Shun Boning Knife not as sharp as inexpensive Rapala Fillet Knife

[JPGators17]

Somewhat on topic, any honing knife recommendations?

[Spinaker]

I am a huge fan of the Rapala Fillet knife. I use them all the time. I also do use my Global and Wustoff Boning knives for trimming from time to time.

I bought a really nice Shun slicing knife for brisket and prime rib. I hate it. It is too thin, and it does now do a very good job of slicing up large pieces of meat. I bought a $20 brisket sword and it works great for slicing a brisket up! I think for BBQ, the cheaper knives work just fine. Especially if you are cutting larger cuts.

[fzxdoc]

I've got that Dexter-Russel Brisket sword as well, Spinaker. It works great for brisket slicing, I agree. I like a boning knife for more delicate trim work on a brisket, after I've worked Mr. Brisket over once with my Shun 8" chef knife, getting most of the fat off.

Kathryn

[Mosca]

I would say that when the Shun is sharp you will love it. That doesn’t make the Rapala a bad knife, and it may be better than the sharp Shun.

Someone gave my brother in law a knife as a gift, he didn’t know what it was so I asked him to show it to me. It was this:




It’s a Shun Ken Onion DM0500, around $400. I told him to keep it.

I like my Globals. The main knock on them is the handles; users love them or hate them. I have no problem with the handles. I love the balance. The knives themselves are easy to sharpen using the Global draw-through wet sharpener, and they cut well. My only real problem is that I keep wanting to buy more Global knives. MKS, I guess.

[fzxdoc]

Wow, nice gift your brother in law received, Mosca. Looks like it would be fun to use. I agree with you, that once my Shun boning knife is sharpened, I'll probably love it.

Kathryn

[HouseHomey]

I often see broken "Global" tips. Likely that operator error.

[Mosca]

I heard that as well. The steel is that CROMOVA, it’s harder but most likely more brittle. No problems so far. I’m thinking as long as I work with meat and vegetables, and use a cleaver on bones, I’ll be okay.

[Spinaker]

A honing steel makes a big difference, no matter the brand of knife.

[Jon Liebers]

Yes, most people mistreat their knives by tossing in the sink, using a butcher block and of course the should always be honed (that's just straightening the edge not sharpening) before each use and if possible on a ceramic honing rod that is at least as long as the blade.

[Troutman]

Shun are way over rated, sorry but they are too thin, too prone to chipping, too pretty and too over priced. Williams Sonoma had them at 60%
off over the weekend. I passed. So happy with my German and Swiss knives.

[Jon Liebers]

I don't know about that, I just purchased a Shun Nakiri which is traditionally used for chopping veg , like root veg's. It is pretty substantial . Also any "Deba" style knife even shun will have a thick spin and is more of a butcher style knife. When it comes to Asian knives there are many different kinds for all types of purposes. The closest to say a "chefs knife" would probably be a Gyuto yet a santuko could probably pull double duty too.

[Jon Liebers]

i will agree that since Asian knives typically are honed to a 15 degree angle vs say wustof which is 20 degrees the Asian knives are both sharper edge but need to be honed before use and sharpened more often. Having said that, nothing is better than using a sharpened Asian knife.

[Troutman]

Over rated

[fzxdoc]

I missed that sale notice, Troutman . Darn.

I looked at the German knives that HouseHomey recommended, as well as several others, but the Shun Classic fit my hand the best, so I went with it. True, I like its pretty face, but it works well for me too. I have since bought a couple more. My knife drawer is filled with Cutco and Shun now plus the Dexter Russell brisket knife and the Rapala boning knife.

I agree, Shun knives are overpriced. So are the Kai sewing scissors made by the same company. In addition to grilling and smoking, designing and sewing clothes is another of my vices. My Gingher sewing and pinking scissors are marvelous, so I'm not tempted to replace them with Kai sewing scissors.

Spinaker I agree that a bit of honing might sharpen up that edge nicely. But I think I'll go with the professional sharpening service first then hone as needed.

Kathryn

[Troutman]

I have heard good things about Cutco.

[fzxdoc]

RonB , our local Williams Sonoma will sharpen for free, but a store clerk who is also a chef recommended that I don't use that service since the guy who does it takes off too much edge, in her opinion. She gave me the name of the local sharpening place that many of the local chefs use.

K.

[RonB]

Sounds like the way to go...

[JamieBBQ]

I think this is somewhat of a miss representation by Shun. A boning knife and a fillet knife are two different things in my opinion. Fillet knives are thin and flexible where a boning knife is thicker. I think Shun makes a great knife and are extremely sharp. I have a set of classic Shuns that I have had for 15 years or so. They have a Japanese angle edge. I have found very few sharpening places that can do this. Most will grind euro edge on there overheating the metal and causing the before mentioned chipping. Talking about knives is like talking about politics haha.

[fzxdoc]

True. It's all about what suits a person the best, and how much $$$ they want to invest.

The sharpening place I will use is well-versed in sharpening Japanese knives. I checked it out.

Kathryn

[Bkhuna]

Boning knives can be rigid, flexible, or semi-flexible.

[Jon Liebers]

its really very easy to sharpen knives yourself on a traditional wetstone. most Asian style knives are a 15 degree angle where german knives (or western)are typically 20 degrees. also in the higher end more traditional Asian knives you will find things like 30/70 cutting edge meaning 70 % of edge is on right or left and 30 the opposite. Sushi slicing knives are 0/100 traditionally.

[Bkhuna]

I have a Friedrich Dick flexible boning knife that I purchased 30+ years ago on the recommendation of a butcher. I use an F. Dick 11 inch multi cut sharpening steel and it keeps my knives razor sharp.

[Jon Liebers]

i suggest you get your self a two sided sharpening wet stone and sharpen your blades yourself. King makes a nice and inexpensive #1000/#4000 stone. All you need to do is look up a couple of youtube videos on howto. Not hard at all. And your knives will never be sharper. Just use a ceramic honing steel before each use and your sharpening should last 4-6 months depending on usage.

[Jon Liebers]

it just takes a couple of times to get use to holding the angle, but you can buy angle guides to help with that. I would say it took me until the second-third time to really get a razor sharp edge and now it is no problem to do it with in 10 min.