I have two Santoku blades I really like and use as much as anything else. One is a D2 blade Dale Atkerson made for me. It's a very heavy blade and I could go out and chop down a red oak tree with it and it's still be sharp enough to do it's work in the kitchen. The other is a Chicago Cutlery 6 1/2 inch santoku that holds a good edge and really works well for almost everything. I have several brands of Japanese VG-10 chefs blades that get shaving sharp easily and stay that way for a very long time, but they are purpose designed for slicing and not nearly so general purpose as the santokus.
I screwed up in a pawn shop and passed up a huge Sabatier like Julia is holding in the picture. Those suckers are made out of 1/4 inch blanks and are pretty impressive
