Shun Fuji series knives at Williams Sonoma. Anyone tried it?
Hello
Went to WS this weekend and saw this: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/produc...
I am usually not overly impressed by their (WS) stuff. Sometimes it seems awfully pricey for what you get, ut wow...this seems really well-balanced. Has anyone tried it yet?
Matt
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Buy it when it's on woot. better prices, same stuff. might take a while though (deal a day's like that).
Still, who can fault something for a third or a quarter of the starting price?›2 Replies-
re: Chowrin
cowboyardee
Oct 10, 2011 08:49 AM
I'm not 100% positive how Woot works, but I doubt they sell WS exclusive products. The WS exclusivity is one of the ways WS justifies jacking up its prices.
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re: cowboyardee
http://www.woot.com/blog/viewentry.as...
Try again? ;-) Seriously, these were discontinued.
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Chemicalkinetics
Oct 10, 2011 08:28 AM
Just a thought: What about a Watanabe Gyuto? You can ask him for slight modifications, such as thinner blade or octagonal handle...etc. It has a carbon steel core (blue paper steel/Aogami steel), so you have to a bit more careful. but it is not excessively more work. Just be mindful and wipe the knife clean within a few minutes after work. Don't put it in the sink and definitely not in a dishwasher.
http://www.watanabeblade.com/english/...
I have never tried it, so I cannot fully recommend it. Still, it looks nice and it is cheaper than that Shun knife. I do know it belongs to the "meaty/mighty" knife catergory. I have a Nakiri knife from Watanabe and I like it a lot. Dave bought a Deba knife from him as well and like it as well.
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re: Westy
Another awesome gyuto that falls often into the mighty category is Yoshikane:
http://epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=85...
Great knives, beautiful, and semi-stainless core steel (SKD). And again, this leaves more money for making a custom handle! :D
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re: Westy
Chemicalkinetics
Oct 10, 2011 08:37 PM
Mateo's suggestion is great. The hammered pattern is very nice. I have never used a SKD steel knife, but I heard great thing about it.
As for the Watanabe knife I linked to earlier, it is only 180 mm (7.4 inch) long, so it is probably shorter than what you like. However, Watanabe does sell longer versions. He is willing to work with your preference. He has cladded knife as well as a single steel knife. There are all kinds of modifications which he can customize for your knife and some are listed here like Togidashi finished, Mirror polished, Honyaki steel, left handedness, ocatoganol handle, thinning...
http://www.watanabeblade.com/english/pro/pro.htm
If you are interest, then try to see if there is a knife which is closest to your likening and then work him on the specific details.
As mentioned, I bought a Watanabe Nakiri just a few month earlier and I wrote a lengthy review as shown below. The important thing I want to share is that I asked Watanabe to make a thinner knife than his usual specifications and he was willing to do that with an additional fee:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7946...
Although I have good experience with Watanabe, I am not really trying to "sell" his knives to you. What I really try to show is that there are many good knives at the price range you are looking at as well as below it. The Shun Fuji knife you looked at is a good knife, just a bit pricey, but ultimately it is about what best fit you. I suggest you to look at one or two alternatives, and then if you come back to this Shun knife, then you know you made the right choice.
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I'll toss in my hat with Cowboy and Chem here... it is a lot of money. For that price you can get something custom (or semi-custom) that is MUCH higher quality. Don't get me wrong -- I own my fair share of Shun (it was my... "gateway" knife so-to-speak), but for the price, there are much better bargains to be had.
If you're looking for a chef's knife (or gyuto) in something stainless there are a lot of options out there, one such that is getting some good attention, and you want to spend some $$ is Konosuke HD gyutos; also, at $265 you can have a custom handle done (if you really like the "Double D")
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Chemicalkinetics
Oct 10, 2011 07:18 AM
Hi Matt,
It is beautiful. I also expect it to have great edge retention for it is a powder steel knife. However, like cowboy said, it is not cheap.
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re: Westy
cowboyardee
Oct 10, 2011 08:18 AM
It's more or less what it sounds like. Finely powdered steel carbides pressed and heated into one solid piece of metal. The idea is that it makes for a completely uniform grain structure in the steel, which is good for sharpening and helps resist chipping at high hardness. The end result is usually a knife that is hard and abrasion-resistant and as such has good edge retention, but isn't as chippy as other steels might be at the same hardness.
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re: cowboyardee
Huh...The way the salesperson described it was that it had a number of layers on one side, a number of layers on the other, and a central layer of a different steel. I would assume that one int he middle would be very hard, and the ones o the outside would be a bit softer. Is the powder process the reason there is the Damascus pattern?
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re: Westy
Westy, no. The "damascus" cladding is coming from layers put on the outside of the core steel (in this case, SG2 powdered steel), then ground down to expose the different layers. In the case of this knife, they've added texture to the blade grind and give it a sort of hammered look.
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re: mateo21
cowboyardee
Oct 10, 2011 08:46 AM
Correct. The core (which forms the cutting edge) is powdered metal. The 'damascus' cladding is another steel laminated to the core.
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cowboyardee
Oct 10, 2011 07:08 AM
Haven't tried it. Looks like a perfectly decent knife. SG2 is powdered metal steel with good edge retention - it is the same steel that Shun has used in their Elite line. The profile is more appealing to me than other Shun knives. I don't see any reason to think that the edge geometry is much different from other Shuns, but who knows. 'Double D' handle probably feels fairly comparable to an octagonal wa handle common on some other Japanese knives which is fairly comfortable IMO.
But it is selling at a very bad price for what it is. WS overcharges for its exclusive knives by a lot. Upside is you could go to the WS store to try it out. Still, that's a big surcharge for the privilege.
If you like that basic style, there are quite a few wa handled gyutos I could recommend with similar features selling at a much better price. What specifically about this knife appeals to you?
›7 Replies-
re: cowboyardee
The nadle had an awfully nice feel to it. I haven't seen too many with an angled handle and I was surprised at how nice the feel of it was. I half expected the corners to cut into my fngers, but the weight was nice and even. The blade had a nice amount of weight without being clunky. Tough to judge just using my eye, but I bet that curve would make for a nice rocking motion.
No idea as to sharpness/retention, etc..
The salesperson said that it was at a 15 degree angle and that they sold a new water shaprpener for it. Thing is...the device they are selling was for close to $300 alone.-
re: Westy
cowboyardee
Oct 10, 2011 08:03 AM
Ahh - it's going to be hard to give recommendations that match the particular feel, weight, and balance, of this knife given that I haven't tried it. But I can take a pretty decent educated guess at it from your description and a few of the design features. It has both a bolster and a metal cap at the end of the handle - this makes me think that the handle is counter balancing a blade that's on the heavier side for a gyuto.
There are several makers of heavier gyutos. The knife forum guys often term them 'mighty' gyutos. And most charge a better price for their knives. The problem: few of these makers use an octagonal handle. It's easier to counter balance a heavy blade with a Western handle and full tang. And those that do use an octagonal handle (or a wa handle for that matter) tend to be blade heavy and won't have quite the same feel or balance as the Shun. The metal cap/counterbalance at the end of the handle is a fairly rare design feature for that type of blade.
So the question becomes: how enamored are you of the feel of that blade? I could recommend a lot of knives that I feel are of similar or likely even better quality that cost a good deal less. But I can't think of any that are likely to have the same kind of feel with a similar handle. And if that exact feel is worth a few hundred dollars to you - hey, it's only money.
On sharpeners: whereas WS's prices on knives are steep enough to give me pause, WS's prices on sharpeners are enough to make me angry. Don't buy a sharpener there. Period. Certainly don't buy one that costs several hundred dollars. I have no doubt in my mind that it's a rip off. There are better options.
ETA: incidentally, for that much money, it is actually entirely feasible to get another 'mighty' gyuto and also get one of the knife forum guys to make you a custom handle for it.
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re: cowboyardee
Huh...I would have guessed the sharpener would be a "throw in" (meaning they charged only what they paid for it - they wouldmake their money ont eh blade, not upkeep, shows what I know).
That blade is pretty amazing. I have a couple of genuine nikiris (sort of a narrow Japanese vggie cleaver), and the thing I don't like is that they have zero weight. like balsa handlaes or something. Amazing blades for the edge they had when i bought them, but like trying to cut with a razor.That nice weight and a good balance PLUS the diamond handle...be tough to beat. Interested on what a custom builder could come up with. think there is one in NC. not sure where he lives., though
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re: Westy
cowboyardee
Oct 10, 2011 08:26 AM
"Huh...I would have guessed the sharpener would be a "throw in"
______
I misread you - I thought you were saying they wanted another few hundred for the sharpener. I don't know. I've never seen them include a sharpener in the price of a knife, but nothing's stopping em. OTOH, I'd be pretty skeptical of any sharpener WS gives away too.Nakiris tend to be pretty thin, light blades, even by Japanese standards. And ho-wood (probably the most common handle material on a nakiri) is very light, so the knife tends to be blade-heavy even with the thin, light blade. Completely different feel. A Western handle 'mighy' gyuto would have a much more similar balance and weight to the Shun you like, but it wouldn't have the angular 'double d' handle.
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re: Westy
cowboyardee
Oct 10, 2011 08:33 AM
Oh. Really couldn't tell you much without more information about what sharpener it was specifically and the price. But nothing I've seen from WS gives me any reason to think highly of their sharpening options.
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re: Westy
Chemicalkinetics
Oct 10, 2011 08:23 AM
"The salesperson said that it was at a 15 degree angle and that they sold a new water shaprpener for it. Thing is...the device they are selling was for close to $300 alone."
If you want to buy an effective and inexpensive stone, then don't get one from Williams Sonoma. I think you get a decent waterstone from $30-60.
If you want to support the US employment, then sure, buy one from Williams Sonoma.
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