Shun classics are the origiginal Shuns, the first Japanese-style knives to be made available to a wider audience in North America. Instead of heavy, ponderous blades, Shun Classic blades are lighter with razor-sharp edges and crafted from advanced steel. Rather than weight, Western handles, Shun Classic offers the graceful control of a traditional Japanese handle.

Nakiri is simply Japanese for “vegetable knife.” Once you get the Shun Classic Nakiri in your hands, you’ll soon see why both professional chefs and good cooks around the world choose this beautiful and extremely useful tool whenever they have fruits or vegetables to prepare. With its straight blade, edge, and spine, the nakiri isn’t rocked like a chef’s knife. Instead, use a simple push cut and enjoy the clean, swift work it makes of vegetables of all kinds. For daily salad preparation or slicing vegetables for stir-fry, it can’t be beat. Finely dicing onions is fast, easy, and with the Shun Classic Nakiri’s blunt end, safer, too.

The Shun Classic Nakiri is part of the Shun Classic line of tasteful and contemporary cutlery. The Shun Classic line features beautiful Damascus-clad blades and D-shaped ebony PakkaWood® handles. Yet behind these handcrafted knives’ beauty is function: razor-sharp blades offering top performance. Shun’s proprietary high-performance VG-MAX steel, which provides incredible edge retention, is clad with Damascus stainless steel, then ground and bead-blasted, revealing the flowing pattern of the layered steel. The result is a line of knives that are sharp, durable, and corrosion resistant, as well as beautiful to behold. The Shun Classic line also offers you the widest assortment of both traditional culinary blade shapes and cutting-edge designs, so you can always find the right knife for the task.

Blade Features:

Propriertary VG-MAX cutting core. This high-end stainless steel forms the core of the entire blade, all the way to the cutting edge. VG-Max is extremely hard, which means Shun Classics can take an incredible edge and hold it longer.

VG-MAX—is the latest in the VG line of “super steels,” steels that have gained recognition throughout the kitchen knife industry as some of the finest cutlery steels available. It builds on the highly successful VG10 and is proprietary to Shun. VG-MAX includes additional carbon to improve strength and durability. It has more chromium for wear and corrosion resistance. More cobalt enhances strength. Increased tungsten enables the steel to be very fine-grained—so the edge can be extremely fine and sharp. Molybdenum improves corrosion resistance and strength. Vanadium improves impact resistance and enables the steel to form vanadium carbides, which enhance cutting performance. Shun hardens the VG-MAX in its knives to 60-61 on the Rockwell Hardness Scale, a standard measure of material hardness.

Stainless Damascus Cladding – 34 micro-layers of steel on each side support the core, add stain / corrosion resistance and help food release from the blade.

Razor-sharp hand sharpened 16° angle cutting edge on each side for top performance; blade is double-bevel, flat ground for easy cutting and food release.

Handle Material

PakkaWood – Premium, resin-impregnated hardwood resists moisture and is strong and durable.

PakkaWood is a premium handle material made of genuine hardwood impregnated with resin. The resin makes it moisture resistant, strong, and durable. PakkaWood is intended for use in high-end products that see constant and hard use, especially those used in wet environments. This, of course, makes it ideal for kitchen cutlery handles. Sanding and buffing brings PakkaWood to a beautiful gloss finish. As with natural wood, no two pieces of PakkaWood® are exactly alike. Many Shun handles are made of PakkaWood. It offers our customers all the advantages of wood, including a beautiful look and feel, but since it’s easy care and highly water resistant, virtually none of the disadvantages of untreated wood.

Asymmetrical – Traditional Japanese D-Shaped handle nestles into the curve of the right hand.

Layered Damascus

Many Shun cutlery lines are characterized by the beautiful Damascus on the blades. Shun’s Damascus is formed by layering different types of metal alloys together, then forging them into a single piece. The process—and the different characteristics of the layered metals—create the rippling patterns in you see on the blade. The number of layers can vary; many Shun knives, for example, have 32 layers of metal on each side of a VG-MAX core. As Shun artisans grind each Damascus-clad blade from its thickest point at the spine to its razor-sharp cutting edge, they reveal the patterns. To bring them out even more, they bead blast or acid-etch each blade. When acid etched, the layered metals react to the solution in different ways. For example, carbon steel darkens, while nickel silver remains bright. Damascus protects and supports the extremely hard cutting core and enhances stain resistance.

16° Angle Cutting Edge

Because of the hard, premium steel from which Shun cutlery is made, the blades can be thinner, lighter, and sharper. A thinner edge cuts more easily by putting less stress on the edge—so fewer strokes do the job. Thinner edges are easier to control as well, making cutting smoother and, once again, relieving stress on the edge. Shun’s handcrafted Japanese knives are sharpened to a precise 16° angle on each side of the blade (for double-beveled blades, this means a comprehensive angle of 32°). For comparison’s sake, European-style blades are generally sharpened to 20-22° each side for a comprehensive cutting angle of 40-44°. Due to the premium-quality steel we use for the cutting core of our blades, Shun’s incredibly sharp edge will nevertheless last an incredibly long time before resharpening is needed. Experience shows that with Shun you get extremely sharp edges that last an extremely long time.

Incredibly sharp edges and unmatched aesthetics set Shun knives apart from every other kitchen knife on the market today. In the great tradition of Seki City, Japan’s sword and knifemaking center, every knife is handmade by highly skilled specialists and requires at least 100 handcrafted steps to complete. Every day, the legacy of ancient sword smiths serves as inspiration to the artisans in the Kai factories. Kai’s 100-year-old tradition of blade-making excellence, combined with the newest technology and the most advanced materials, makes every Shun knife a functional work of art.