Apologies if the experience with some other knives differs greatly. I'd gone from not really having a chef knife to having a Shun, and the difference in sharpness was just nuts. I haven't felt the need to sharpen it yet -- not that I can claim to be a superb judge of that, but to me, the sharpness is still very much there.
> but to me, the sharpness is still very much there.
Cutting tomatoes is usually a really good indication. When my knives are sharp, the weight of the knife is enough to cut right through them. The real test is dicing tomatoes because there is less tomato holding the pieces together and you if you push the softer parts of the tomato squish out.
The Shun knives are made with a very, very hard steel. The German steels like Wusthof and Henckels are much softer and have a steeper bevel. With harder steel you can have a thinner angle because it doesn't need as much strength (although i hear that they are more brittle).
Don't forget he said he does hone it with a honing steel. That's different from actually sharpening it. You can easily quickly hone your knife before every cooking session (though I don't do it always myself).
