Wordless Review: S. Tanaka Ginsan Petty 150mm

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Foreword:

I’m getting late with these reviews vs. incoming knives (not so much just me being late mostly) since have other things on my mind, of which various other reviews and posts here. Still I’m keen to share something of each knife that comes in my hand. So here’s a review without a word. That’s the review itself. Foreword and afterword I think I have an obligation to at least present things and wrap them up.

It helps that I published no less than three reviews about S. Tanaka knives so far, each getting more comprehensive of the whole Wa handle offerings of the maker. They might not be for everyone, but they’re all quite good knives for the asking price – with my usual warning that I find SG2 Damascus overpriced. Now I’ve completed a run of all steels on offer, and finally a different shape too.

Here they are so far:

Shigeki Tanaka Damascus SG2 210mm

Review: Shigeki Tanaka Aogami #2 210mm

Bullet Point Review: S. Tanaka VG-10 180mm Gyuto

So without further ado…

MAKER​	Shigeki Tanaka​
TYPE & LENGTH​	Petty 150mm​
STEEL & BLADE​	Gingami #3 Stainless Clad​
FINISH​	Nashiji​
WEIGHT / BALANCE​	82g / -5​
HANDLE MATERIAL​	Wenge/Buffalo Horn​
​	​
TOTAL LENGTH​	290​
BLADE LENGTH​	168​
EDGE LENGTH​	157​
​	​
HEIGHT AT HEEL​	34​
HEIGHT AT MID BLADE​	26​
HEIGHT 35mm TO TIP​	19​
​	​
SPINE​	THICKNESS
HEEL​	2.7​
MID BLADE​	2​
35mm TO TIP​	1.7​
10mm TO TIP​	0.7​
​	​
EDGE THICKNESS​	@ 10 / 5 / 1mm over
Average​	1 / 0.5 / < 0.1​

 

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Afterword:

It’s a pretty petty awesome knife…

Ginsan Nashiji is S. Tanaka cheapest line but gets the nicest box until the wooden one for the SG2 Black Damascus. Aogami #2 had the nondescript blue one with red cardboard liner; VG-10 had the same but with a ferrule cutout; now this Nashiji gets the black plushy one with felt red liner and ferrule cutout. Go figure… I probably find it more peculiar and somehow funny than it really is.

A superb iteration of the Wenge handle, with grain to show alright, texture, taper, nice sculpting and horn ferrule that has some patterns on top. It’s a bit small of course, but not too small. I also liked that of the Aogami #2 – not so much grain to show, but also tapered, well sculpted, and so greatly textured.

Nashiji finish is not strong with this one, but it’s been the most advanced F&F otherwise seen from S. Tanaka: half-rounded and smoothed choil and spine are much to behold against the SG2 or VG-10 Damascus gyutos I experienced. Aogami #2 was a little short of it but smoothed some still. Making this Ginsan petty an awesome value, but I wouldn’t guarantee they always come with the same level of care. In which case it’d still be an awesome value, but better keep things realistic.

Oh yeah... I was sure not banking on the fact a smaller, cheaper iteration of S. Tanaka's knives would carry the most interesting distal taper I've seen so far of these. Tanaka sure does understand what keeping performances up implies when doing a smaller blade that's as thick as the longer Gyutos at the spine.

This last picture has no consequence in the review, I just found it greatly interesting. It almost looks like an X-ray of the grain of the soft SS used for cladding. I’ve taken many pictures of knives but don’t remember seeing something like that come out so strongly as a result. Beautiful so why not…

Be well folks!