Shun knives are made in Japan from some of the best quality (VG 10) stainless steel available. They are well known around the world as being very good kitchen knives and have an excellent reputation - but what is the main difference between Japanese Shun Knives and other European knife brands like Henckels.

1. The first main difference is the way they are made. Most of your German and European knives are made from forged steel and usually made from a lower grade of stainless steel that doe not have such a high grade of carbon. Japanese style Shun Knives are made from folding steel very similar to the way the Japanese have been making samurai swords for centuries.

2. The Edge - Japanese shun knives are ground to an edge of 16 degrees which is a little bit of a higher angle than that of a say a Henckel knife. German blades are ground at an angle of 22 degrees. This is also a big reflection on different cooking styles. In Japan a lot of the food including vegetables is sliced. Think about the slicing of fish for sashimi - this ultimately over time has affected knife making and hence Japanese knives are ground at a much higher angle.

There are two main methods that are used to make Japanese Shun Knives.

The First is the Kasumi Method. This method of knife making actually means mist in Japanese because of the misty look of the blades when they are finished. Knives made using this method have an inner core that is made from very high Carbon Stainless steel and then have 16 layers of steel on each side. This outer steel protects the core giving the knife a very sharp edge.

The second method used to make Shun knives is the Honyaku method. Knives made using this method are made from one single piece of high carbon stainless steel which is folded many times to produce a blade with remarkable qualities. This method obviously requires more work and knives made using this method are usually a lot more expensive and higher quality. Shun knives in the Shun pro range are made using this Honyaku method.

Overall these are the main differences between Japanese style Shun knives and the Majority of European knives. Neither style of knife is better - it just comes down to personal preference and what you are going to use you knives for.