Shun paring knife

J

jurisprudence

Joined
Jul 17, 2009
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414
I recently picked up a Shun paring knife and have a question. First, the fit and finish, ergos, and quality are excellent. I noticed that the higher carbon steel is showing with use, and that is fine but a small nick came off the edge. It seems the higher carbon part of the steel is missing, almost as if the blade chipped. The damage is not from chipping but normal cutting. Large enough to be seen with the naked eye and easily catches a finger nail.

Is this normal or cause for concern? Something one may send to Shun to examine? Or, just sharpen it out and don't worry about it.
 
Any chance you could post a picture of this? What is your sharpening procedure? Use a steel? What material is your cutting board? What is your major use for this blade? Sorry for all the questions, but it's the only way I think anyone will be able to be of any help with this.
-Mark
 
Yeah, mark's got it right. gotta know what you did with it. I work as a knife sharpener and see a lot of shuns with chips. Lots of people try to use them for things they shouldn't with the thin ass grind shun puts on there. I get this one rich guy that always brings in 2 or 3 ken onions with huge chips taken out. "What did you do to these" "Oh well i was trying to cut ribs, i guess these knives just aren't made well." Really wanna slap him. More info would help, but just as a blanket statement, I'd recommend slapping a convex edge on that bad boy. Its what we do at work and it seems to help alleviate some of these issues for people. They're so thin that you definitely have to be careful what you cut though.
 
shun_bm.jpgshun.jpg

I use an Epicurean board. We have a couple sizes and they work great.

The photo, which was hard to get, shows one area. I took the other photo to share since I had the kitchen knives out.

The Shun has only been used to cut fruit (apples and pears) and cheese. Hand wash only. It has not been sharpened yet.

I have a Wicked Edge sharpener and a belt grinder. I touch up some of the kitchen knives on the belt grinder with a 2000 grit or leather belt, especially if they have a convex edge.
 
I'm gonna say that the chipping you're seeing is pretty common.
Hippie is right....these blades are thin, delicate and a little hard. I tried to keep mine dedicated to fruit and veggies that didn't require much contact (by force) with my cutting board, and I find that I did more freehand off-the-board cutting with this little gem. I say 'tried' because I eventually got rid of the VG-10 model in favor of the SG-2 model.
It has also been my feeling for quite some time that bamboo boards have a harder feel than end-grain maple or poly boards...could be just me.
I would just sharpen them out and possibly take Hippie's advice by giving her a slight convexing to support that thin edge.
Good luck!
-Mark
 
yup, seems like you're doing everything right. Shuns come with a crazy thin edge, i usually reprofile them to a thicker primary bevel for people. Just hit it with a 320 grit on a slack belt, then move up, maybe to a leather. We use one of those slotted cardboard wheels. Good luck!
 
We've been using a Shun Classic paring knife for a year and have sharpened it twice during that time with multiple swipes on the Shun steel that came with the set I bought. We cut using thin poly/plastic mats over a granite countertop. (Been meaning to get a board...)

The paring knife doesn't hold its edge as long or get quite as sharp as the 8" Chef's knife, but I haven't seen any chipping over the last year. (I think the thicker edge on the Chef's knife helps keep it sharper longer.) My kids have put the paring knife in the dishwasher once or twice, but we mostly wash it by hand. We have been very pleased with it.
 
Thanks. I started with a 1,000 grit and could tell how thing the edge was. Wow, I thought I knew how thin it was until a light touch on that belt. Now it has a convex edge.

Still love the thing. We'll see how it does.
 
I broke the tip off of my Shun paring knife by just putting it in the drawer and shutting it. I ended up getting an edge guard for it, and everything else seems fine. Ooh, be careful not to use Barkeepers Friend on the knife, it will take the insignias/writing off. (it’s a great beater now)
 
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This is great info. All my large kitchen knives are all custom except for my vintage cleavers. I have been looking for a good multi-use paring knife but have held off on the Shun due to the VG10 steel. The family tends to stay away from the customs but does use our few paring knives for quite a bit of multi purpose cutting. The Shun Classic may not hold up well to the general use in our house unless it was reprofiled to put more shoulder behind the edge. The family go-to paring knife always seems to be a cheap Opinel. Slices very well and can be sharpended to a hair splitting edge in no time. I would still love to find a nice high-end production pairing knife with great edge holding like my customs.
 
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