# tanaka blue #2 love



## panda (Jun 20, 2013)

these are my very first carbon blades, very nice grind, stupid stupid thin behind the edge.
210 gyuto and 105 petty, just got them back after rehandle.

gyuto: black micarta ferrule, cherry handle, octaval shape (octagonal bevels on top, rounded on bottom half)
petty: black micarta handle with blue g-10 spacer


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## Johnny.B.Good (Jun 20, 2013)

I like the looks of that little petty.

Congrats, Panda!


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## NO ChoP! (Jun 20, 2013)

Sweet!


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## labor of love (Jun 20, 2013)

:thumbsup:


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## wellminded1 (Jun 20, 2013)

Nice.


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## labor of love (Jun 20, 2013)

how about a family pic of all your tanakas?


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## easy13 (Jun 20, 2013)

Got the same 210, with the necessary re handle. Beast


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## bkultra (Jun 20, 2013)

Love the petty... Do you happen to know if the micarta is paper,canvas, or linen?


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## sharkbite111 (Jun 20, 2013)

Nice! I just put mine on the stones last week...STUPID sharp!! 

Enjoy it!

Chris


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## Mike9 (Jun 20, 2013)

I have the petty but sold my 240 to a good friend who desperately needed a decent knife. Every now and again I get the urge to get another gyuto.


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## panda (Jun 21, 2013)

I will get the 240 at a later time. The petty is linen micarta.


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## EdipisReks (Jun 21, 2013)

Are these knives made by Tanaka-san as head of the family, or previous knives?


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## cclin (Jun 21, 2013)

kazuki Tanaka Has Passed Away! most blue#2 Tanaka knives made by Shigeki Tanaka.......


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## EdipisReks (Jun 21, 2013)

cclin said:


> kazuki Tanaka Has Passed Away! most blue#2 Tanaka knives made by Shigeki Tanaka.......



I'm well aware, and that doesn't answer my question at all. Do you read?


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## Patatas Bravas (Jun 21, 2013)

EdipisReks said:


> Are these knives made by Tanaka-san as head of the family, or previous knives?





cclin said:


> kazuki Tanaka Has Passed Away! most blue#2 Tanaka knives made by Shigeki Tanaka.......





EdipisReks said:


> I'm well aware, and that doesn't answer my question at all. Do you read?



Very nice!  I don't think cclin was trying to insult your knife knowledge, ER, so why the sarcasm? People can read and understand what you say when your own writing is clear, and your first message is not.


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## labor of love (Jun 21, 2013)

is the damascus stainless or carbon? if its carbon, how reactive is it?


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## panda (Jun 21, 2013)

it's carbon, reacts within 5 minutes of use.


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## cclin (Jun 21, 2013)

EdipisReks said:


> I'm well aware, and that doesn't answer my question at all. Do you read?



EdipisReks, even though I misunderstanding your question; is that really necessary for rudeness?? 

@panda, sorry for this off topic post!!


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## franzb69 (Jun 21, 2013)

> EdipisReks, even though I misunderstanding your question; is that really necessary for rudeness??



isn't the first time this has happened.


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## panda (Jun 22, 2013)

edipis, not sure i understand your question, previous knives? got all my tanakas from metalmaster. waiting on a ginsanko petty with octagon handle from 330mate. the g3 line is vastly different from the carbon, different profile and grind. believe it or not, i prefer the tanaka stainless gyuto over my newly acquired shigefusa.


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## augerpro (Jun 22, 2013)

panda how do the stainless Tanaka (G3 or VG10?) compare to your Shig and blue Tanaka?


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## panda (Jun 22, 2013)

pros of 
g3 tanaka: low nose pointy tip flat profile, food release, edge retention
shig: silky smooth cutting, feels like perfect balance of size/weight, easy to sharpen (takes a burr in 1 (one!) stroke on 400 grit)
blue tanaka: extremely thin behind the edge, light but not whippy/flex seems to work 'fast'

i like all 3 for their own reasons, but the g3 is my absolute favorite (pro kitchen use), i use the blue tanaka at home.
my shig still needs more work (thinning) but i'll use it for when i want more precise & thinner cuts.


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## augerpro (Jun 22, 2013)

So how is the cutting performance for the G3? I ask because I sold a friend of mine my blue Tanaka and he loves the way it cuts and has just enough weight (versus the Sakai Yusuke he had prior) for chopping, but is thinking taking care of carbon steel isn't his thing. Trying to find something that cuts like the blue Tanaka, wa handle, stainless, and roughly the same price is not easy. As for me I bought a Shig as it seemed to be everything I liked about my Ginga and Tanaka blue in one knife, havne't used it enough to determine if it is yet though. Personally I loved my time with the Tanaka blue, but I really disliked the profile. If they made a profile like a Shig/Masamota KS I'd buy it in heartbeat and never buy another knife.


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## panda (Jun 22, 2013)

i wish there was a taller version of KS with blue steel, i'd try that in a heart beat. if you have the patience to wait maybe give the stainless yusuke 'thick' ks profiled version a try?

cutting performance of the g3 is remarkable, the weight of the blade and its geometry along with fine grained very keen edge glides through food almost feels like cheating really. despite being a heavier knife i exert less energy with it than that of any other knife i have (ie the knife does all the work for you, you just steer, that's how efficient of a cutter i feel it is, but mind you this has been thinned behind the edge considerably). the initial off the stone sharpness goes away within first use, but it stays very sharp for a long time, and comes right back to piercing soft tomato skin with simple stropping. i've only touched it up twice in the last two months and i use this thing more than all of my other ones COMBINED.

the thing with tanaka, is that you get a top notch steel and heat treat + grind for a way bellow market price of that quality because the fit & finish is horrible. there probably just is not much hand work involved in these blades. but once you tweak it to your preferences, i feel it belongs in the higher end class. in other words, there's no way you're going to get this level in the same price bracket.


re: profile
i also had a 240 g3 which i passed along to one of my cooks (who i kid you not used it to break down a WHOLE pork belly while semi frozen still, lol) i really hated its profile, too much belly, and actually a few mm taller than my 270 (absolutely love the 270s profile btw). i'm thinking though that since these are all hand made, each profile varies a bit maybe a lot even among the same lengths.


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## labor of love (Jun 22, 2013)

Taller blue steel version of the KS? I believe this what kochi has been described as. Ofcourse it's not that simple..but it's worth looking into


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## EdipisReks (Jun 22, 2013)

panda said:


> edipis, not sure i understand your question, previous knives? got all my tanakas from metalmaster. waiting on a ginsanko petty with octagon handle from 330mate. the g3 line is vastly different from the carbon, different profile and grind. believe it or not, i prefer the tanaka stainless gyuto over my newly acquired shigefusa.



you don't understand the question either, is all. More than one Tanaka, and one is now dead.


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## panda (Jun 22, 2013)

the kochi seems very interesting indeed! might just have to try that.


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## cclin (Jun 22, 2013)

labor of love said:


> Taller blue steel version of the KS? I believe this what kochi has been described as. Ofcourse it's not that simple..but it's worth looking into


IIRC, all Kochi knives made with V2 steel, escept 240mm Kiritsuke-Shaped Gyuto..


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## panda (Jun 22, 2013)

http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/kitchen-knives/kochi/kochi-240mm-migaki-wa-gyuto.html polished version says blue #2


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## cclin (Jun 22, 2013)

panda said:


> http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/kitchen-knives/kochi/kochi-240mm-migaki-wa-gyuto.html polished version says blue #2


yes, you're right! I missed that one:O


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## JBroida (Jun 22, 2013)

migaki=blue #2, kurouchi=v2 in general for kochi


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## panda (Jun 22, 2013)

as promised, tanaka rehandle family pics:

ginsanko 270 gyuto (pakkawood ferrule, rosewood handle)
blue #2 210 gyuto (linen micarta ferrule, cherry handle)
blue #2 105 petty (all linen micarta w/ g10 spacer)


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## labor of love (Jun 22, 2013)

Bling Bling!


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## pumbaa (Jun 23, 2013)

next time we work together i want to see these!


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## panda (Jun 24, 2013)

so i took these blue tanakas to the stones today, only down to 1000 then finish on synthetic aoto (very little on this one) strop with cbn (cubic boron nitride) spray, and i dont know if i was doing something wrong but there were long strips of wire coming off the blade with very little pressure applied. this is the sharpest edge i've ever ended up with, kudos to blue carbon steel!

did the vinegar bath on the 210 as well, but only 2 dunks of 5min each this time and the results were much better. then tried to patina with hot chicken. after scrubbing off the gross brown stuff ended up with mild blue/green/yellow colors. the acid patina thing really does offer some protection from reactivity i guess. cleaned and sliced quite a few brussels sprouts with the petty and left it there for 15min with no reactivity what so ever.


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## K-Fed (Jun 24, 2013)

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but it is tanaka and it is blue #2. And I do love it.


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## pumbaa (Jun 24, 2013)

I got to see these things at work the other night and they are insanely nice! That little petty with the vinegar etch/patina was cool looking with the black micarta handle.


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## panda (Jun 25, 2013)

Nice, how is the grind on the Ku version?


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## labor of love (Jun 25, 2013)

tanaka should expand that kurouchi line...


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## augerpro (Jul 2, 2013)

panda how is the grind of the ginsanko versus the blue 2? Ginsanko still a laser and beautiful slicer? Also has anyone used the VG10 Tanaka? Blade looks identical to blue 2, but with a yo handle (at least on ebay).


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## panda (Jul 2, 2013)

ginsanko is thick blade (most certainly not a laser) that is ground down from half way up. it has excellent food release which aids in cutting. blue 2 is convex ground completely from the spine down to the edge, but food still sticks a little bit. blue 2 is extremely thin behind the edge, so much that it often digs into the cutting board!

blue 2 is the better pure cutter and is easy to sharpen, but i prefer the actual usage of the ginsanko as it is most certainly a 'beautiful slicer' and much prefer its low pointy nose profile.

have ZERO interest in any vg10 so can't help you there.


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## panda (Jul 7, 2013)

friends 240, acid etched with 10:1 water:ferric chloride solution.









handle: black&white M3 lava ferrule, mammoth tooth spacer, blue box elder burl handle


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## Seb (Jul 8, 2013)

Über-cool!!!


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## stereo.pete (Jul 8, 2013)

After reading this thread and watching Theory's video I was seconds away from clicking the buy it now button on the bay for a Tanaka Blue #2 Gyuto, then I realized I would be on vacation when it would be delivered so I backed away. Should I really get one?


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## pumbaa (Jul 8, 2013)

whos knife is that one posted? that thing is sick.


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