Tabata/Shibata

[Betz]

I am debating a general purpose knife in the 160mm range. Shibata santoku at laser, or a Tabata at 3mm? Really, my question is about the Tabata, and is it too thick to be a general knife?

 

[Taz]

With some of the knives, the spine thickness doesn't tell the whole story! Many that are forged are much thicker out of the handle, and narrow down pretty fast to the heel area. Shibata are crazy thin lasers and cut really well, but may be more fragile and easier to chip if you aren't used to them. The Tabata looks pretty thin behind the edge from the few choil shots I have seen and more robust above the thin edge (toward the spine), so it would be beefier overall but still should perform pretty well. Either looks like they would perform well, so it's more of a preference if you like thin lasers or workhorse/work pony type knives!

 

[Mitchell Knives]

I have a Tabata tall petty that is similar in thickness.

Performance wasn't great due to the poor geometry. I ended up having to completely regrind the knife to make it usable.

I'm not familiar with Shibata knives, but his santoku looks very nice.

It looks like the Shibata comes in AS steel, which is fantastic.

Between the two, the Shibata is an easy choice.