Shibamasa VG5 Santoku 170mm

This little knife may be our next budget king, coming at a price that is lower than 100 AUD, the Shibamasa VG5 offers great cutting performance and decent steel for the price. It’s built simple, made practical and puts its focus on where it matters: the smooth cut you would want from a good knife.

The construction of the knife is a pretty thin Sanmai stainless VG5 blade bolted to a western style pakka wood handle, the tang only extends partially into the handle and there are no bolsters at the front. This makes an incredibly lightweight knife to hold and won’t fatigue you over long cutting sessions. The overall appearance and feel of the knife is very similar to the commonly seen Kiwi Brand knife but it would offer quite much more than that.

Under the Shibamasa Stamp it says “Gold Stainless Steel”, which refers to the VG5/V-Gold 5. The VG5 steel is not a common grade, but from its name you can guess that it is produced by Takefu Special Steel who also designed the famous VG10 and SG2. VG5 would be a lower end grade with less carbon content so you wouldn’t expect the same level of edge retention as the golden standard VG10. However, compared to the typical European steel with typically 0.5% of carbon, the VG5 will still hold up pretty well, its 59HRC rated hardness can also support thinner edges without rolling. 

The highlight of the knife is the sharpening of these blades, it pairs the very thin blade(1.4mm at the spine) with a dialed-in convex grind. It’s incredible to see a budget knife fly through potatoes so effortlessly, but Shibamasa does deliver a cutting experience without much sticking and wedging in the cut. 

I can only complain a little bit about the approach on the fit and finish, as the “bevel” of the knife is just a selected area that is sandblasted. Looking closely on the “core steel”, you can spot the actual cladding line of the knife, which is a bit uneven on each side. But with the irresistible price and the performance it delivers, I can say it is barely a problem. These knives are so affordable and low maintenance I would recommend it to any beginner without much hesitation. It could even be a backup knife for professionals, but you might seriously question your purchase decisions on the expensive knives after feeling this budget line.