This eight-piece bamboo block set from Shun offers knives from the Shun Classic series, with the focus on chef's knives rather than santoku. If you prefer the traditional European cook's knife style but also want the superior steel and cutting ability of Shun's Damascus blades, this set was designed ...

The Birds Beak Paring Knife from Shun handles difficult tasks many chefs don't find essential. If your cooking includes sculpted fruits and vegetables, exotics like Bride's Tears potatoes, or even the common ginger root, you'll find the Shun Birds Beak Paring Knife very handy.

Peelers are built for straight and ...

The Petty Petit gyuko or chef's knife was created by the Kitasho Company of Seki City, Japan, a center of fine swordsmiths for 800 years. Kitasho began more recently in 1948 and manufactures a broad line of chef's cutlery and hunting knives built to Japanese specifications rather than toned ...

Shun Cutlery's Classic Carving Set brings that company's famous VG-10 Damascus style stainless steel to the dinner service. The look is the same as that of Shun's other chef's knives, with an elegant and simple ebony-style pakkawood handle and a forged stainless steel blade.

Both knife and fork provide ...

The Cold Steel Voyager Medium Tanto covers a wide range of everyday needs -- good for camping, fishing, hunting, and handyman work, although the tanto point traditionally was the mark of a combat blade. If one-handed opening is an essential feature you need, consider the strength of your hand. ...

The three Damascus-type VG-10 steel blades in this Shun Classic Gift Box Set may cause you to put aside the knives you've owned and loved for years. Other companies make good knives, but these good knives have a difference you can feel at work. The 8-inch chef's knife, ...

The four knives in this Shun Classic 7-Piece Bamboo Block Asian Knife set all feature the Damascus style steel that gives Shun's VG-10 blades their superior edge-holding ability and strength. A central VG-10 layer forms the cutting edge and is hardened to Rockwell 61 -- excellent for sharpness, but ...

If you can get past the non-traditional aesthetic, there's actually a lot to like about this Ken Onion design from Shun.

The handle is appreciably beefy for a small knife, a touch which I find particularly appealing as most smaller Japanese knives have handles which feel undersized in my hands. The modified ...

In my experience, I've found little use for the traditional "carving knife". In my view it's a specialty knife. I generally prefer to use knives which are a bit more utilitarian.

Traditionally, the carving knife is most often seen around the holidays when turkeys, hams, and roasts grace most tables, and is ...

Not to be confused with the butcher's cleaver well known in European kitchens, this Vegetable Cleaver from Shun's Classic series is the Asian general purpose equivalent of the western cook's knife. With the superior edge and Damascus stainless steel of the Classic line, this knife is one of ...

Primarily used for deboning and slicing raw or cooked meat, fish, and poultry, the Shun Pro Deba knife with a 6 1/2" plain edge is one of the fundamental blades of the Japanese kitchen, dating back to the Edo period in the city of Sakai. Once famous for fine ...

Made to Shun's exacting standards with the same materials as their Classic series, this 4 3/8" Chef's Knife follows a design by famous American knifemaker Ken Onion. This beautiful knife makes a practical addition to any cutlery set, with features suitable for collectors.

The curved full tang handle shows ...

A part of the Shun Classic series, this boning knife is forged in Shun's famous Damascus stainless steel, but with a profile slim enough to give this blade the slight flexibility you need for boning and fileting meat, poultry, and seafood.

The build is the same one used for ...

Seki, Japan, where the Shun Classic Ultimate Utility (U2) is manufactured, has a long history as a center of Samurai sword production. Many of the old techniques that produced these legendary military blades have now been transferred to high quality cutlery such as the U2.

For the best katana, sword makers used ...

Japanese blades of all kinds, from swords to carpentry tools, are so refined that to many Westerners the subtle features go unnoticed. The Nakiri vegetable knife is a fine example of a craft so skilled it may cause you to rethink the basics and become a better chef.

At first ...

There are a lot of rescue knives out there. There are some with all the bells and whistles - oxygen tank wrench and torque bits and special seat belt cutters.. There are some no bells and whistles - just a serrated blade and that's it, which hardly makes a ...

Spyderco's Rescue 93mm knife is great, if you've got hands big enough to match the 4 5/8-inch handle. For those with smaller hands, there is the incredibly similar Rescue 79mm, which equals to a 3 1/8-inch blade and a handle length just over 4-inches. Spyderco claims that "for every design ...

Spyderco knives are all about performance. While they usually make cool looking knives, the look is ultimately the result of the added functionality Spyderco is putting into every knife. Take a look at this Native III and you'll see what I mean.

The 3 1/8-inch VG-10 stainless steel combo edge (mostly ...

Spyderco's new Cricket SS C29 is super-duper thin. With a genius idea from custom knife maker Chris Reeve, the linerlock's liner is actually made out of the handle's backside scale, essentially reducing the thickness from thin to ultra-thin, but still ensuring a secure locking mechanism with fewer moving parts. ...

If you were to refer to this in the proper Japanese terminology, this would be called a petty, which evolved from the term "petit gyutou" or "little cow sword".

Regardless of how you refer to this little knife, it's an excellent knife. Typical of knives from Shun, it is a blend ...

If you hang around Williams-Sonoma, you're sure to know about the Shun Classic Santoku knife. If you hang around professional kitchens for a while, you'll get to know some lesser-known Japanese brands that are just as good.

Kanetsune makes their knives with similar materials as the Shun -- it's got a 33-layer Damascus-patterned blade ...

If you own a set of high-end Japanese kitchen knives and have ever wondered to yourself "hey these work pretty well, a lot better than my pocketknife, so what gives..." you'll be pleased to hear that the folks at SOG Knives had the same thought running through their minds.

That's one of ...

You've got to digest a few things when checking out this knife you may never have heard of.

First off, the style. It's a gyuto - basically the Japanese equivalent of a western chef's knife - an all-purpose knife sharp enough to cut through multiple meats, vegetables, and fish.

Next up, the brand. Kanetsune is not ...

From one of the world's front runners in knife technology comes the Idun blade, a hunting knife that's both artistic and advanced.

Fallkniven is one of our favorite hunting knife makers. It's a family-owned firm, many of whom are hunters themselves. They use that knowledge to continually refine their blade designs. They've always ...

If you're going to spend decent money on a knife, make sure it's one that you'll use frequently, feels comfortable in your hand and is made of premium materials.

This Shun Classic Paring knife earns our recommendation as the "Best Paring Knife" by fulfilling those three criteria.

For starters, any paring ...

Spyderco has discontinued the full-sized Persian, but this Mini Persian is a nice replacement. The full-sized knife had a lot of fans, but was also considered a bit bulky.

The mini weighs in at 3.5 ounces, measures 6.8 inches when opened and 3.9 inches closed. That's a nice compact pocket-sized folder and may ...

We named Shun Classic Knives our best $500 kitchen knives a while back, and for good reason.

Shun took kitchen cutlery to the next level when they introduced their Classic series a few years back. The Classics feature a VG-10 Japanese "super steel" that is incredibly hard and, as a result, ...

Spyderco seems to have an endless list of product models. The Endura line alone consists of dozens of variations.

The Endura 4 Wave is one of those varations, and you can be excused for confusing it with the Endura 2, 3, or 4 (without the "Wave").

This knife features a 3.75 inch blade ...

The S1 is another great knife from Fallkniven. Fallkniven is a small family-run operation known for producing a short list of exceptional knives.

The S1 is a "forest" knife, though it might be better known as part of the bushcraft, survival, or wilderness categories.

What differentiates a wilderness knife like this one from a ...

Masanobu makes high-end knives that rival brands such as Hattori and Shun.

Masanobu's razor-sharp Japanese blades feature a core made of VG-10 steel. VG-10 steel is one of the sharpest steels you can find in a kitchen knife today. It also holds an edge extremely well.

Additionally, the blade is angled ...

Spyderco knives always look a bit wacky, don't they? Or maybe they look cool. I guess it depends on your perspective.

This one is no exception, but it's a pretty slick product.

The 4.25" blade is made of VG-10 steel. That's is a pretty high-end steel for this type of knife. There's no 440A to ...

For many Chinese chef's, this type is not just an essential knife, but rather the single most essential knife in the kitchen.

Some will quibble and say that this is a Chef's knife and technically not a cleaver, but what's in a name? If you can use it to hack through ...

Gotta hand it to the Swedes - they sure do know how to make a great survival knife. Fallkniven is a supplier of knives to the king of Sweden, so they're probably doing something right.

Along with the H1 Hunting Knife and F1 Pilot Survival Knife, this A1 is another ...

Looks can be deceiving. At first glance, looks like there's nothing special about this knife.

What sets it apart from the rest?

For one thing, it's got a textured Thermorun handle that's lightweight, rock-hard, protective, and weatherproof.

It's got an extremely sharp convex blade with a small top swage that scarcely dips to the tip, constructed ...

Shun knives are by no means budget knives. Some consider them synonymous with "expensive". But limit yourself to a small set of essential knives and you'll actually find them worth every penny.

Why? Because Shun has also become synonymous with "quality". All three of the major US cutlery retailers -- Williams Sonoma, Sur La ...

OnlyKnives' Best $1000 Kitchen Knives
FromShun Classic Knives, the blade is made up of a VG-10 steel core, wrapped by layers of stainless steel. This allows the edge to be extremely sharp, to retain its edge over time and yet still be stain-resistant.

VG-10 is one of the premier steels being used in ...

This lightweight lockback knife from Spyderco is great for anyone who spends lots of time outdoors.

The blade is premium VG-10 steel for extra sharpness and durability. It measures 3.75 inches long, and is constructed to enable controlled pulling cuts, making it great for outdoor use.

Weighing only 3.75 ounces, the knife folds ...

You may know that Shun and Kershaw brands are both owned by the same company. You may also know that Ken Onion is one of the most successful designer of Kershaw knives, winning numerous industry awards throughout his career.

So what happens when a premium kitchen knife maker asks a ...

The Shun Classic 8-Inch Chef's Knife is a great example of the high-end ultra-sharp Japanese knives that are now all the rage.

It is made from premium VG-10 steel -- a high-carbon, molybdenum and vanadium blend which is known for its extreme sharpness. The blade is hardened to a Rockwell hardness of ...