augerpro
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2013
- Messages
- 320
- Reaction score
- 14
Ever since I decided I was tired of keeping up the iron cladding on my Shig I've been trying to find a replacement that has a similar balance of qualities: thin behind the edge, right profile, some weight. I've tried a number of knives, but the ones worth mentioning are Itinomonn, Kochi, Kagekiyo, and Tanaka R2. All very good knives, but eventually I settled on the Tanaka as my go-to knife., but it was so light I hadn't stopped my search. I tried some wide bevels to get that combination of thin behind the edge but with some weight, and the best was the Kagekiyo. But have come to not like the downsides of wide bevels which are wedging and steering on certain foods. The Ginrei at JKI seemed promising so I picked a 210mm one up a month ago.
I REALLY like this knife. The picture exagerates the belly I think. It is similar to a Tanaka, true, but with a lower nose, or maybe just a different angle on the handle, so it doesn't feel like a big belly knife. Behind the edge it similar to my Kagekiyo, so thin but not Tanaka R2 thin. Tip is a little thicker though, like an Itinomonn (the Kagekiyo, Kochi, and Tanaka all have very thin tips) It gets thicker as you go up so there is some wieght here (161g), in fact, almost as heavy as my Shig (166g). The overall effect is a knife that goes through food pretty darn well, but with good weight for chopping. Sort of behaves like a wide bevel knife with really wide bevels - the least wedging and steering wide bevel you've ever used.
Steel is not stainless but with just a squidge of chrome it just takes a slight patina over time, no reactivity with food or the scary orange coloring I'd get on my Shig.
Food release seems pretty good, onions stick to the side but even a little flick will drop them off.
All in all a really good balance of properties. I would recommend this to any knife nut.
Two nits. First is the handle. I actually really like rough ho wood D handles like Shig so I'm no snob, but these smooth ho wood handles on so many knives are pretty meh. Given how often Jon uses the burnt chestnut I'd like to see that. The second is I would happily give up a couple grams to be just slightly thinner behind the edge, especially at the tip. But then I'm trying to find a laser that weighs like a workhorse, so that is probably my own misguided preference!
I REALLY like this knife. The picture exagerates the belly I think. It is similar to a Tanaka, true, but with a lower nose, or maybe just a different angle on the handle, so it doesn't feel like a big belly knife. Behind the edge it similar to my Kagekiyo, so thin but not Tanaka R2 thin. Tip is a little thicker though, like an Itinomonn (the Kagekiyo, Kochi, and Tanaka all have very thin tips) It gets thicker as you go up so there is some wieght here (161g), in fact, almost as heavy as my Shig (166g). The overall effect is a knife that goes through food pretty darn well, but with good weight for chopping. Sort of behaves like a wide bevel knife with really wide bevels - the least wedging and steering wide bevel you've ever used.
Steel is not stainless but with just a squidge of chrome it just takes a slight patina over time, no reactivity with food or the scary orange coloring I'd get on my Shig.
Food release seems pretty good, onions stick to the side but even a little flick will drop them off.
All in all a really good balance of properties. I would recommend this to any knife nut.
Two nits. First is the handle. I actually really like rough ho wood D handles like Shig so I'm no snob, but these smooth ho wood handles on so many knives are pretty meh. Given how often Jon uses the burnt chestnut I'd like to see that. The second is I would happily give up a couple grams to be just slightly thinner behind the edge, especially at the tip. But then I'm trying to find a laser that weighs like a workhorse, so that is probably my own misguided preference!
