Mac costs more than Shun and is only a production knife,  probably one of the best as a production knife though. $200 for a chefs knife isn't cheap but certainly much more than what average consumers know of. Sharpening set, whether a roller or whetstones is a must for knives at any cost.

I can get both my Mac and Shun  equally sharp. It's just effortless to cut anything like how it should be. The construction of the Mac is a bit better from what I've read by giving you a bit more of the important steel in the inner layer (something along those lines). Anax you need to try the other brands at the $150-200 range for a 10" gyutou.

Japanese Knife Imports (in Beverly Hills, and the most knowledgable, helpful place of the bunch) and Chef Knives To Go are the largest artisan knife trading companies. There is also Yoshihiro Cutlery (Beverly Hills), Japanese Natural Stones, and Japanese Knife Direct, though the later ships only directly from Japan. If your willing to order online directly from the craftsman, there is Zakuri (specializing in blue carbon steel), Teruyasu Fujiwara (really hard white carbon steel with great edge retention), and here in the US, Murray Carter. Carter is in Oregan, and spent a decade or so blacksmithing and living in Japan before opening up his own shop. VG10 Shuns are usually at 61 HRC at the most. A good smith makes a knife sharpen up better while being easy to sharpen, retentive of the edge, and resistant to wear (chipping, rolling, blunting). This is done through hardening, so the steel can support the edge without crumbling, and heat treating, which is to most evenly distribute the carbides and set the steel matrix.

I assume most of you will be comfortable with 8", or the approximate of the Japanese knife standard 210 mm.

So:

$185. Moritaka Gyuto. ChefKnifesToGo. 63-65 HRC. Blue Super Steel, which is a carbon steel with edge retention like VG10 but with a finer carbide structure of purer carbon steels. Toothy, bites into food. Is as difficult to sharpen as a stainless steel, except more difficult due to hardening. Free shipping.

~$181 Teruyasu-Fujiwara Nashiji. direct from Japan based on exchange rate, or $285 from ChefKnifesToGo. 64 HRC. White Steel #1, which has the most carbon of the three white steels. Superior to the former in ultimate sharpness, but retains it for a little less long. The "bite" into food will be different, smoother. Free shipping from both sites. What I want to get, because I have the stones to thin the sides and edge, and because I can maintain the sharpness. Realistically, will get sharp enough to cut into cutting boards.

$220. Gesshin Ginga. Japanese Knife Imports. 61 HRC. White steel or sweedish stainless steel, japanese or western handle. Best asset is thinness, both directly behind the cutting edge and in the knife's cross section as a whole. Very nimble and balanced between the blade and handle. What'd I'd recommend, because of the geometry and lightness. A lot of work in getting japanese knives is reprofiling it (so the view of the knife from the side; there must be no recurve), sharpening it (the very edge, usually up to 6000 grit, and then I strop it, edge trailing, on a wood cutting board because it contains sub micron silica, which abrades, and then the granite counter top, to polish and straighten the edge), and thinning, which is thinning the knife behind the edge, so it slips into food more easily. This usually means sharpening at an angle smaller than the cutting edge, to get a concave edge.

Notes.

Japanese knifes, which I got into just after headphones, is so much like headphones. You get the best you can, but at the top end you trade things for another, like how the HD800 gives maximum deep detail extraction at the expense of treble elevation. In knives, this would be the option of the Teruyasu Fujiwara above, which can get the sharpest of all carbon steels, but is the most reactive, so it rusts red, orange, and patinas green, purple, blue. You can passivate the surface by dousing it under boiling water (the tub faucet), covering with a thin film of edible oil, and polishing (by Scotchbrite sponge). Most artisinal japanese knives give you the wa handle, which is that japanese wood handle, and it comes in octogon, d, and circular, in magnolia, ebony, and other woods. It will discolor with use, and could use oil like any other wood. But it gives you more flexibility in holding the knife, and that means less of a hand cramp. But the knife is more blade heavy, since it is hammer forged on an anvil through the whole process, and quenching a thinner knife would warp it. There is the machi, which a small rectangle of metal connecting the blade to the handle, which gives you a little less cutting area.

Stones. Oh gosh. If you want to sharpen only, Japanese Knife Import's Gesshin 1000/6000 ($135) is the fastest cutting option, and doesn't dish so fast (which is the hollowing out of the middle part of the stone because of the curve of the knife while sharpening abrading into it) though it can grey and muddy up the knife finish, instead of polishing it. This is a result of the binder and abraded metal particles bonding onto the surface of the knife.

If you want to repair, reprofile, thin, then there is the Gesshin 400 (75), Gesshin 220 (45), and DMT Extra Extra 8-inch (62.42 @ amazon). Stones purchase in that order. Repairs? If you chip the knife because it cut something too hard, or was rock chopping, or chopping, or any other forceful motion. Thin? With regular sharpening. A thicker knife behind the edge is more robust, in addition to a more obtuse edge, but that sacrifices cutting ability and ability to pass between food and not wedge, which happens when a knife gets stuck in food midcut.

If you already have a shun and have no stones, getting the 1000/6000 is the option for getting the knife sharper. Just keep it in water all the time to soak (it is baked to be made, so when you first add water it just eats it up and if you submerge it bubbles ripple up) As to sharpening:

Keep all strokes in an area of a knife parallel to another. The owner of Japanese Knife Imports (he has a bunch of videos online) sharpens this way. This is because it is simply more convenient to sharpen for different parts of the knife than keep the same technique throughout, due to restrictions from the knife handle hitting the stone and hand positions. And just keep on going back an forth on one side and then some on the other. Monitor sharpness by seeing if knife bites into fingernail when dragging perpendicular, drawing fingers perpendicular to edge, or bracing thumb against knife spine and feeling two or more fingers parallel on the edge (Murray Carter's three finger test, though I use two usually).

Yes, these things are dangerous. Modify according to one's need for safety, comfort, or need for greater sharpness.

If you live in LA, you can visit Japanese Knife Imports. The owner, Jonathan Broida, used to be a chef, and worked in a One Star Michelin Restaurant in Italy.  He also lived in Japan, cooking there. He has two small tubs filled with all his sharpening stones. And. You. Get. To try all of them. He lets you. Skill permitting (so having got the motion down, and not cutting into the stone. The forward or back stroke where the knife pushes into the stone, that's when it can cut and gouge the stone. He dislikes that. He uses the stones each evening for professional sharpening, but he's a geek about it and lets people try them)

The knives above a fairly flat profile, so rock chopping doesn't work as well as a technique. And with that technique, the knives will tend to chip (whether sub mm, or a little bigger). So diagonal motions, forward and back. The japanese tradition is to say that the knife weight does the work, but that the weight just makes me feel like the thing is sluggish. Thinner is better, as thin before undue risk of breaking.

On the highest end of japanese knifes are Honyaki. They are among the hardest. Hardest to Sharpen. Easiest to break. Stiffest and most tactile feeling during cutting. They range from 400 to 2000 dollars.


As for what I have:
Yoshihiro Cutlery White Steel Kuroichi Gyuto 240 mm. It was too heavy when I got it and thinned the heck out of it. about a mm thinner, with no kuroichi, sharpened to about 25-30 degrees. Sharpest of the bunch.

Chin Chan Kee (CCK) small chinese cleaver, which is 8" long and 3.75" tall. From Action Sales in Monterey Park, $46. Carbon Steel. My main knife, because I can't bear to use the former when there are people around. And that I don't want to leave it around. Knives that long at home. And semblance of anger and I don't want to accidentally stab people.

Zakuri Blue Steel 150 mm petty. Sharp for different foods than the above white steel. This knife cuts with a slight tearing motion relative, relative!, to the white steel. It is the source of its longer edge retention.

Zhen 7" Micarta handle vg10 santoku. For everyone else who doesn't like larger or longer knives that rust but get sharper.

Stones: Gesshin 220, 400, 1000/6000. DMT Extra Extra Coarse.



If you like the feeling of not forcing your knife through food, this knife hobby is worth it. Kinda like the feeling of not being able to hear details or music with headphones.

And of course there are clashing opinions. But the above is the roughly correct guide. And there will be bumps along the road. Chipping. Bad fit and finish. Assymetrical grinds where there may or may not should be. Off center knife to handle fitment. No epoxy keeping the handle fitted to the tang of the knife. Rusting and feeling like bad because it looks like its going to eat itself. The smell of dissolving metal and evolving off gas because acids and foods react with the knife and discolor one another (an orange, greyish onion and reddish, black knife. This goes away after passivation and use). Having to clean and dry regularly.

For those who want a wicked sharp knife without the sharp, stilleto-like taper to a tiny point, a santoku is just fine.

Edge Pro is fine. Will get sharp. Will get a uniform edge, especially at higher grits, which allow mirror sheen, starting at 4000 grit. But won't allow for re profiling and thinning below smallest set angle. Which is a occasional necessity to maintain performance.

Yeah. . . I was able to shave off my leg and arm hair using the 6000 stone as the final step. That's with all the above knives. But in realistic use, no, the sharpness (at least with the above mid tier knives I own) goes away and settles in. Wire edges are strips of weakened steel and the real edge is underneath it. This happens during sharpening, and removing it is one of the last steps. And if the edge isn't polish or straight, it won't cut well. So that's where a block of wood or something smooth and straight like the counter top works well (yep, I know it sounds a bit irresponsible, but the knife is not cutting into the counter, it's being dragged, cutting edge away, along the countertop).

And. . .I'm pretty much done. I could go on quite a lot. But it's as tiring as headphones as well.

Mega brownie points for graean.

Holy cow. More karma needed!!

My wife using my meat cutting knives for chopping salad and slicing bread doesn't help. No matter how many times I tell her to do these things, it does not matter. This is why I will never buy expensive knives.

And this also why I hide the good bourbon so she doesn't put pour it in to ginger ale.

Oh god, that happened to me once. I came home to my Kurosaki nakiri being used to cut a loaf of bread. Really hard San Francisco sourdough. I might have lost my shit a bit...