best cure is not to buy Shun in the first place:thumbsdown: I do let my customers know that Shun (Kai) does have a good, no questions asked return policy, They have to!:rolleyes:
 
huelsdonk said:
Sounds like good advice from Laurence. I don't have a lot of experience with Shun, but I've heard the same thing about chipping. I love R2/SG2 steel, but not a lot of other makers run it at 64 HRC.

You might want to take a look at a Takamura Migaki R2 Santoku. It's definitely not as fancy as the Shun, but it performs unbelievably well, holds an edge nicely, and isn't hard to sharpen at all. I love mine. If you want something with a little bit more panache, you could look at a Kurosaki Shizuku in R2. The Santoku is a little bit more expensive than the sale price on the Shun, but it's a beautiful, handmade knife.
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I don’t own a hardness tester , but over 20 years of knife making & sharpening tells me some Shun are up to 68 RC ? from working with them. Far harder than 64..
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
I don’t own a hardness tester , but over 20 years of knife making & sharpening tells me some Shun are up to 68 RC ? from working with them. Far harder than 64..
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I dunno Lawrence. Ever get some Henckles Cermax made with ZDP-189 @66 RC?. Probably the toughest to sharpen mass produced knife I have seen.
Agree that Shun are probably hardened into brittleness.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I'll take a look at the listed knives everyone has mentioned. I really want to try one in the sg2/r2 steel.

I did purchase a Shun EDO utility knife for my wife about 5 years ago. We've had zero issues with it "but" she rarely uses it. I had thought it to be a little on the cheap side myself.
 
Spideyjg said:
I dunno Lawrence. Ever get some Henckles Cermax made with ZDP-189 @66 RC?. Probably the toughest to sharpen mass produced knife I have seen.
Agree that Shun are probably hardened into brittleness.
Click to expand...
I’ve sharpened those Henckels. They are tough but some of those Shun seem way harder than that! The ones that are all chipped up, anyway..
 
My daughter got us a Shun as an anniversary present, she thought she was getting us a good knife. I haven't had the heart to tell her it's a non-user, chipped up so bad it's worthless. My wife liked it for a little while and she's hard on knives. I leave it in the knife rack next to the Wusthof's and Henckels so she see's it. As a consolation it's almost serrated enough to work as a bread knife :)
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
I’ve sharpened those Henckels. They are tough but some of those Shun seem way harder than that! The ones that are all chipped up, anyway..
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I had a lady bring me one that had a 3mm deep chunk out of it. Had to rip the whole thing below the damage and thin it. That was a fun session.
 
Did by any chance any of the damaged knives everyone is talking about happen to have SG2/R2 or is everyone talking all Shuns in general?

huelsdonk, I like the looks of this knife a lot (Takamura Migaki R2 Santoku) the only problem is the length. My wife really wants the 5.5" knife.

Spideyjg, I did find a Miyabi SG-2 that is 5.5" that I'm looking at real hard.
 
If the new knife absolutely has to be stainless get a Takamura in R2/SG2 steel, and avoid the Shun.
If the new knife has to have the best fine edge retention get a Kohetsu in HAP40 steel.
While that steel isn't stainless, it doesn't seem to rust easy.
Even in a professional setting it only seems to form a patina from what i've seen so far.
 
Haven't seen many Shun SG-2 blades so jury is out for me.

The VG-10 is a plagued with chips and pitting. If that is due to a process flaw it wouldn't surprise me the SG-2 does the same.

I see a fair number of Mac blades and they don't have those kinds of issues.
 
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kwackster said:
If the new knife absolutely has to be stainless get a Takamura in R2/SG2 steel, and avoid the Shun.
If the new knife has to have the best fine edge retention get a Kohetsu in HAP40 steel.
While that steel isn't stainless, it doesn't seem to rust easy.
Even in a professional setting it only seems to form a patina from what i've seen so far.
Click to expand...

The only reason I haven't ordered the Takamura in R2 is that I cant find a Santoku or Gyuto that has a 5.5" blade.

I am getting maybe three of the western style Kohetsu in Hap40, a Petty, Santoku and a Nakiri. Here again they do not have the Santoku or Gyuto in 5.5" which is what my wife really wants.
Maybe I'll just get these and just wait to see if she likes them before I get her one in 5.5"

Oh by the way, I'm passing on the Shun, thanks everyone for their input.
 
I have Shun knives from several of their product lines (Classic, Premier, Kaji, Fuji, Blue) and no issues with chipping yet. I mostly use the Classic line, which uses VG-MAX and not VG-10. I don't know what the difference is between the two steels, except the VG-MAX is used in their current production versus VG-10 from older products.

The Kaji line uses SG-2. Though I use proper technique and decent wood cutting boards, so maybe that is why I have not had any issues. Hand washed after use, stored in a block. Sharpened when needed with Shapton water stones.

My main issue with them is that I like a flatter edge profile than they use in their Chef's knife, so I prefer what they market as a "kiritsuke" which is actually just a kiritsuke-tipped gyuto. If they'd take their 7" Asian Cook's knife and make that in 9", that'd be perfect.

That said- you are paying for the name and the visual appeal, so there might be more cost-effective options out there with the same steel.
 
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