About Shun Knives

The tradition of excellence and painstaking craftsmanship- a legacy of the swordsmiths of ancient Japan- continues to serve as an inspiration for today's KAI bladesmiths. This kind of meticulous artisanship, combined with state-of-the-art technology and advanced materials, ensures that each piece of Shun Kitchen Cutlery is a true work of functional art.

Shun cutlery was brought to the US market in 2002. The brand was developed specifically to meet the demands of the American consumer and provide an alternative to traditional European knives. The Shun Cutlery brand has grown into one of the top gourmet brands available. With Shun, KAI has established new benchmarks for technology and innovation in kitchen knife design.

Shun cutlery provides unparalleled quality and an aesthetic previously unseen in kitchen cutlery. In the tradition of Seki City's swordsmiths, every knife is made by highly skilled artisans and requires at least 100 handcrafted steps to complete. This precision handcrafting ensures that each knife you purchase will truly be unique to you.

Clad Construction

The wavy pattern on our blades is called a Damascus look; what gives it that pattern are 16 layers of SUS410 High Carbon Stainless Steel pounded to 3/1000th of an inch and then "clad" on each side of the VG10 core. This combination of materials gives the blade strength, stain resistance, and incredible cutting performance.

The Cutting Edge

Shun's cutting edge is ground to an angle of 16 degrees making them extremely sharp; compare this to the best German knives which are only ground to only 22 degrees. The exotic Japanese steels used in the cutting core of our knives allow them to hold these razor sharp edges without the need for excessive re-sharpening.

VG10 "Super Steel"

VG10 is a new type of stainless steel that has a higher density. This allows the steel to be tempered to a Rockwell hardness of 61, and still have the flexibility and strength to take and keep a perfect edge. VG10's natural tendency is to remain straight and true, so when it is used, the edge of the blade naturally straightens out and stays sharper longer.

Kasumi Method

This is the traditional Japanese style of knife making where you take an extremely hard carbon steel used for the edge, then clad on each side a protective layer of stainless steel like our Shun Classic line. This is actually the process of how samurai swords are made.