For the love of Tanaka.
Shigeki Tanaka is one of those blacksmiths who has always intrigued me. For a young blacksmith, his knives have the presence and quality of a knife made by a much more senior smith. I'm hoping on my next trip to Japan that I'll get a chance to meet this incredibly talented craftsman.
I've seen a lot of knives over the past 20 years, and when you deal with as many as I do it's easy to forget how incredible a simple petty knife can be. During Christmas of 2020 we got a shipment of Shigeki Tanaka-san's Ginsan Petty's. I fell in love with them instantly, as did many of you. As much as I would've loved to have taken one home, as a responsible small business owner I couldn't take one out of the hands of everyone else who had fallen in love with them, too. After we had sold out, we immediately placed another order with Tanaka-san.
Last month, 18 months later, we finally received them.
This. Knife. Is. F**king. Amazing.
You guys know I love a good petty, and this one is truly one of the best I've ever used in my entire life. It's a 150mm petty that feels like a 180mm gyuto. The profile is near perfect and the subtle Shinogi leaves little to no resistance
As a parent, mise en place these days is just buckets of strawberries, apples, and carrot sticks. This knife does it all.
Thanks for reading.
Lots of love - E