The Shun Classic 8-inch is, for us, the best all-round Japanese knife you can buy in the UK: a hard 61 HRC VG-MAX core, a thin 16 degree edge, a light 198 g body and the kind of balance that makes daily prep a pleasure. Here is what it does well, and where its limits lie.
Shun is the brand most British cooks picture when they imagine a Japanese knife: the rippled Damascus blade, the contoured PakkaWood handle, the box that feels like it holds something precious. The Classic line is the heart of the range, and at around £159 the 8-inch chef's knife is the one most people reach for first. That reputation is earned. The Classic is not a marketing exercise, it is a genuinely excellent everyday blade, and across our testing it did the two things that matter most, cut keenly and hold that edge, better than all but the £329 Miyabi.
| Model | Price | Blade length | Steel | Hardness | Rating | Link | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ★ Top pick Shun Classic 8-inch Chef’s Knife (DM0706) | £159.00 | 20 cm (8 in) | VG-MAX core, 68-layer Damascus | 60-61 HRC | ★ 4.7 | View → |
£159.00
20 cm (8 in) · VG-MAX core, 68-layer Damascus · 60-61 HRC
The verdict from Ben Crawford, kitchen knife and cookware tester
Our best overall Japanese knife. The Shun Classic 8-inch pairs a hard 61 HRC VG-MAX core with a 68-layer Damascus cladding, ground to a keen 16° edge that arrived sharp enough to slice a ripe tomato in a single pass. At 198 g it is the lightest 20 cm chef’s knife we weighed, so long prep sessions tire your wrist less. You pay around £159, but you get a blade that held a clean edge through eight weeks of daily chopping before it needed a strop.
Falls through an onion with almost no resistance and a crisp, quiet click on the board.
| Model | Shun Classic DM0706 |
|---|---|
| Blade length | 20 cm (8 in) |
| Steel | VG-MAX core, 68-layer Damascus clad |
| Hardness | 60 to 61 HRC |
| Edge angle | 16 degrees per side (32 degrees inclusive) |
| Spine thickness | 2.0 mm at the heel |
| Weight | 198 g |
| Handle | D-shaped PakkaWood (right-handed) |
| Edge retention (our test) | ~8 weeks of daily home use |
| Warranty | Lifetime against manufacturing defects |
| Typical UK price | £159.00 |
The Shun Classic is the right knife if you want one genuinely good do-everything blade and you cook often enough to feel the benefit of a hard, keen edge. It is a full 20 cm gyuto, long enough to slice and rock-cut comfortably yet short enough to stay controllable on a normal board, and at 198 g it is the lightest 20 cm chef's knife we weighed, so a long prep session tires the wrist far less than a heavy Western blade. For a confident home cook upgrading from a German or supermarket knife, it is close to the ideal next step: better steel, a thinner edge and a build that will outlast you.
It is less suited to two groups. Left-handers should note that the standard Classic has a D-shaped handle contoured for the right hand; it is still perfectly usable, but the shape sits against rather than into a left palm, and Shun does make dedicated left-handed versions worth seeking out. And if you mostly do heavy batch prep, trays of dense root vegetables, the lighter Shun gives you less momentum than a deliberately heavy blade like the Yaxell Ran at 221 g. For everyday cooking, though, that lightness is a feature, not a fault.
Our Classic arrived shaving-sharp. It sliced 80 gsm printer paper cleanly on the first pass, and it parted a ripe vine tomato in a single draw with no sawing, which is the test that separates a real Japanese edge from a merely adequate one. The thin 16 degree grind and the 2.0 mm spine mean the blade tracks straight and low through an onion with almost no wedging, leaving clean, un-crushed cut faces. The 68-layer Damascus cladding is largely cosmetic, but it does help disguise the inevitable micro-scratches of daily use.
This is where the hard 61 HRC VG-MAX core earns its keep, and it is the reason the Classic is our overall winner. In daily home cooking on an end-grain wooden board, it kept slicing printer paper cleanly for about eight weeks before it needed a strop, and roughly three months before a full sharpen on a 1000-grit stone. That is comfortably longer than the softer 57 to 58 HRC blades here and a world away from a supermarket knife, which is usually struggling within a fortnight. Keep it off glass and bone and that edge lasts longer still.
At 198 g the Classic balances right at the pinch grip, neither blade-heavy nor handle-heavy, which is what makes it feel so nimble. The D-shaped PakkaWood handle is warm, grippy and the right size for most adult hands, and it stayed secure even when wet. Over a long prep session the low weight is a genuine advantage: where the heavier knives announce themselves in your wrist, the Shun simply disappears into the work.
Like any hard, thin edge, the Classic should be honed on a smooth ceramic rod rather than a grooved steel, and sharpened on whetstones, not a pull-through, which would tear the 16 degree edge. On the stones it sets cleanly at the factory angle and takes a beautiful finishing polish on a 6000-grit. Hand-wash and dry it, keep it off stone or glass boards, and avoid bone, and it will reward you for decades.
There are only two worth weighing. First, the price: at around £159 the Classic costs more than twice the Tojiro DP, which cuts almost as well for the money, so the premium is really for the build, the finish and the lifetime warranty rather than a dramatic step up in raw cutting. Second, the right-handed D-handle is a real consideration for left-handers. Neither is a flaw in the blade itself; they are simply the trade-offs that come with a premium, right-hand-biased everyday knife. If you cook regularly, are right-handed and want one knife you will not outgrow, neither will hold you back.
Best for: the right-handed home cook who wants one genuinely excellent do-everything Japanese knife and will hand-wash it and keep it off glass. Not the pick if you are left-handed (look for the dedicated left-handed version), on a tight budget (try the Tojiro DP) or doing heavy batch prep (try the Yaxell Ran).
In our daily home testing the Shun Classic sliced printer paper cleanly for about eight weeks before it needed a strop, and roughly three months before a full sharpen on a 1000-grit stone. That is down to the hard 61 HRC VG-MAX core. Cut on wood rather than glass and avoid bone and the edge lasts noticeably longer.
The standard Shun Classic has a D-shaped PakkaWood handle contoured for right-handed users. Left-handers can still use it comfortably, but the contour sits against rather than into the palm. Shun does make dedicated left-handed versions of some models, so check the listing if that matters to you.
Use a smooth ceramic honing rod gently, not a grooved steel one. At 61 HRC the VG-MAX steel is hard and a coarse steel rod can micro-chip the thin 16° edge. For real sharpening, a 1000-grit whetstone followed by a 3000- to 6000-grit finishing stone is the right approach, as we explain in our sharpening guide.
The Shun Classic is our best overall Japanese knife because it gets the fundamentals right: a hard 61 HRC edge that holds for around eight weeks of daily use, a thin 16 degree grind that cuts cleanly, and a light 198 g body that makes every prep session easier. It is not the cheapest route to a sharp Japanese blade, and the right-handed handle will not suit everyone, but for most cooks it is simply the smartest single knife here. If your budget is tighter, the Global G-2 is the value pick and the Tojiro DP the budget choice; if you want the ultimate edge, the Miyabi Birchwood goes further still. Before you decide, it is worth reading our buying guide and our Japanese vs German knife comparison.