# First time Thinning and polishing: Heiji Santoku



## Ruso (Jul 22, 2014)

I was not too happy with the performance of my Heiji Santoku and I had it collecting dust in the block for some time now. Finally, few days ago I had some time to work on it. Since it was an impulsive work, I do not have before or progress pictures. It only occurred to take some after 5K stone. 
Original photos when it was new: http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/s...west-knife-buy?p=257617&viewfull=1#post257617
This was my first time doing serious thinning on the knife (don't be too critical on me), so it came little rough on the left side. Apparently, it is much harder to maintain steady low angle on the left side of the blade, who knew! :lol2: Once thinned to the desired level, or better said once I got really tiered of thinning...  ...it occurred to me to put a mirror finish on the "wide" bevels. I always found it attractive. 
Just the thinning took me about 2.5 hours split in two days; I used Norton Coarse India for most of the work, followed by Gesshin 220 water stone. For the polishing I used several stones in the following order, King 1200 -> Chosera 800 -> Imanishi 8000 -> Naniwa SS 5000 -> Naniwa SS 10000. While the reflection is quite good to be honest, there are still some scratches left on each side. It looks like I did not spend enough time on mid grit stones. It probably would help to have something in 400grit level, unfortunately something I do not. The polishing process was probably another 1.5hours, split in two sessions once again.
Well here are some pics of the work. Hopefully I did not F******ed it up to badly.

Mirror Finish after 5K






Left side is quite rough 




10K Finish







Choil shots







Final Product, after using some sandpaper on left side and patina on the edge







I did not have time to use it for whole a lot. Few things I cut, it did perform quite well. I am planning to use it for the whole dinner tomorrow. It better not disappoint me irate1:


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## osakajoe (Jul 22, 2014)

As long as you feel it performs well and you are satisfied that's the most important. As far as professional sharpening everything looks quite good except for the shinobi line. That's probably the hardest thing to get correct. Have a nice smooth curve with no camel humps in it. The left side for thinning is always much harder if you're right handed. 

Other than that looks like you did a good job. Just practice more and you can cut you're time down much more


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## Lizzardborn (Jul 22, 2014)

Looks nice. Also Winnie the Pooh for the polished shot. Win.


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## mistascoopa (Jul 22, 2014)

That is some serious elbow grease you put into this one. Looks great! For your first time doing something like this, you should be very pleased. Hope it performs well for you.


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Jul 22, 2014)

Lizzardborn said:


> Looks nice. Also Winnie the Pooh for the polished shot. Win.


One can't go wrong with Winnie the Pooh :happymug:

It looks nice, but how it performs? How is food release? Does it wedges on carrots?


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## schanop (Jul 22, 2014)

Nice. Tip section bevel could be raised a bit higher do that bevel width would be more even from heel to tip. And that would also make tip section a little thinner too.


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## cabarete_cub (Jul 22, 2014)

@osakajoe

"shinobi" is the one between the edge and the bevel, and "shinogi" is between the bevel and the cheek (or 'the body')?
Am I completely confused?

@Ruso
first shot is especially beautiful.


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## osakajoe (Jul 22, 2014)

Iphone auto correct typo. I meant shinogi line. That line where your sharpening begins on the knife blade.






Not all the terminology is exactly correct in the picture but the shinogi is


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## Ruso (Jul 22, 2014)

Thanks for pitching in. I definitely have to work more on the keeping steady angle. I will have to buy more thicker knives I think, just for practicing of course....  
Next time it needs to be sharpened, if time permits I will try to work little bit more on the tip area. 

As for it performance, did not have a chance to do the whole prep session yet. I tried slicing few carrots, onion and other small items. The difference in performance is *very* noticeable. It wedges just a bit at the end of the stroke on thick carrots and cutting big onion in half. But to put it in the perspective, Kono HD did wedge on the same carrot by the end as well. 
Overall very pleased, but need to give it more time. I was pleased when it just arrived as well.... small tests do not show the whole picture.

P.S. Winnie the Pooh - Rocks! \m/


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## jigert (Jul 27, 2014)

Great work Ruso! Just look out for the tiny birds beak developing on the tip. Or maybe it's the pics or my eyes.
It's just that I had a tendency to get those before I slowed down and started to really look what was happening while sharpening. And even more when thinning where you'll easily get carried away


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## Ruso (Jul 29, 2014)

> Great work Ruso! Just look out for the tiny birds beak developing on the tip. Or maybe it's the pics or my eyes.


Thank you, I definitely need to work little bit more on the tip area. 

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Overall I am very pleased with it performance. Cant stop using it, the steel is marvelous and the food release is good. Perhaps, the only downside is that I should of bought 180mm one


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