# Blue 2 knives- Mizuno and Tanaka



## Nemo

Hi everyone,

From afar, I've been eyeing some of James' Tanake Blue 2s (and, if I'm honest, R2s, and the G3s if they ever come back in stock ). Now he has a Mizuno Hontanren. Both knives seem to get a lot of love. Can anyone give a comparison of the two? Is the Mizuno a bit more of a heavyweight?

Thanks.


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## Benuser

You won't get much answers here. Better ask the mods to move your thread to the 'kitchen knife' section.


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## Nemo

Thanks Benuser. My mistake. How do I do that?


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## Nemo

Moderator, could you please do as Benuser has suggested?

Thanks.


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## labor of love

I have a tanaka KU blue that should arrive sometime today. I can share my impressions w you later if you like. I've owned a couple of miz gyutos in the past-I'll do my best to tell you what the differences are. Just looking at the specs I can tell
You the miz has a thicker spine and is heavier, while the tanaka should be thinner but not thin behind the edge. Tanaka is a much taller knife.


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## Nemo

Thanks L.O.L. I'd appreciate it.


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## khashy

labor of love said:


> I have a tanaka KU blue that should arrive sometime today. I can share my impressions w you later if you like. I've owned a couple of miz gyutos in the past-I'll do my best to tell you what the differences are. Just looking at the specs I can tell
> You the miz has a thicker spine and is heavier, while the tanaka should be thinner but not thin behind the edge. Tanaka is a much taller knife.




A year has gone by and we still await this comparison :cool2:


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## labor of love

Well I recently had a tanaka KU 240mm and a miz 270mm enter and exit my hands in a weeks time. Neither knife worked for me-although if the tanaka had a flatter profile I would've kept it. The mizunos that James had are the big bevel Mizuno line which are much thinner than the thaditiomal mizunos that I'm used to. The Mizuno has a great profile and thin grind but was too thin to keep.


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## khashy

labor of love said:


> Well I recently had a tanaka KU 240mm and a miz 270mm enter and exit my hands in a weeks time. Neither knife worked for me-although if the tanaka had a flatter profile I would've kept it. The mizunos that James had are the big bevel Mizuno line which are much thinner than the thaditiomal mizunos that I'm used to. The Mizuno has a great profile and thin grind but was too thin to keep.



What would you compare the thinness of the miz to? Just so that I can get an idea of just how thin we are talking


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## labor of love

Maybe a tesshu or kono Fujiyama. Very thin compared to regular Mizuno Gyuto.


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## khashy

labor of love said:


> Maybe a tesshu or kono Fujiyama. Very thin compared to regular Mizuno Gyuto.



Got it. Thnx


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## Nemo

Did the Mizuno have a thicker grind than the Tanaka?


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## Nemo

Thanks Labor, this is quite interesting for me as it shifts my reference point a little. My Mizuno (from the same batch from James as yours I think) is probably the thickest, most convex ground knife that I have (my Yoshikane is probably close). I love it for veggie intensive prep (home use) because of its great food release, and as you mentioned, a good profile.

I guess what I'm getting from this is the idea that there are thicker knives with even better food release around. Can people throw up some names?


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## labor of love

labor of love said:


> Maybe a tesshu or kono Fujiyama. Very thin compared to regular Mizuno Gyuto.



The comparison I'm making in this instance is to the kono Fujiyama blue 2-not wh2, or any other variation.


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## preizzo

My Mizuno wide bevel was much thinner than my Tanaka and better knife after all!


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## labor of love

Nemo said:


> Thanks Labor, this is quite interesting for me as it shifts my reference point a little. My Mizuno (from the same batch from James as yours I think) is probably the thickest, most convex ground knife that I have (my Yoshikane is probably close). I love it for veggie intensive prep (home use) because of its great food release, and as you mentioned, a good profile.
> 
> I guess what I'm getting from this is the idea that there are thicker knives with even better food release around. Can people throw up some names?



Your miz sounds nicer than mine.


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## labor of love

preizzo said:


> My Mizuno wide bevel was much thinner than my Tanaka and better knife after all!



+1. But also more expensive. Miz has much thicker spine than tanaka KU also.


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## Nemo

labor of love said:


> Your miz sounds nicer than mine.



Or I'm wondering if it's just that my perspective is very much narrower.


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## labor of love

Nemo said:


> Or I'm wondering if it's just that my perspective is very much narrower.



Does your miz have big bevels? Like halfway up the blade?


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## Nemo

Yep. I'll post a picture in a minute.


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## Nemo

Excuse the over-polished bevel. It was my first go at hamiguriba sharpening (actually turned out pretty well from a performance point of view).


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## Nemo

Nemo said:


> Or I'm wondering if it's just that my perspective is very much narrower.



Just to clarify, by this I mean that maybe I just don't know what a really good workhorse is like.


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## labor of love

Nemo said:


> Excuse the over-polished bevel. It was my first go at hamiguriba sharpening (actually turned out pretty well from a performance point of view).
> 
> View attachment 34074
> 
> View attachment 34073



Your miz looks way sweeter than mine. Mine was a lot thinner. I'm very jealous!


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## bkultra

Konosuke Fujiyama B#1 for comparison


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## khashy

I'm drooling....

Are these mizuno's entirely different from the hontanren line?


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## labor of love

khashy said:


> I'm drooling....
> 
> Are these mizuno's entirely different from the hontanren line?


Yes. Checkout jck for the difference http://japanesechefsknife.com/HontanrenSeries.html#Hontanren
My miz(really really thin) is the "with shinogi line" model, the normal miz is thicker.


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## khashy

labor of love said:


> Yes. Checkout jck for the difference http://japanesechefsknife.com/HontanrenSeries.html#Hontanren
> My miz(really really thin) is the "with shinogi line" model, the normal miz is thicker.



I have been thinking about this a lot for the past few days. 

I couldn't find any stainless clad that was in stock and I really liked, so I figured I'd just start looking for a normal clad knife.

My conundrum has been, do I go for a cost effective solution, which seems to be the Tanaka, by a mile, or do I save a bit more and shoot for a more 'high end' knife. Of the 'high end' stuff that could be within my means, the miz hontanren stood out to me (hence why I revived the thread). 

What would you do?


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## labor of love

khashy said:


> I have been thinking about this a lot for the past few days.
> 
> I couldn't find any stainless clad that was in stock and I really liked, so I figured I'd just start looking for a normal clad knife.
> 
> My conundrum has been, do I go for a cost effective solution, which seems to be the Tanaka, by a mile, or do I save a bit more and shoot for a more 'high end' knife. Of the 'high end' stuff that could be within my means, the miz hontanren stood out to me (hence why I revived the thread).
> 
> What would you do?


Depends on the sort of knife you like. Miz and ks are both classics that go for a little over $300, then there's kochi that's a great deal thinner behind the edge(there's a stainless clad and carbon clad version). The heiji in semi stainless is an option. If you rock chop a lot tanaka is a totally decent knife.


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## labor of love

Kochi being thinner than classic Mizuno that is, the
Miz w shinogi has a very thin blade almost entirely whereas kochi has medium size blade with very thin bevel.


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## khashy

labor of love said:


> Depends on the sort of knife you like. Miz and ks are both classics that go for a little over $300, then there's kochi that's a great deal thinner behind the edge(there's a stainless clad and carbon clad version). The heiji in semi stainless is an option. If you rock chop a lot tanaka is a totally decent knife.



I think the biggest problem is that my actual experience with different knives is pretty limited. So even though I know the pros and cons of the options you listed and I know aesthetically which ones appeal to me, I don't actually know what is practically suitable. 

I have never for example used a wide bevel gyuto in anger and have not had an opportunity to handle a true laser.

I guess it's one of those cases where you just have to pick something and see how it feels, no way around it.


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## Nemo

labor of love said:


> Your miz looks way sweeter than mine. Mine was a lot thinner. I'm very jealous!



As I mentioned in another post, I call it "Zucchini Slayer" because of it's good food release.

I'm sad to hear that yours wasn't as suitable.


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## Nemo

khashy said:


> I have been thinking about this a lot for the past few days.
> 
> I couldn't find any stainless clad that was in stock and I really liked, so I figured I'd just start looking for a normal clad knife.
> 
> My conundrum has been, do I go for a cost effective solution, which seems to be the Tanaka, by a mile, or do I save a bit more and shoot for a more 'high end' knife. Of the 'high end' stuff that could be within my means, the miz hontanren stood out to me (hence why I revived the thread).
> 
> What would you do?



Kinda similar reason to why I started this thread TBH. Obviously I ended up going for the Miz because of the excellent handle and price that James had on Cyber Monday. However, I'm still interested in understanding the similarities and differences of the knives in this category.


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## Nemo

khashy said:


> I think the biggest problem is that my actual experience with different knives is pretty limited. So even though I know the pros and cons of the options you listed and I know aesthetically which ones appeal to me, I don't actually know what is practically suitable.
> 
> I have never for example used a wide bevel gyuto in anger and have not had an opportunity to handle a true laser.
> 
> I guess it's one of those cases where you just have to pick something and see how it feels, no way around it.



And then pick another. And then another. And then another.... do you see where this is going? 

More seriously, though, I think you are right. I used to think that lasers were fantastic. Then I got a bit sick of my knife getting stuck (by surface tension) halfway through an onion, so I quite like knives with good food release now. Only way to find out is to try a few, see what you like and what you don't like.


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## khashy

Nemo said:


> And then pick another. And then another. And then another.... do you see where this is going?
> 
> More seriously, though, I think you are right. I used to think that lasers were fantastic. Then I got a bit sick of my knife getting stuck (by surface tension) halfway through an onion, so I quite like knives with good food release now. Only way to find out is to try a few, see what you like and what you don't like.



Downing a tequila shot to this right now. Cheers :beer:


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