# 50/50? 60/40? 70/30? 80/20? 90/10? or 99/1?



## karloevaristo (Dec 1, 2011)

50/50? 60/40? 70/30? 80/20? 90/10? or 99/1?

Is one better than the other? 

Or does it depend on what you use it for?

Does it depend on the type of knife?

Why do the Japanese almost always prefer something like a 90/10?

Which one do you use for your knives? Why?

- Karlo


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## JBroida (Dec 1, 2011)

better... no

But they do act differently. Most people cant tell the difference between 50/50 and 60/40 for example, but in general, people can tell mostly symmetrical from asymmetrical and that from highly asymmetrical

As a general rule, it depends on the knife, what you use it for, and your cutting style.

Japanese people dont always prefer 90/10, but many chefs do for a matter of convenience. Doesnt mean its the best way to sharpen. There's a shop here in LA that tells all of the people who go in there to sharpen this way, but then the chefs come back to me and i have to explain to them why their knife isnt working the way they want it to and how to fix it.

For most people, i tell them to stick to something in the middle range of things... between 50/50 and 70/30 or so. In general, the more asymmetrical you move the thinner your knife will be behind the edge. This, of course, depends on the angles you are using, but assuming they are equal, this is true.


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## kalaeb (Dec 1, 2011)

I use 50/50, or as close as I can come sharpening free hand. I do it because my wife and son are leftys and my daughter and I are normal.


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## JohnnyChance (Dec 1, 2011)

+1 to what Jon said.

Most of my gyuto and suji edges are probably around 60/40, just end up that way because that is how I sharpen. 

Honesuki and knives of their ilk can benefit from a 90/10 or 99/1 edge. Not that gyutos/sujis can't, I just find more benefit on honesukis, and steering is less of an issue.


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## Aphex (Dec 1, 2011)

With my symmetrically ground knives i tend to sharpen symmetrically and with my asymmetrical knives i tend to sharpen 70/30 or so.


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## Benuser (Dec 1, 2011)

For monosteel carbons: 99/1 because it's so easy. For cladded and knives with burr issues 70/30, the lather because I find it sometimes hard to detect burr on an almost inexisting bevel.


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## Twistington (Dec 1, 2011)

Most my knives are at ~60/40 or 70/30, and like JohnnyChance wrote "just end up that way because that is how I sharpen."


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## stevenStefano (Dec 1, 2011)

Like Johnny, I think mine are asymmetrical but it is sorta incidental. I start on the left side each time because I'm a lefty and then sharpen the right until I get a burr but it always takes slightly less time on the right, so I'd say it's about 60/40. Not that interested in 99/1 and that sort of thing because I worry about its affect on edge durability and also steering


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## slowtyper (Dec 1, 2011)

kalaeb said:


> I use 50/50, or as close as I can come sharpening free hand. I do it because my wife and son are leftys and my daughter and I are normal.



I've always hoped for a post-apocalyptic movie where a blinding light comes out of the night sky and in the morning, all the righties are lefties and vice versa. Now THAT would be scary...


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## karloevaristo (Dec 1, 2011)

Yeah, that's what happens to my edges... I try to do a 50/50 but end up with a 62.5/37.5 or something like that :razz:.... 

I never handled a 99/1 before... is the stirring really noticeable?


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## Sarge (Dec 1, 2011)

I go asymmetrical on purpose because I find it easier, but usually more of an 80/20 in the name of durability. I do like the performance of 90/10 or 99/1, but haven't found the trade of in durability my thing so I sacrifice the small gain in pure performance for better longevity. 

When I used to try for 50/50 in came out 60/40 - 70/30 anyway so I decided to take it a touch further.


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## JohnnyChance (Dec 1, 2011)

karloevaristo said:


> I never handled a 99/1 before... is the stirring really noticeable?



It won't really be that good for stirring anything, but it will steer a bit. 

It depends on the knife and how asymmetric the geometry is (if one face is more convex than the other), and what you are cutting. But yeah, it can be quite noticeable.


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## memorael (Dec 1, 2011)

I used to like a 99/1 edge then I discovered that they all have different purposes. On knives that touch only raw meat, I like 50/50 since there is no wedging, if its vegies I am cutting I like 99/1 and really thin knives, if its hard veggies something more substantial. 

For all around I like something like 70/30 gives me the best balance of edge toughness, sharpness and less wedging. Theres always a tradeoff, some knives offer better tradeoffs due to the steel but I have still to find a knife that can give me all the characteristics I like.


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## half_hack (Dec 1, 2011)

my knives start around 60/40, because that's mostly how they come to me. but then they all tend towards 90/10-99/1 because I'm just too lazy to sharpen on both sides...


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## mpukas (Dec 1, 2011)

On my gyutos I do 50/50 - I use the full blase-length sweep method to sharpen (mostly) and I count-down my strokes on each side, so I'm quite certain the bevels on each side are {nearly} identical. 

On my 300 suji, OOTB it appeared to be shapened 99/1 for a rightie, so I continued to sharpen it that way. I wanted it to be as sharp as possible, and I thought the 99/1 edge would be sharper than a 50/50 edge. And it is noticeably sharper than the gyuto of the same steel w/ a 50/50 edge. For small-ish slicing tasks, like portioning a salmon fillet or slicing chicken breast or beef for a stir-fry, I had no issues w/ the 99/1 bevel. However, when I came to slicing something larger, particularly pineapple, the steering was a problem for me. I could not cut the top and bottom ends off of a pineapple and have the cuts square to the long axis. Same w/ making long vertical cut top to bottom when I stood it on end. 

I've since sharpened the left side more to try to alleviate some of the steering, so now it's porlly like a 70/30. Since it's not summer any longer, I've not taken it to any pineapples to see fi the steering is lessened.


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## SpikeC (Dec 1, 2011)

Well keep use posted, fer cryin' out loud!


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## Gator (Dec 1, 2011)

Can't comment on which one is better, but I certainly wanna see a person who will grind 99/1 freehand


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## tk59 (Dec 1, 2011)

Gator said:


> Can't comment on which one is better, but I certainly wanna see a person who will grind 99/1 freehand


What other way is there? I generally do something along the 90/10 range. I have a couple of knives that I've put a so-called 99/1 bevel on, where the right bevel for a right-hander is huge (mine are 1/3 or more up the right face of the blade.). The steering can be a major problem on a 99/1 when splitting thick, hard objects, for example (depending on how much curvature there is on your convex) but they work great for anything on the thinner side. Pretty much all Japanese knives are asymmetrically ground and that is really going to be a much larger effect than the tiny bevels on most edges.


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## l r harner (Dec 1, 2011)

if my grind is 50/50 then thats how i piut the edge on (least i tery to ) 
if i make a single bevel thenn its 99/1 sharpen then deberl the back


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