Misono Molybdenum Santoku, 7.1-inch (180mm) - #581

What an excellent santoku, and an even better value! I'm selling more and more of these to professional chefs who are looking for a high quality Japanese knife with excellent workmanship, materials, fit and finish, but at an affordable price and with ease of maintenance. This knife is a hit on all those counts. It looks good, the finish is truly excellent, and the edge is fantastic and yet not TOO thin to render it fragile like some Japanese knives (I've never had a single report of a problem with any Misono I've ever sold, and I sell plenty to pros who use them all day long). This is an excellent knife by any standard, and at this price, well, it's really a no-brainer. I can honestly and heartily recommend this knife (and ALL the knives in the Misono Moly line actually) for someone looking for a high quality true working tool.

As with all Misono knives, this is for right-hand use only. Makes a great gift for culinary school students, friends, family, or anyone else who appreciates a quality tool but who doesn't want to fear owning a fragile or finicky-to-maintain knife.

Don't forget to pick up a ceramic honing rod. Even the best knives need regular touch-up maintenance to keep the edge in tip-top shape, and these very fine ceramic hones are perfect for maintaining the nice polished edge on a Misono knife. 

For right hand use only.

Please note that Misono knives have a very polished edge. It's very sharp out of the box, but not in the way that many people are used to with European and many other Japanese knives: they have very little "bite" as the edge is polished and so not at all "toothy". So if you take the knife out of the box and try to cut a tomato or bell pepper it might glide over the surface and appear to not cut well... this is why "tomato knives" have serrated edges (the ultimate "toothy" edge!). So while they ARE sharp, you need to adjust your cutting style (think slicing more than chopping) and expectations, and of course you can easily adjust the edge as part of a full re-sharpening (do NOT use a gadget!) or as part of your daily routine... I use a Misono UX10 150mm petty knife at home pretty much daily and I love it, but I have indeed over time removed the polish from the edge for the most part so it's a bit more useful as an all-purpose knife and doesn't have the same tendency to slide over veggie skins.