Tanaka vg10 210 western

See what's happening with current or completed "Pass Arounds". Forum members occasionally send knives or sharpening stones around to a hand selected group of participants for short term use and feedback/reviews.
bigwoolymammoth
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Re: Tanaka vg10 210 western

Post by bigwoolymammoth »

Chefspence wrote: Tue Sep 19, 2017 10:18 pm Sucky...thanks for the heads up though. Hope that works out for you.
thanks. it will work itself out over the next month. not a good time to be responsible for someone else's knife.
Chefspence
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Re: Tanaka vg10 210 western

Post by Chefspence »

This ones on its way back to me as well. I hope we can accumulate enough opinions to maybe give some knife recs with this one. I think it's a great knife. Wouldn't mind a different handle of course, but the wa version on cktg would be pretty sweet I suspect. Thanks again everyone and a final word, make sure you do reviews if you haven't already.
Cutuu
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Re: Tanaka vg10 210 western

Post by Cutuu »

Sorry about the delayed review Spence, I am like an eight grader who doesn't want to do his homework. Here are my thoughts on the tanaka vg10.
Initial impression was that it's a nice looking blade with a subtle Damascus. The knive is quite thin, but seems to have some really nice convexing to the blade for being so thin. The knive has a (gyuto) petty feel to me. It might just be that I'm not using a lot of 210's lately (I only own 1 currently), perhaps it's a little undersized, or the curviness of the blade. Its really light a nimble. Too me it's a laser or at least performs like one. It did seem to have a lot of flex. I didn't bother me in use, I just notice it when examining the blade. But it seem to have a lot of flex more than other lasers I have handled. It could be in part due to the partial tang. The knive went through food great. It is a straight forward performer. Basically it went through whatever with ease. Like I said it felt like a gyuto stlye petty so I enjoyed it for cutting pineapple. It also had nice food release on potatoes. The knive is definitely better than what I am crediting it with. I became impartial to it, because of the handle and partial tang. It became a distraction to me, and it overshadowed the blade's performance. I am a simple guy. I usually always rock with the stock handle. I accept a plain ho wood d shaped handle, but enjoy nicer handles ( for my preferences and opinion). Usually I enjoy handles and notice them, but don't take off major points for plain uninspiring handles. But in this case I hated the handle so much, that it was hard to get past it for me. It reminded me of a cheap steak knive. The partial tang added to a feel of flimsiness and I didn't enjoy it either. I would of ( I think) be happier with a full tang. The thing I like about western handles are that little bit of extra sturdiness and solidarity. If it's going to be super light, I would rather of just had a way handle, which would of freed me from looking down at the spine and seeing the partial tang. The handle and execution seemed so dissonant of the blade and just seemed to cheapen it to a point that I couldn't handle. Now for utilitarian purposes: the handle felt comfortable and it didn't seem to bother me at all in using the knive. I think if the blade was packaged differently, it would of drawn me into more. But in reality I never could get past the handle and in all reality im not giving the knive it's fair due in utilitarian use. Trying a lot of knives can help you pick up the sublties of knives, but sometimes ( at least for me) you can go numb because you seen enough that they don't always feel like a new experience. it can be a little harder to be wowed or moved by a great blade. I can become complacement at times and miss the nuances of how a knive cuts, because it felt it too similar to what I've already seen. In the end I I hate to sound like such a rookie and say it's a good cutter with a pretty blade, but, perhaps life, and definitely the handle was just too much for me to get down to the "nitty gritty" (Jack Black) of what the tanaka vg10 western 210 is all about. It does seem to be a great bargain for performance to price point. Thanks again Spence for your generosity.
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jbart65
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Re: Tanaka vg10 210 western

Post by jbart65 »

Good thing is, the Tanaka VG10 can be found with at least three different handles. I didn't like this handle either, Ramon. But there are two wa versions available too.
Jeffry B
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