Blue 2 knives- Mizuno and Tanaka

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Nemo

Staff member
Global Moderators
KKF Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2016
Messages
7,521
Reaction score
3,913
Location
NSW (Aus)
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.
 
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.
 
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:
 
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.
 
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
 
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?
 
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.
 
Excuse the over-polished bevel. It was my first go at hamiguriba sharpening (actually turned out pretty well from a performance point of view).

2016-12-05 17.33.13.jpg
2016-12-05 16.59.59.jpg
 
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.

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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Back
Top