The Brand New KAN x Kenji Shi-toku四徳 Knife is Available Now!
Order the brand new KAN x Kenji Shi-toku四徳 with this direct link. It's live right now. Use the code "KENJI" for a little extra off your purchase. A portion of all purchases will be donated to No Kid Hungry
Hello! Today we're publicly releasing a brand new knife that features a new knife shape I've dubbed the Shi-toku 四徳™.
The new knife is a collaboration with my friends at KAN Kitchen. It's a a knife built for everyday home use, crafted from stainless Damascus steel for easier maintenance without sacrificing the feel and precision of a high-end blade.
Like many of you, I’ve been using and recommending Barney Lund's KAN Kitchen Knives for years—eight, to be exact. In fact, when I opened my restaurant, the now-closed Wursthall, I gave every cook in the kitchen one of Barney’s knives. What I loved then is what I still love now: KAN knives strike that rare balance between performance and price. They use premium materials, have gorgeous, thoughtful design, and are backed by a level of customer support that’s almost unheard of—especially at the price of a mid-range knife.
So when the time came to take the Shi-toku 四徳™—the knife style I first hand-forged with bladesmith Gordon Hanson of Vonhelmick knives—and make it more accessible for home cooks, Barney was the obvious person to call.
But before we get to the details, let's talk about the name.
The Four Virtues
You might know the Japanese santoku—literally “three virtues”—for its mastery of slicing, dicing, and mincing. The shi-toku (“four virtues”) adds a fourth: motion. That idea of movement is central to how I cook. I wanted a blade that flows naturally through food — one that lets you rock, push, and pivot effortlessly without feeling constrained by the flat profile or abrupt tip angle of a traditional santoku. The shape we came up with isn’t quite a santoku and isn’t quite a Western chef’s knife. It’s something new: a continuous curve with a finer tip and deeper arc that keeps you moving.
The Shi-toku is, in that sense, a new knife style. It’s designed not just for precision, but for rhythm—for that intuitive, dance-like motion that happens when your knife becomes an extension of your hand.
The KAN Shi-toku
I’ve spent the last year working with Barney to bring that idea to life in a way that fits real home kitchens. The result is the KAN Shi-toku: a 67-layer stainless Damascus knife that balances durability, comfort, and razor-sharp performance. It’s light in the hand, perfectly balanced at the bolster, and designed to feel both approachable and precise — the kind of knife you reach for every day because it just feels right.
In the accompanying video, Barney and I talk through every detail — the curve geometry, the balance point, the handle contours — and then we deliver one of the first knives to a couple in Seattle and cook a meal with them in their kitchen. It’s a joyful little moment, and exactly what this knife was built for: real people, real cooking, and real connection. A big thank you to Sarah and Jordan for letting us party in their pantry.
A portion of every sale will also be donated to No Kid Hungry, a important organization helping ensure children around the U.S. get the food they need with whom both Barney and I have had a longstanding partnership.
Order the brand new KAN x Kenji Shi-toku四徳 with this direct link. It's live right now. Use the code "KENJI" for a little extra off your purchase. A portion of all purchases will be donated to No Kid Hungry
A Knife for Every Cook
The KAN x Kenji Shi-toku四徳 is built for modern home life — easy to care for (just please, for the love of God, keep it out of the dishwasher!), beautifully balanced, and equally at home dicing onions or carving a Sunday roast.
Thank you, as always, for being part of this community — for letting me build cool things with people I admire and put them in the hands of cooks I trust.
—Kenji
Stats:
Use case: Everyday, real-kitchen use—the knife you’ll hand to your partner, your kids (supervised!), or a dinner guest and know it’ll just work
Steel: 67-layer stainless Damascus (easy care, stain-resistant)
Feel: Light, nimble, and balanced right at the bolster
Edge: Thin behind the edge with a durable working bevel (sharpen-friendly)
Blade Material: VG-10 Core, 66-Layer Stainless Steel Cladding
Length: 6.5 inches (165 mm) edge; 12 inches (305 mm) total
Blade Thickness: 0.063 inches (1.6 mm) at the heel
Weight: 4.7 oz (133 g)
Handle: Octagonal Wa; Ebony Wood + Golden Yolk/Guava Pink G10 Accents
Blade Height: 1.9 inches (48 mm)
Edge Angle: 15° each side
Hardness: 60 HRC
Care: Hand-wash only
Order the brand new KAN x Kenji Shi-toku四徳 with this direct link. It's live right now. Use the code "KENJI" for a little extra off your purchase. A portion of all purchases will be donated to No Kid Hungry