# mini passaround: tanaka ginsanko 270 gyuto



## panda

Has been thinned and rehandled.
5 spots, 2 already reserved.
please only respond if you are seriously considering getting one as a workhorse in pro environment. The 3 remaining slots will be hand picked. Sorry guys, USA only.


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## Crothcipt

Wouldn't mind trying out. Was thinking about this one for my next acquisition.


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## labor of love

Panda, you know I would like to test it out.


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## cheflarge

Very Interested!


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## jared08

Id like to try it


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## jgraeff

i would be interested as well, have always wanted to try a tanaka


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## panda

and it's started! going first to k-fed.

please note that this has had a lot of work done, ie definitely not stock form. spine and choil were rounded and considerable amount of thinning all done by member knyfeknerd. i've put a lot of use with this thing over the course, last sharpening was jns 1000 and synthetic aoto a week ago. feel free to sharpen, but please don't alter the geometry as i love how it cuts as is. fyi, responds quite well to ceramic rod and strops.

would appreciate feedback in this thread from each leg of the pass.


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## panda

craig, clear your inbox!


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## panda

also, please insure for $300 during shipping.


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## labor of love

inbox clear


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## K-Fed

Got the knife today. I really dig the look of it. It is very close to my DT ITK in profile. The grind reminds me of the Zakuri that I had, which is a good thing, as I pretty much knew how it would cut before ever doing so. I did slice up a room temp potato, very easy, no sticking, not surprising given the grind. I do really like knives ground like this as they feel like they separate food rather than glide through it and it's nice to have that in stainless as the only gripe I had with my zakuri was the reactivity of the cladding. Very cool knife so far.


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## K-Fed

Here she is shown with my dt itk for comparo' 





and resting on a pile of parsley


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## panda

will you be writing up a comparison review? i *had *an itk 270 as well. loving the last pic.


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## K-Fed

Yeah. I will be I guess. Ive tried to use them side by side as the itk is the closest knife I've got as far as the profile and balance goes. I really dig the tanaka a lot. Bit I can tell how much work must have gone in to it. Everything is nicely rounded. It really is a great workhorse of a knife.


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## labor of love

K-Fed said:


> Yeah. I will be I guess. Ive tried to use them side by side as the itk is the closest knife I've got as far as the profile and balance goes. I really dig the tanaka a lot. Bit I can tell how much work must have gone in to it. Everything is nicely rounded. It really is a great workhorse of a knife.



kfed, can you do a dt, tanaka side by side choil shot?


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## K-Fed

sure I'll do my best to get one done.


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## panda

hehe, they're all out of stock now. i just hope who ever bought them up don't freak out when they see that OOTB it has crap fit & finish and needs lots of stone work. the stock handle is not bad though if you like d shape which i dont, except the one on shig.


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## K-Fed

I emailed the vendor, Takeshi?, at metal master and he said it was only a 5 dollar up charge to change it to an octagonal handle. Not bad at all. And.... ask and ye' shall receive...

First up is my early run DT ITK.





And the tanaka.


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## labor of love

very nice, thanks kfed.


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## Mike9

Nice looking knife


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## brainsausage

Friggin pist I missed out on this one. If only so I could critique Jacob's work


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## brainsausage

Ah crap- I mixed up my forum handles again, sorry Chris...


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## EdipisReks

brainsausage said:


> Ah crap- I mixed up my forum handles again, sorry Chris...



did you mean me? i have a fourth Heiji coming to me, i'd be happy to let you critique my sharpening again.


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## brainsausage

EdipisReks said:


> did you mean me? i have a fourth Heiji coming to me, i'd be happy to let you critique my sharpening again.



I did mean you, but I'm turning into my grandma when it comes to names. 

HEIJI YOU SAY...? FOURTH OF SUCH YOU SAY? GIMME!!!!!


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## brainsausage

Just pulled an accidental hi jack, apologies. Feel free to negate those last couple posts mods.


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## panda

the sharpening i did myself, but i'm pretty sure by the time it gets to you someone else will have put a new edge on.


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## brainsausage

By Jacob's work, I meant Chris's work, and by Chris's work- I meant his thinning and such.


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## panda

ahh, he did a hell of a job! uses broken pieces of stone as finger stones to do it too, talk about painstaking work. nice rounding of spine and choil as well. handle was made by someone else but did the install. i was there when he had to bore out the hole with a hand file, i felt bad while sipping on beer as he's pushing and pulling at it, lol.


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## K-Fed

Put a fresh edge on her and going to ship it out tomorrow. Ill post my thoughts tomorrow but I will say the edge retention is pretty damn good. On par with my tkc's and almost as good as my suisin IH's. pretty spectacular given the low price point.


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## K-Fed

Got her in the mail today. Should make it to LOL in a couple days.


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## labor of love

i recieved the tanaka yesterday,safe and sound. really worked it today, im pretty impressed so far. i want to get more time with it before i go into detail. but i will say this much, its definitely a great knife especially for the price. thanks again panda for doing this pass around.


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## Crothcipt

Where is this now??


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## labor of love

sorry, i still got it. im sending it your way thursday.


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## Crothcipt

Np. I was just curious. I am planning on leaving home for a couple weeks, and didn't want it to be sitting in my mailbox for all that time.


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## labor of love

I definitely don't mind holding on to it for another 2 weeks lol! But yeah, tomorrow via ups is the plan.


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## panda

in that case it will go to someone else i have in mind. let me know when youre back croth and send me your address.


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## Crothcipt

Ill be here for it. Should be on the way to me now.... I'm not leaving until next week, after it should get here. I will send it off to the next person b4 I leave.


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## panda

where is it now?


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## labor of love

sorry panda, its on its way to taz.


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## pumbaa

sun when it gets back can i get a turn with it at work?


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## panda

of course! it wont get back for a while though, passarounds take forever, even with only a handful of people. i imagine i'm gonna have to do a lot of work to it by the time it's finished.


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## panda

it's off to Crothcipt
sorry guys this has been taking forever.


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## Crothcipt

Got this today. I am liking what I am looking at. Will have it in the mail end of the week. Thx again Panda for the opportunity.


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## labor of love

im mainly the reason for the delay. sorry guys.


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## panda

Has this been passed forward to next in que?


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## Crothcipt

Yes I sent it last Tues. tracking said it was delivered on Fri. Thank you for allowing me to give it a go.


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## stevenStefano

How lefty friendly was this when you got it panda? I see they're back in stock now


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## panda

labor of love is a lefty ask him. it's ground highly righty biased fyi.


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## labor of love

it felt very 50/50 when i had it. steven did you use it? i seriously recommend picking one up. it will need ootb thinning though.


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## Pensacola Tiger

I've got a question about the knife. The description on MetalMaster's website says that it is "Nashiji finished iron and Japanese Ginsanko steel". How reactive is the cladding?

Thanks,

Rick


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## labor of love

the cladding is 100% stainless.


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## Pensacola Tiger

labor of love said:


> the cladding is 100% stainless.



Thanks!


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## labor of love

no problem!


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## stevenStefano

labor of love said:


> it felt very 50/50 when i had it. steven did you use it? i seriously recommend picking one up. it will need ootb thinning though.



Na I didn't use it but I might pick one up. I just bought something else but maybe I'll buy one of the Tanakas in a little while when I have a little money again. They only have 1 in stock so I'll probably miss this one. I don't mind thinning at all. They seem like a hell of a bargain


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## panda

I'll be putting it up for sale at end of pass as I've gone all carbon now.


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## jgraeff

i just got it will report back in a few days, btw who is after me?


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## panda

brainsausage


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## jgraeff

So I spent a few shifts with it, I have to say a very different knife but does remind me of shigefusa. 

It takes a great edge and the stainless cladding is great, I also love stainless that can preform, over carbon. Edge retention was quite good as well. 

I was impressed by a workhorse cutting so well I assume do to the thinning. Really does slice well, but will wedge in large onions. I used this to tackle some huge sweet potatoes and butternut squash did the job well.

The profile is nice and I could see using this knife often if it were in my kit. 

I will be passing it out tomorrow or Tuesday.


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## brainsausage

Gonna have to pass on this unfortunately, too many new knives showing up next week. Oh woe is me...


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## labor of love

brainsausage said:


> Gonna have to pass on this unfortunately, too many new knives showing up next week. Oh woe is me...



lame:biggrin:
i was looking forward to your feedback.


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## labor of love

jgraeff said:


> So I spent a few shifts with it, I have to say a very different knife but does remind me of shigefusa.



in what ways does the tanaka remind you of shig?


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## brainsausage

labor of love said:


> lame:biggrin:
> i was looking forward to your feedback.



I have a brand new 240 Shig, a fresh from Devin AEB-L 240 ITK, and a 190 Catcheside utility coming into my possession over the next week(when it rains it pours). I just couldn't see myself taking the time to give this a good shake...


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## labor of love

completely understandable.


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