Shun Sora 8" Chef's Knife

I absolutely love these knives. The profile of the blade is great and they are really sharp right out of the box. I purchased the Santoku, 8" chef, 6" Chef, Utility, Ultimate Utility, bread knife, and pairing knife. Not only are they a great looking set of knives to display in your kitchen, but they truly do take your cooking to another level. Some people complain that the polymer handle feels cheep, but these knives are perfectly priced for what they are. The polymer grip is comfortable and its profiled it such a way that it looks great. These knives truly show the mastery knife making at work at Sora. I also have a some Wusthoff Classics, Messermeister Elites, and a set of the Calphalon Katana. The Classics and Elites I love. The Katanas not so much. These Soras are the best knives in this price range and I love them. My favorite out of all of them has to be the 7" Santoku, but all of the others are great to.Some people say they got rust spots on these knives. Well more expensive knives have a good side and a bad side. They are great because you get better blade profiles, with a blade that holds an edge a lot longer and is much easier to sharpen, but the down side is they are prone to rust. You shouldn't just leave these knives laying in a wet sink for days like you can do with cheaper knives. You should do that with any higher end knife because they will all get rust spots. Also I can not stress this enough. Do not put these knives in the dishwasher. When you finish using them. Hand wash them in soap and water. Hand dry them really good and put them back on your knife rack. Also make sure you knife isn't wet from placing wet knives on it. Putting your good knives on a wet knife rack is a good way to get rust spots. These really are great knives that are very easy to take care of with a little respect and a few steps, and these are possibly the best knives in the price range. These or the Messermeister Elites. Though the elites are a little more expensive than these. You will not regret buying these Soras'. Also if you purchase these. Get yourself a nice knife rack to display them. The beautifully crafted knives look way to go to be thrown in a knife block or drawer.

Careful its sharp.Japanese craftsmanship is superior. So light that there is barely any pressure on your wrists.

All the years I have been cooking for my 5 sons and I never had a decent knife at home. This knife is great value. Cuts like a champ. Sharp, easy to use, easy to clean. What a difference a good knife makes!

Got this for my boyfriend birthday. Comes in a great study packaging. He loves it! Super sharp and is well balanced.

You won’t regret getting this. Super sharp, not too small, not too big, obviously a higher order paring knife and since that’s the kind of knife I use the most, why not splurge ?

Beautiful knife , the quality is amazing .

This knife is very elegant and I love using it. It has a very sharp blade which is really nice to use and to look at. This knife will cleanly slice through bread like no other knife that I have ever used. The ergo's on the handle are extremely nice and it fits in hand really well. All in all this is very impressive knife. My only complaint (and why I gave it 4 stars and not 5) is with the flexibility of the blade. This knife and all of the other knives in the Shun Sora collection all make a scary sound when you flex them from side to side. I am not sure if it is coming from the handle or the blade itself. It sounds like the blade will snap in half if you flex it more than a few degrees to either side. This knife was not cheap and I am not willing to test the lateral strength of the blade to see if it will hold up to hard use. Granted it is a kitchen knife and not made for hard use but I feel that a kitchen knife has to be able to flex from side to side without fearing it will break.

Got the 6" SoraI make most of my food at home and have worked in a restaurant kitchen briefly so I know what a difference a good, sharp knife can make. Finally bit the bullet and got a "real" knife, knowing they're around $100. I was concerned about the plastic handle at first, but apparently a lot of the higher end knives have synthetic handles because they're more antimicrobial (and there for sanitary) and generally easier to care for. I noticed after I got this I could have gotten the Kanso utility for about $10 with a wood handle, so consider that. Obviously it sucks that some people have had the tip break off their knife, but part of that is because the blade of this knife is made out of very hard steel- hard steel makes for a great cutting edge but is less flexible and more brittle. The non-cutting edge is wrapped in a softer steel, which is cheaper and softer, but more durable. Glass is a very "hard" material which is why it's so sharp but so brittle.I keep getting watermelons and it's so easy to just cut the entire rind of, cuts through brussels sprouts like nothing too. I'm not really sure how Shun's "free sharpening" policy works, but if that's a thing I can do this might be my brand- I've heard shun mentioned a few times but when I was doing research Babbish (aka Andrew Rea) suggested it for an affordable entry level knife, so I was sold. I have small hands and I'm working in a small space, so the 6" one is plenty big enough for me.