San Mai in chef knife, opinions please

ElementalBreakdown

ElementalBreakdown

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There's a decent Japanese style knife on sale and I am looking to replace my main kitchen knife. My others are chipped from sharpening decades ago before I learned how to properly sharpen. About $80.
Anyone have any opinions, I do most of the cooking so definitely will appreciate a better knife, but I don't want to go down a rabbit hole and start searching if this is a good deal.
Thanks!

Shun Knives: Sora Chef Knife 8" - VB0706​

 
The Shun Sora is a good knife for the price. However, it has a cheap plastic handle over
a stick tang.
I would recommend the slightly higher in cost traditionally styled Tojiro DP F-808 with
a full tang. I have a DP that has served me 25 years.
 
I have a Shun Classic Nakiri Knife and a Shun Sora. I love them both. They're both hella sharp. Cutting stuff in the kitchen with a quality knife improves the cooking experience.
 
Stick tangs kinda suck, that's something that you can potentially feel...
So forget it, but now I am at the edge of that rabbit hole and looking into some of the blades with R2 which I assume is SG2.
For $20 more. This is how I get got every time and why I am using chipped 25 year old Henckels. 🙄
 
I’m not any kind of kitchen knife expert but after reading other recommendations I bought a santoku and petty knife from the Tojiro VG10 Hammered line about a year ago and I have been super happy with them. Beautiful and super slicey. San mai style with VG10 core and stainless cladding much like the one you’re looking at. I just do regular kitchen cutting as a single guy, cutting meat and veggies, but it has held an edge really well and no issues with corrosion, although I wash and dry it after use and don’t let it sit around with food on it. I’m guessing you will really enjoy that knife. Seems a good price too - I paid about $90 for the santoku.
 
I bought one just a few weeks ago. I can't say anything about long-term performance, but so far I love it. It cut my hand like a Star Wars lightsaber and I wasn't even trying. 😉
 
ElementalBreakdown said:
Stick tangs kinda suck, that's something that you can potentially feel...
So forget it, but now I am at the edge of that rabbit hole and looking into some of the blades with R2 which I assume is SG2.
For $20 more. This is how I get got every time and why I am using chipped 25 year old Henckels. 🙄
Click to expand...
R2 is made by Kobelco (Kobe Steel Co). SG2 (Special Gold II) is made by Takefu Specialty Steels.
They are both powder steels and so similar that for quite some time many people believed they were
one and the same. However there are some very minor differences in composition, but minor enough to
consider them interchangable from a user point of view.
I have a few R2 knives and the edge retention pretty much blows VG10, which is a very good steel on it's own, out of the water.
Naturally Powder Steel knives, often called HSS(High Speed Steel) knives in Japan cost a bit more.
 
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