Shun 7-3/4-Inch Stainless Steel Chinese Chef’s Knife

Shun 7-3/4-Inch Stainless Steel Chinese Chef’s Knife

Offering a graceful elegance, this 7-3/4-inch Chinese chef’s knife from the Shun Steel line is made with a seamless, one-piece stainless-steel bolster, handle, and end cap.

Resembling a Western cleaver, the Chinese chef’s knife is an all-purpose performer in the kitchen, perfect for cutting and slicing everything from meats to vegetables. The blade is made from VG-10 steel with a high carbon content for a higher density. This allows the steel to be tempered to a Rockwell hardness of 61, and still have the flexibility and strength to take and keep a perfect edge. It’s clad in layers of high-carbon stainless steel that protect the VG-10 and give the Shun its Damascus-look pattern, which also helps ensure that foods stick less during slicing and dicing–resulting in faster and easier food preparation.

Shun knives rely on traditional Japanese construction methods, including a full composite tang, in order to ensure the best balance. The D-shape of the stainless steel handle is designed to tuck into the palm and provide more control to the user by leaving less space between handle and hand (the handle also fits nicely between the thumb and fingers of a left-handed user). This knife are backed by a lifetime warranty. Dishwasher safe, though hand washing is recommended. Made in Japan.

Shun 7-3/4-Inch Chinese Chef’s Knife Features

• 7-3/4-inch Chinese chef’s knife with Damascus-look pattern–resembles Western cleaver and provides all-purpose cutting
• Blade made of high-carbon VG-10 steel for long-lasting durability of razor sharp edges
• Seamless one-piece stainless steel bolster, handle, and end cap
• Stainless steel handle with unique D-shape provides better control
• Hand washing recommended, dishwasher safe; lifetime warranty; made in Japan
• Dimensions: 12.1 x 3.8 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds

Excellent Knife, But… be sure you finish it before you use it January 26, 2007
D. Symanski (CA United States)
28 out of 31 found this review helpful

I recently purchased the Shun 7 3/4 Chinese Chefs knife to replace my very very old carbon steel 10″ french chefs knife which had developed a cracked, loose handle. I own the stainless version of the Shun instead of the “classic” version with the composite wood handle. I was slightly apprehensive about ordering a knife with an all metal handle because I thought it might become slippery when wet or greasy, however the wonderful asymmetric shape(for my hands at least) and lightly sanded finish provide a very secure grip, perhaps better than my old knife. Quite a few other reviewers of Shun knives said that their knifes came razor sharp but mine at least did not. No commercial knife I have ever owned has been sharp out of the box so I’m not faulting the manufacturer. It had a beautifully ground edge that was very precise and defect free but it was simply not sharp. I was able to put a “scary sharp” edge on it in about 2 min with my extra fine whetstone and a few strokes with my ceramic steel. The steel in this knife seems very hard compared with my old chefs knife which makes it a pleasure to sharpen because it grinds precisely and forms only a very small burr.

This is my first Chinese style knife and it really amazes me how great this design is. Its very wide slightly curved blade, medium weight and high handle make it the most ergonomic knife I have ever used, vegetables just fall into the most perfect pieces with the least amount of effort, chicken and beef slice into perfect strips with even less effort. This knife is so easy to use compared with my chefs knife it has already cut my prep time to 2/3 of what it was. I highly recommend this style knife for anyone who does not mind learning some new knife skills.

Now for the Ugly part of this knife. The spine of this knife is simply too sharp out of the box. It is ground square with the blade and was sharp enough on my knife for me to worry about cutting my fingers on it. In order to make my knife usable I had to carefully grind the edges off the spine with some 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper (keep the paper wet while you grind and be sure to clamp the knife securely so you don’t have an accident.) For me it was fairly easy and took me only about 20 minutes, however I cannot recommend that anyone use this knife in its stock form without rounding the edges or getting someone to do it for you. The rest of the knife was finished beautifully so I’m not sure why they overlooked something as important as this on an otherwise flawless knife.

Pros:
Ergonomic cleaver design makes short work of food preparation
Nicely shaped stainless handle that doesn’t make the knife uncontrollable when its wet or greasy
Extra hard stainless steel blade sharpens easily and stays consistently sharp with a small amount of steeling
Requires much less cutting space than a traditional chefs knife
Easily used as a spatula to move food off the cutting board
The layered steel looks really nice on this knife, it is assembled and ground very nicely and feels solid
It is very easy to clean because of its one piece stainless steel design

Cons:
The Spine on my knife came much too sharp to use without modification
The hollow metal handle is slightly cold when you first pick it up
Requires a different cutting technique from a western or Japanese chefs knife
If your left handed you need to order the left handed version because the handle is asymmetric

Please never use a knife like this on bones, that is what a western style cleaver is for. This is a fine chefs knife, treat it as such.

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