The New KS Inspired Mizuno Tanrenjo 240mm Gyuto

[HRC_64]

Now we need 2up distal taper shots !

 

[Andreu]

Now we need 2up distal taper shots !

Geez. Demanding, aren’t we? 😀

Blue #1 on the left:

 

[HRC_64]

awesome pics ... cheers

this helps to visualize/
see a bit more about
how they are built up

of course will be interesting
when you get to cut w/them
too

 

[Gregmega]

Wowowowow thumbs up. Knives aren't half bad either[emoji12].

Really, great post though. Great project.

 

[pd7077]

My knife arrived yesterday, and she’s a beauty. I was able to put her through a few ingredients last night to get an initial feel. I am partial to heavier knives with thicker grinds so this knife feels very nice in hand. I’m more of a 240 guy so while this edge rings in at 258mm, the weight seems to balance out the length so that the tip doesn’t feel floaty. The heavily convexed right side seems to work well in separating ingredients. The release is what you would expect from a knife with this level of polish, but speed will definitely be your friend in this regard. The thick grind required a bit of force to get through sweet potatoes, and I wasn’t surprised that there was a bit of cracking/snapping. The OOTB edge was just okay so maybe things will smooth out after I put an edge on her.

So far I am really pleased with this knife. The handle (ebony, horn ferrule & white G10 spacer) is nice enough, but I’ll most likely get a custom some time down the road.

Note: The knife didn’t come with the kiri wood box. That was a gift from my brother.

 

[khashy]

My knife arrived yesterday, and she’s a beauty. I was able to put her through a few ingredients last night to get an initial feel. I am partial to heavier knives with thicker grinds so this knife feels very nice in hand. I’m more of a 240 guy so while this edge rings in at 258mm, the weight seems to balance out the length so that the tip doesn’t feel floaty. The heavily convexed right side seems to work well in separating ingredients. The release is what you would expect from a knife with this level of polish, but speed will definitely be your friend in this regard. The thick grind required a bit of force to get through sweet potatoes, and I wasn’t surprised that there was a bit of cracking/snapping. The OOTB edge was just okay so maybe things will smooth out after I put an edge on her.

So far I am really pleased with this knife. The handle (ebony, horn ferrule & white G10 spacer) is nice enough, but I’ll most likely get a custom some time down the road.

Note: The knife didn’t come with the kiri wood box. That was a gift from my brother.

Thank you for posting the photos and letting us know your impressions.

I can see that the two knives we have seen photos of are very consistent in terms of profile and grind.

I have found this write up and photos along with the original write up and photos set very useful in deciding whether or not this knife is for me.

Thank you both.

 

[Kippington]

Yeah that's a really good review: Short, but speaks volumes as to how the knife behaves, and some really high quality pics too.
Without a point of reference, the knife looks smaller in the pics then it actually is (you say it's 258mm), which means the heel height must be quite tall too. Is taller than the one on the first page (51mm)?
The box it came in is pretty sweet too haha!

Is there much distal taper, and what's the weight?

 

[pd7077]

The edge measures 258mm from heel to tip, and its 50mm tall at the heel. No appreciable distal taper: 4mm at the tang; 3.5mm above the heel; holds at 3mm for a majority of the length until it hits the grind at the tip. Not sure about the weight as I don’t have a scale

The kiri box is definitely cool. The knife came in a standard cardboard box (unlabeled), but my brother had that kiri box from a previous JCK purchase. He knows that I’ve been eyeing it so he packaged the knife in it before shipping it to me.

 

[steelcrimp]

Here’s the outline of the Mizuno vs the KS with the specs:

Are these free drawn or are you using them as a trace?

 

[mantrarxidia]

I might be retarded, but I can't find the blue #1 on jck, only mizuno gyuto in #1 I can find is this one https://japanesechefsknife.com/coll...-wa-gyuto-with-shinogi-210mm-to-270mm-3-sizes

 

[Anton]

I might be retarded, but I can't find the blue #1 on jck, only mizuno gyuto in #1 I can find is this one https://japanesechefsknife.com/coll...-wa-gyuto-with-shinogi-210mm-to-270mm-3-sizes

https://japanesechefsknife.com/prod...ies-white-steel-no-2-wa-gyuto-240mm-and-270mm

 

[mantrarxidia]

I didn't realise the blue #1 is a honyaki aswell, my bad

 

[pd7077]

https://japanesechefsknife.com/prod...ies-white-steel-no-2-wa-gyuto-240mm-and-270mm

Those aren’t it. The KS profile Mizunos, both the W#2 honyaki & B#1 sanmai, were a special project that are not currently part of Koki’s regular offerings. I believe that this current batch only had 6 honyakis and probably the same number of sanmais, all of which have already been spoken for. The only way to get them is to contact Koki directly to get on the list. At least that’s my understanding.

 

[mantrarxidia]

How much does the blue #1 cost?

 

[pd7077]

Got mine at $1350 for the blackwood handle, $1315 for the ebony handle and the san mai with ebony handle is $685.

According to Andreu, the one that started the project with Koki.

 

[mantrarxidia]

According to Andreu, the one that started the project with Koki.

I swear I went through every post twice but just missed this bit, thank you

 

[Von blewitt]

View attachment 38837

 

[Andreu]

View attachment 38837

Very nice! Is that your knife?

 

[Von blewitt]

Yes it is

 

[pd7077]

The OOTB edge on mine was just okay. Not bad by any means, but not anywhere near where I would want it to be. So before I put my own edge on her, I decided to remove the patina (what little had developed) and play around with the hamon a bit. Here’s what I got so far, but I think I can get it to be better.

 

[Anton]

that's nasty good

 

[steelcrimp]

gonna attempt to make the a similar profile knife with a smaller tip

 

[Andreu]

Yes it is

Nice! When are you expecting it? I assume custom handle is in order here. 😀

 

[Andreu]

The OOTB edge on mine was just okay. Not bad by any means, but not anywhere near where I would want it to be. So before I put my own edge on her, I decided to remove the patina (what little had developed) and play around with the hamon a bit. Here’s what I got so far, but I think I can get it to be better.

That looks great, bro! Can’t wait to work on mine.

 

[pd7077]

Thanks! It was a bit of a rushed job, and I accidentally polished away some of the hamon near the tip. I’ll re-etch the entire hamon sometime in the future and then really get a good polish near the spine. For now, I’m just gonna put her back to work on the board.

 

[Kippington]

How are you etching it, hot vinegar?

 

[pd7077]

Not sure what I’ll use to etch this time. I’ve used hot vinegar as well as lemon juice, but I’ve never tried FeCl so I may play around with that. Worst case, I’ll repolish and then etch with vinegar since I know how that acts/reacts.

 

[pd7077]

@Andreu: I just noticed that one of your honyakis has kanji on the right blade face. Why is that? Mine doesn’t have anything on the right side.

 

[Andreu]

Are these free drawn or are you using them as a trace?

Sorry for the delay in response. This is a trace of the new Masamoto KS and the new Mizuno Honyaki.

 

[Andreu]

@Andreu: I just noticed that one of your honyakis has kanji on the right blade face. Why is that? Mine doesn’t have anything on the right side.

Are you referring to this?

If so, this was requested by Koki to Mizuno as a “gift” to me for coming up with the idea and working with him on this new project. It is a hand chiseled kanji which says “ichiban”. It means “number 1” as this is the first knife that Mizuno made for this specific project.