7" Santoku Knife - Zhen Series (PM8O)
Reach for this when the cutting board has a pile of zucchini to turn into coins or a daikon to shave paper-thin. The 7" Santoku is a push-cut specialist: the flat belly sits flush against the board on the downstroke, so every slice lands even, and you lift straight back up rather than rocking the heel forward. No front-loaded tip, no half-contact cuts. Just the whole edge doing the work on every pass.
The Santoku Advantage
A Western chef knife rocks. A Santoku pushes. That difference is most obvious on radishes sliced paper-thin for a slaw, or zucchini coins that all need to come out the same width from a hundred quick strokes. The flat profile keeps each slice repeatable because the blade's geometry doesn't change from the start of the cut to the end. It's also what you want for fish fillets, where the drag of a curved edge can tear the flesh rather than slice it clean.
67-Layer Damascus, Full-Tang Balance
The core is 10Cr15CoMoV, vacuum heat-treated to 60-62 HRC, wrapped in 67 layers of Damascus cladding. That hardness is why the edge stays keen through the repetitive push cuts that a Santoku session involves. A softer blade would start losing its bite before you're halfway through a vegetable prep. The pakka-wood handle is full-tang, balanced with the weight forward so the push stroke doesn't fight you.
Specifications
- Blade Steel: 67-layer Damascus with 10Cr15CoMoV core
- Hardness: 60-62 HRC (Vacuum Heat Treated)
- Blade Profile: 7-inch Santoku (flat belly, push-cut profile)
- Handle: Pakka-wood, full-tang
- Use: Push-cut vegetable prep: zucchini coins, radish paper-thin, fish fillets, and anything where even slices across the full board stroke matter.
- Series: Zhen Series (PM8O)
- Model: PM8O-RS
Complete Your Set
Pair it with the Zhen 8" Bread Knife (PM8O-MB) for the serrated work this flat grind isn't suited to, and the Zhen 3.5" Paring Knife (PM8O-SG) for the small in-hand jobs where seven inches is more blade than the task calls for.