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Shinko - Tanaka Blue 2 Stainless Clad now available

Shinko - Tanaka Blue 2 Stainless Clad now available

James Zhang |

We all love Tanaka for its superb price / performance. His Blue 2 damascus line has long been one of the standout product thanks to his exceptional heat treatment on the blue steel and great cutting performance. Yet feedback suggests the iron cladding can be quite reactive and the knife can benefit from some thinning. The solution to this was to come up with a stainless cladded variant, and Tanaka-san provided a very limited batch sometime last year. The reception was very positive but that batch didn’t solve one problem: still a little too thick for the taste of many.

So the second iteration began, with the variants: I love the rustic look of Tanaka Nashiji finish and so as the cutting of the new thinner Ginsan grind so I asked for that version; along with the even thinner migaki version (insert ref). After some in house testing, it turned out that I still prefer the Nashiji, so I went ahead with the bulk order, which they started to arrive in late June. Because of this special collaboration I got Tanaka-san to engrave my own Shino (辰光)Kanji on to the blade along side his usual Shigeki Made (誠貴作) Kanji. This is an indication of superior QC and F&F compared to the regular versions.

So here is what is on offer for the new Tanaka-Shinko Blue 2 line,

  • Tanaka Blue 2 core and stainless cladding and the signature Nashiji finish
  • Extremely thin behind the edge
  • Sharped before shipped, ready to use OOTB.
  • K&S upgraded F&F with spine and choil rounded.
  • Able to select different types of custom K&S handles 
  • Able to add a premium K&S hardwood saya for less than US$40 (AU$50)

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