Tanaka nashiji stainless clad Blue 2

Miura knives
Find deals on amazon
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Just want to update the list...and as I understand, the knife is on the way to PA.

ChefJimbo
Clifton, NJ


ashy2classy
Harrisburg, PA


tgfencer
Fairview, NC


daveb
Brandon, FL


laboroflove
Baton Rouge Louisiana


thecaptain
Cary, IL

ivang
San Diego, CA

Daveinmesa
Mesa, AS?
 
ChefJimbo said:
Okay, some thoughts,

chinacats told me it was a little rough and he had no stones, so I agreed to sharpen. I received the knife with some micro chipping towards the heel and a hell of a twist in the edge toward the last 3-4 inches before the tip.

Needless to say this being my first passaround and taking a literal "strangers" knife to the stones for the first time kinda freaked me out. I was anxious but excited. Figured I'll give it a day and hit it in the morning. didn't work out.

It was calling my name from the minute i started soaking my stones. Poured a scotch, sat and watched the TV for twenty minutes and said f**K it, lets go!!!!!!!!!

I have to say, one of the easiest jobs on a blade I have ever had!! I had soaked the Beston 500, Bestor 1200, Korin 3000, and King 6000 but decided after closer examination to start with the 1200.
2 full passes tip to heel and I had a burr, a few more passes to work out the chips and that tweaky edge and I'm on the 3000, after deburring on the 3k and some champagne cork and Dave Martells rock hard felt, I went for the 6k just to polish the whole edge and remove any stragglers.

Strop on Daves leather (unloaded) with edge trailing strokes and it was hair popping!!

Raided the home fridge and banged out 1/2 dozen red onions, 3 pepper varieties and a 1 1/2 pounds of flank steak for a little fajita party. Chopped some cilantro and cleaned it up for the next day.
Next morning I went full Italian and julienned onions ,peppers, potatoes including some raw proteins in chicken, pork chops etc.
Cooked everything up that afternoon and used the knife to slice some cooked Italian sausage as well as the chiken and pork giambotta.

Cleaned up a watermelon for dessert and I am looking for more....:viking:

Okay, so the excitement out of the way, the knife balances a bit forward of a normal pinch grip, I experienced nothing out of the ordinary in the form of stiction, even with the potatoes. It was a dream to cut with. As Jim stated the Saya pin does not fit, but being a Tanaka, not everyone is the same size. If I shaved the pin it would fit, but let the eventual owner do that. The Nashiji finish is nice to the eye and I think adds something as the edge has already a nice patina from the cooked proteins(if you like blue/gold)and contrasts against the brushed look of the stainless clad. The handle, F&F, with the rounding and easing make it a beauty.

Simply put, next week on payday, I'm ordering one.

Cheers,
Jimbo
Click to expand...

oh man! am I excited about this knife!
 
Sorry for the long wait for the review...had a really busy week and didn't get to spend much time with the Tanaka. I will say, however, that the time I got to spend with the knife was a pleasure. I'm normally a 210 guy but the 240 was very manageable and felt great in my hand. It was much lighter and slimmer than I expected. Below are the measurements I took...

Length: 242mm
Height: 51.5mm
Weight: 197g/6.95oz

* NOTE: I'm fairly new to J knives. I'm just a guy that enjoys to cook at home and appreciates having quality tools for the job. I don't know much about all the intricacies of blade construction and geometry, but I'm slowly learning. Anyway, onto the rest of my comments...

As I said, I didn't get much time with the knife, but I did get a chance to throw some apples, peppers, onions and strawberries at it. Nothing difficult or out of the ordinary, but the Tanaka handled them all effortlessly. This iteration was nice and thin and Jimbo put a great edge on it, making for a fantastic combo. All I have to say is "this thing cuts!"

During the tests, the Tanaka went up against my Kuroaski AS Laser and my Tanaka ginsan, both great cutters. But the razor edge of the stainless clad blue combined with its extra heft made it the best all-around winner. Like I said before, I'm a 210 guy, but damn this thing has me wanting to snag a 240 from James. Balance in the hand is great and the rounded spine and choil make it super comfortable to use. For the price, this is yet another fantastic value from Tanaka-san.

If I hadn't purchased a Tanaka Ginsan from B/S/T at the same time as receiving the passaround, this would have been my first experience with Tanaka knives. After trying both, they have me wondering what the hell took me so long! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the stainless clad blue Tanaka to anyone looking for a great all-arounder with a low-mid budget.

Thanks to James at K&S for providing such a great knife to the group and chinacats for organizing the passaround. I appreciate having the ability to participate!

Best,
Kevin
 
How do these compare to a normal iron clad KU?
 
Wanted to mention to tgfencer and the group - I noticed some small micro chipping about 1.5-2" from the tip before I packed up the knife. The only thing I can think that would have caused this was when I was testing how the knife performed rocking, the blade might have dug into the board a bit and I torqued it. You really have to be looking for the tiny chips, but if you run your fingers along the edge you can feel them. I didn't want to try to touch it up because the edge was so nice otherwise. It shouldn't affect performance, but I wanted to make eveyrone aware.

Also, forgot to add in my post; I also tested with carrots and tomatoes. Performed flawlessly. Really considering picking one of these up, if and when I have the cash!

For now, the knife is off to NC. Hope tgfencer enjoys it as much as I did!
 
Quick update. I'm going to try and get this sent out to Dave tomorrow or Wednesday. I've got to make a post office run anyway, so I'll throw up some thoughts here once I have shipped the knife onwards.
 
The knife is on its way to Dave. Should get there on Friday. I didnt get much chance to use it unfortunately, just bad timing with work, but a few very quick thoughts.

-It was lighter than I generally like, but very much what I expect from a Tanaka. Definitely a good weight for long amounts of prep.
-The profile was well done, with good taper at the tip and thinness behind the edge. The heel swept up a bit at the back, which for me personally is a dislike on knives and there wasn't a great flat spot which is always something I look for (Its the nakiri lover in me). Again, though, pretty standard Tanaka profile.
-Unsurprisingly it moved through food well, with decent release. No surprises there.
-K&S handle and fit and finish were as always superb. Very comfortable spine and eased choil and the handle balanced nicely with the blade.

General Takeaway- Tanaka knives are a well known entity on this forum and this fits the performance billing, with an added touch of K&S class. If you like Tanaka's knives, then a stainless clad Blue #2 knife seems a no brainer to me. With this one you get the great heat-treat and steel without the reactivity of previous blue steel models.
 
Took a little while to pick it up but I've got it. (Effin PO)

Going back out Thurs.

Thank you Chef.
 
@daveb................was anxiously awaiting your opinion, that's why i asked :doublethumbsup:
 
Tanaka arrived yesterday. Initial impressions are all good. Light but not feather light. Nice rounding of choil and spine. I touched it up quickly on gesh 4k and stropped briefly, took a great edge quick. The ebony handle on this knife is smaller than other ebony handled knives I've used from James. This is a good thing for me as handle feels so much lighter and the balance point is closer to what I prefer.
 
I enjoyed my time with the knife. I'm a fan of the Tanaka G, (had a 210, have 240 and 270) and found this one compares quite favorably with my own 240 G. The tip is thinner, dicing was very nice. Like my G series, this one is a tomato killer. Cleanly slice and dice all day long without crushing. A little bit of rock to it to chiff herbs. All and all a knife that's very well suited for the rigors of prep when you want one knife to do everything.

The Nashiji finish continues to grow on me and I might have to buy one of these.
 
So one more interested user to add to the p/a...Taramonia would like to join in as well. He lives in Tennessee so trying to figure out whether it makes sense to add him onto the east coast leg or let it find its way back east after it makes the rounds? Thoughts?
 
Quick review for this Tanaka:
I had a BBQ for Labor Day and broke out Tanaka for chili prep for some chili dogs(BTW of all the brands I tested Trader Joe's uncured beef dogs were the best!). Anyway, Tanaka worked great for micro brunoise of the peppers and onions, also making quick work of removing the membrane of the peppers. The blade was stiff enough to comfortably rock chop garlic.

BTW I didn't see a saya pin the box.

I have a couple of new knives that are taking up my time including a yoshikane that is blowing my mind so the Tanaka isn't seeing much use. I'm ready to ship whenever China.
Thanks again to James and chinacats for doing this.
 
chinacats said:
So one more interested user to add to the p/a...Taramonia would like to join in as well. He lives in Tennessee so trying to figure out whether it makes sense to add him onto the east coast leg or let it find its way back east after it makes the rounds? Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I can't speak for the others, but I don't mind if the knife makes another stop in Memphis on it's way upriver to The Captain. I'm in no rush. And, I'm in Arizona (AZ). I noticed you had me listed as being in the great state of AS.
 
Any chance I can get in on this while its IL? i'm downtown Chicago and can arrange pickup if not too far.
 
DaveInMesa said:
I can't speak for the others, but I don't mind if the knife makes another stop in Memphis on it's way upriver to The Captain. I'm in no rush. And, I'm in Arizona (AZ). I noticed you had me listed as being in the great state of AS.
Click to expand...

+1
 
I'll be happy to get my hands on it whenever, you guys are very kind!
 
Obsidiank said:
Any chance I can get in on this while its IL? i'm downtown Chicago and can arrange pickup if not too far.
Click to expand...

Yes, James wanted to let people give it a go so absolutely.

Taramonia said:
I'll be happy to get my hands on it whenever, you guys are very kind!
Click to expand...

Cool, I'm going to let either the person who has it now or next figure out the order though because the list is with the knife. That said, if I'm needed I'll be glad to help sort things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top