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Just got home from work to find my new knife waiting for me. It's a little rough around the edges(by that I mean the spine and choil), but I'll remedy that tomorrow. Pretty decent handle too, but that's coming off as well. I haven't cut anything with it yet, but it actually seems to have a decent edge OOTB. Really thick at the spine and I'm not sure about the grind/geometry, but I'll post some pics for you guys tomorrow.
So far I'm happy, seems like a good buy for the $$$. Takeshi even sent a little pocketknife in the package to apologize for the delay!
That's good customer service!
More to come tomorrow......
 
More first impressions
The spine on this thing is really uncomfortable.
I julienned a carrot last night and wasn't too impressed with the grind on the knife. It's pretty thick behind the edge, so I'll be thinning her out after I get all the cosmetic work done.
I took some pics.
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and the pocketknife is pretty cool, but needs some rounding on the spine too.
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I just popped the handle off a few minutes ago. Only took 2 taps!
WIP time baby!!!
This would not be a good intro into Jknives for someone, but seems to be a great project knife.
 
hmm, looks like it's going to need a regrind and not just thinning behind the edge. more work than i'm willing to do on the stones, i'll have to send it out for an overhaul.
 
It is thick,but does have a good assem. taper.I willing to bet after you thin behind the edge that it will be a good cutter,time on the board will tell the story.
 
labor of love said:
profile looks real good. any idea how tall it is?
Click to expand...
I'll try to measure it at the heel tomorrow, but it's pretty tall.

I came pretty close to finishing my work on mine today.
I rounded the spine and choil. Thinned it considerably. Rehandled it(there is nothing wrong with the stock handle, it's fine) and put a nice edge on it.
The steel responded well to the stones. The tip(like the tippity-tip-like half a millimeter) is still really flexy and bendy-I've got to work that out. But the actual steel is very impressive. I went 1200, 4000 and microbevel with a 6000. When I started on the secondary bevel with the 4k, I actually had a piece of steel come off near the tip that resembled a part of a steel scrubby! That's a first for me.
It cuts very well. A million times better then it did OOTB. It still is a hefty knife and will require more thinning, but works for now.
After a busy night on the line, the edge is still 100% intact. It seems to be an excellent HT on the blade.
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My handle is way too fat for me, especially because I have small hands. I'll fix it later.
The verdict is that this is a great knife.....................

..........if you're willing and able to put a lot of work into it. The steel reminds me of CPM154 a little. It gets that crazy-sharp "aluminum foil" resembling type edge. Scary sharp-and it holds on to it.
I'll keep you guys posted as to the true performance and edge retention as I work it out some more.
As always- you get what you pay for.
 
what knife do you have that's cpm154? addict 2? i've got the old addict in 154cm and it's been heavily thinned. ive been abusing the crap out of it. even frenched 30 airline breasts with it lol (i know ***, but wanted to see if the edge could handle chicken bone/cartilage contact). it's not bad, my favorite part of it is the handle to be honest. can't wait to try the tanaka tho (but def not looking forward to all the work it's going to require) just finished a 15hr shift and back for another 14 in the morning. btw are you ever in uptown charlotte? give me a hollar when you're around.
 
looks good, personally i like a larger handle due to my beefy hands, nice work
 
mine just arrived. it's one fat bastard. and there's really no edge to speak of. handle seems ok, except i don't like D shape. spine is slightly beveled and there's a line down the middle where it looks like a sheet of metal was folded in half. the choil is sharp a hell.
the profile is really nice, medium length lightly curved tip, long flat middle, short flat heel. mine is the 270mm, length seems perfect.

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I'm having trouble with these pictures for some reason. Are these fat behind the edge, or just thick stock/forgings? I don't know what's up with my eyes, but the first one didn't look fat, and this one only looks kinda chubby. I'n on my iPhone, so maybe that's it. I dunno.
 
Let me restate that (IMHO) I think these are not the highest quality blades made by Tanaka. I think there is a reason they are so cheap. There are no overgrinds, etc on mine, but they are very rough. I don't think these are the same quality that get shipped to other retailers like Chef Knives To Go.
Nothing against Takeshi, still is a great product at a great price. But really not "ready to roll" OOTB.
Like I said before.......
.........you get what you pay for.
 
Do we know if Shigeki or his cousin ground these?
 
IMO, if the heat treat is good and ginsanko can hold an edge for a while and the handle is good, then this is still a good deal. I dont mind fixing a few things myself in exchange for a low price. Maybe its just me, but it appears that pandas tanaka is thicker than Knifenerds...i guess thats because its a 270mm.
 
labor of love said:
IMO, if the heat treat is good and ginsanko can hold an edge for a while and the handle is good, then this is still a good deal. I dont mind fixing a few things myself in exchange for a low price. Maybe its just me, but it appears that pandas tanaka is thicker than Knifenerds...i guess thats because its a 270mm.
Click to expand...
Yeah man, the steel is great. I worked it out pretty hard yesterday and other than some micro-chips on the edge, it's doing really well. I can't believe it's stainless!
Or, in my best Fabio voice "I can't believe it's not carbon."
I keep on wiping it down and expecting to see some discoloration or reactivity, but no.
 
I got my 210 gyuto a few days ago. Shipping took like two weeks (to Sweden). But I asked them to change the handle to an octagonal instead, so I think that's a pretty ok shipping time actually.

Haven't had the time to test it out properly yet, and currently I'm oiling the handle. It's by no means scary sharp OOTB, and since I'm just beginning to learn how to sharpen with stones, I guess this will be my sharpening practice knife.

F&F is ok, considering the price. The spine is not too sharp, whereas the choil could have been smoother. Some scratch marks on the ferrule and the handle.

My only concern so far is that the machi extends below the ferrule, not by a lot and I hardly notice it when I pinch grip it. But a couple of times when I've picked up the knife, my index finger has gotten caught on that sharp choil. I might do something about that sometime.
 
Perhaps when you round the edges on the choil, you can also hit the area around the machi too. This knife definitely doesn't sound perfect, but for the heat treat and quality steel used, It seems like a great knife to pimp out too ones own taste.
 
mine came with literally no edge. still haven't even put it to use because i don't want to even bother without serious thinning which i havent had any time to do lately, lol. have a rosewood&pakkawood handle already waiting for it.
 
knyfeknerd did the rehandle plus rounding of spine&choil and is thinning mine out. letting me use his 240 in the meantime. surprisingly it's actually slightler taller at the heel and has a lot of belly. his already has major work done, i touched up the edge with a JKS 3000 stone (which was super easy) and my god is this steel freaking awesome! not as good of a cutter as the itk probably due to geometry but i swear the steel feels even better than aeb-l and what ever steel masa vg is on the board/going through food. gonna put it to rigorous use tomorrow and report back to see how it holds up.
 
sounds like theres a decent amount of inconsistency within tanakas ginsanko line. Im probably going to request a thinner one, with a flatter profile. Im curious what is possible.
 
did a lot of prep with it last night, after 3 cases of bell peppers was still going right through the skin like butter. i like this tanaka so much i'm curious about trying his damascus blue #2 as my first carbon but everything's out of stock at the moment.

let us know how he responds to your request. fyi he doesn't reply to emails, only the 'inquiry' method through metalmaster website. while you're at it would you mind asking if he can do different lengths? a 255mm perhaps?
 
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