Shun Classic 190mm Wide Santoku

Shun Classic is the largest and most well-known series of kitchen knives from KAI. The idea behind it is to combine traditional Japanese blacksmithing as the samurai did it with modern sophisticated techniques that ensure consistently high quality.

These ideas materialize in damascus knives, i.e. knives with blades that are made up of separate layers of steel around one hard core. Shun Classic knives are forged from a total of 65 layers of steel, the core of which is the hard VG-MAX - an improvement on VG-10, which KAI has developed itself.

Other details are the asymmetric D-shaped handle, which is a clear reference to the old Japanese traditions and which is particularly comfortable for right-handed people to use.

The knife here is a 19 cm santoku with extra height. The Japanese word "san" in this context means three , and the word santoku can therefore be translated into three tasks , which respectively is meat, vegetables and fish, which emphasizes that it is a universal knife. It is a knife that can take the place of the classic chef's knife, where the difference lies in the balance. The decisive factor for whether you should choose the santoku, the chef's knife or both is your cutting style, where the santoku is particularly good if you are the type who lifts the knife freely from the surface in every movement.

It is particularly suitable for slicing vegetables, but can of course also be used for meat when, for example, must be cut into smaller pieces of meat for wok or stewed dishes.

The Shun Classic is lighter and has relatively thin blades compared to Western (German and French) kitchen knives, and therefore also cuts better. However, it also requires that you be more careful when using your knife.

• KAI (Seki, Japan)
• 18 cm santoku
• Stainless steel
• 65 layers of steel
• VG-MAX core
• 61 HRC
• D-shaped handle for right-handers

The knife must never be washed in a dishwasher, must not cut into hard objects such as bones, cartilage, bones and frozen objects as well as hard cheeses. Remember that it is a property of thin, hard metal that it can break.