# Sharpening Session



## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

I have some work to do, YES!!!!


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## tk59 (May 22, 2011)

nice. i wish i had all those to work on... =)


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

Kind of cool, I am going to do 7 different knives, all different steels, the angles to the bevels are different on most of the knives. Most are pretty close just may have been thinned behind the edge if needed. But I am going to be starting on the beston/er 1200 for all of them. I rarely do this because usually I do not need to go this low but I since i need to sharpen all of them I figure why not feel them on the stones side by side.


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## Lefty (May 22, 2011)

That's amazing! There's no way those are all yours (minus the obvious), is there???


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

those are all mine minus the Pierre knife. 
top to bottom in second pic-
Kikiuchi carbon hankotsu
240mm virgin carbon masamoto gyuto
240 dt itk aeb-l
240 shigefus kasumi
konosuke fujiyama white #1 gyuto
Pierre Damasteel pass around knife
240mm tadatsuna white #2 suji


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

sharpening material-
500 beston- not using that today
dmt plate both xxc and xc
stone holder
bester 1200
rika 5k
kitayama 8k
jks 10k
immanishi 10k
felt block/strop
leather strop with diamond .25 from dave
chosera nagura
o yea and little squeeze bottle with water

my keyboard now has slurry marks


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## Lefty (May 22, 2011)

That's my fault. At least it isn't an iPhone!


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

I threw that comment in there just for you, I did semi wipe my hands before typing.


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## UglyJoe (May 22, 2011)

mat, how do you like that tad suji? I was thinking about getting one a while back.


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## Lefty (May 22, 2011)

Wait...white 1 konosuke?


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## UglyJoe (May 22, 2011)

Lefty said:


> Wait...white 1 konosuke?


 
It's the fujiyama series. This is basically their custom line, you can get the knife made to thickness (within reason) out of almost any of the Japanese steels. They are forged, have a (slightly) better fit and finish, and are a good bit more expensive. Contact Jon for all of the various options.


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## tim0mit (May 22, 2011)

Last time i sharpened this many knives i gave myself a stone burn deep enough to bleed so beware the stone!


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

UglyJoe said:


> It's the fujiyama series. This is basically their custom line, you can get the knife made to thickness (within reason) out of almost any of the Japanese steels. They are forged, have a (slightly) better fit and finish, and are a good bit more expensive. Contact Jon for all of the various options.


 
Yep thats right, I got this one I while back before Jon was up and running but I would absolutely recommend this knife to anyone. awesome knife, well all of the ones I am sharpening right now are pretty darn good knives to say the least. 

The tadatsuna is a very nice knife, took me a little getting used to as I used to use a heavier slicer before this, but I use it as service knife, also breaking fish with it. I have cut through ribcages and smaller bones on fish with this guy and never any chipping. I am actually going to be selling it soon as I want to try out a new slicer for work so if interested let me know or keep your eyes peeled at the sale section. It has been used and sharpened a decent amount but it is in great shape.


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## Lefty (May 22, 2011)

Thanks for the explanation guys! 
I think I'll split the difference with a white 1 Carter and a white 2 konosuke for now! 
Sounds like a wicked knife, though.


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## Cadillac J (May 22, 2011)

tk59 said:


> nice. i wish i had all those to work on... =)


 
Me too! What I would give to have several nice knives that all need to be run through a full progression.

That is the problem with being OCD when it comes to my edges...they are almost always at peak sharpness from stropping and touching up on polishing stones on a weekly basis. Seems like the only time I get to bust out my Chosera 600 anymore is when getting a new knife (which I stopped collection) or deciding to thin an edge that really doesn't need it. Junkies need their fix.


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## tk59 (May 22, 2011)

tim0mit said:


> Last time i sharpened this many knives i gave myself a stone burn deep enough to bleed so beware the stone!


Yeah. I've been fixing a 300mm yanagi and I've got a couple of fingers that are threatening to spill. 

CJ: Amen, bro.


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## Lefty (May 22, 2011)

I was told by a wise man that a bit of thumb blood makes the slurry extra effective, and every great knife should be christened with it.
Ok, I wasn't, but I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets those. I thought I should return to hard physical labor to build my hands back up, for a minute!


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## kswick (May 22, 2011)

mattrud said:


> Yep thats right, I got this one I while back before Jon was up and running but I would absolutely recommend this knife to anyone. awesome knife, well all of the ones I am sharpening right now are pretty darn good knives to say the least.
> 
> The tadatsuna is a very nice knife, took me a little getting used to as I used to use a heavier slicer before this, but I use it as service knife, also breaking fish with it. I have cut through ribcages and smaller bones on fish with this guy and never any chipping. I am actually going to be selling it soon as I want to try out a new slicer for work so if interested let me know or keep your eyes peeled at the sale section. It has been used and sharpened a decent amount but it is in great shape.


 
I'm going to be in the market for a suji soon, PM me when you're ready to part with it, please.

Have fun, I get tired after working on 3 knives - let alone 7!


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

Cadillac J said:


> Me too! What I would give to have several nice knives that all need to be run through a full progression.
> 
> That is the problem with being OCD when it comes to my edges...they are almost always at peak sharpness from stropping and touching up on polishing stones on a weekly basis. Seems like the only time I get to bust out my Chosera 600 anymore is when getting a new knife (which I stopped collection) or deciding to thin an edge that really doesn't need it. Junkies need their fix.


 
I am the exact same way. I almost never have to do more than a few touch ups but I have been so busy lately I did not have time to sharpen them so I just cycled through different knives. I did not need to sharpen all of these knives to 1200 grit but I decided to do it with all of them so I could feel the difference.


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

Alright I am finished. I took a couple breaks and took my time. Not really in a rush with anything today. Actually really fun and interesting to do all those knives and steels side by side. Feel the difference along the way and at different grit levels and sharpness.


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## Lefty (May 22, 2011)

We want details, sir!


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## tk59 (May 22, 2011)

any significant differences? (i know "significant" is different for everybody)


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## EdipisReks (May 22, 2011)

tim0mit said:


> Last time i sharpened this many knives i gave myself a stone burn deep enough to bleed so beware the stone!


 
i manage to avoid those nowadays, but i get blisters where my palm meets my right index and ring fingers under the callous, from how i hold the knives, after a couple hours. doesn't hurt, but it feels weird.


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## steeley (May 22, 2011)

More pics please.


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## mattrud (May 22, 2011)

I would not say significant but they all feel slightly different. The only one to feel very different from the others was the damasteel, next the aeb-l. All the carbon knives feel relatively similar but have slight differences in feel, burr development, as well as toughness. 

sharpness is also slightly different in all of them. I am not talking cutting ability but just initial edge sharpness. By the end of sharpening most of them are pretty darn close in sharpness, almost no noticeable difference. 

I will say I feel like at every grit level the shigefusa was the sharpest followed very closely by the konosuke white#1. these two are also among the best feel/smallest bevels of any of the knives. Also very fine burrs. 

After stropping on the leather and diamond the edges become very very close on all of the knives. The virgin carbon and kikiuchi get super sharp as well, but have a bit of a colder feeling if that makes sense. The aeb-l feels close to carbon, grinds very easily, but from use of the knife it is super tough, it feels softer on the stones than how it actually performs, also will get just about as sharp as any carbon knife. but does not quite have that same feeling on stones as the shig and konosuke. 

when it comes to use and retention and practicality they start to get really different. But as far as sharpening it is lots of little stuff. sorry for the bit of a rambling response. If you have more specific questions I could answer better.


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## tk59 (May 22, 2011)

Thanks. I appreciate the rambling, actually. What do you mean by the damasteel feeling very different?


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## mattrud (May 23, 2011)

everything else I sharpened was carbon/aeb-l which has a carbon-esque feel, Damasteel did not feel in that manner, a little colder on the stones, felt more like a stainless


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## Cadillac J (May 23, 2011)

mattrud said:


> everything else I sharpened was carbon/aeb-l which has a carbon-esque feel, Damasteel did not feel in that manner, a little colder on the stones, felt more like a stainless


 
I thought the Damasteel was very similar to VG10 in performance, but it did feel better to me one the stones. Then again, I didn't go through my normal progression and grind my own edge into it...I only touched up the original edge on a 5K stone, so maybe I didn't get enough feedback this way.


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## Lefty (May 23, 2011)

I'm hoping to get it back for a bit at the end of the passaround and I plan on seeing how it feels at coarse, medium and finely polished to see if it outshines my favorite stainless steels and s35vn.


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## tim0mit (May 23, 2011)

How do you get all the junk off your fingers after that many knives? I have black cuticles for days after sharpening.


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## tk59 (May 23, 2011)

I've spent about 5 hrs grinding on stones over the last couple days and I have a little around my fingernail tips. What are you doing with that swarf, anyway? oke1:


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## steeley (May 23, 2011)

get busy.


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## steeley (May 24, 2011)

freaking new image host.


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## steeley (May 24, 2011)

LY Nhen village .



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## steeley (May 24, 2011)

THIS is a sharpening session.



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## Cnimativ (May 24, 2011)

that looks like vietnam? is he tempering or actually sharpening?


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## steeley (May 24, 2011)

that was the heat treat .now a little grinding.



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## Mattias504 (May 24, 2011)

Yet another thread that makes me want to get a Shigefusa gyuto.....


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## PierreRodrigue (May 24, 2011)

Hi Matt, the damasteel is stainless. Interested to here more on that one...


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## Potato42 (May 25, 2011)

Man that looks like what I need to do for my herd. It takes me forever just to sharpen one with all the prep and cleanup, I've been putting it off. This thread got me thinking about the different steels I have to sharpen though. White #2, AS, Blue #2, ACUTO440, CPM154, VG10, SK4, S30V and at least a couple of unknown carbon steels. Honestly I hadn't realized the variety of steels I had it just sort of happened.


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## tim0mit (May 25, 2011)

tk59 said:


> I've spent about 5 hrs grinding on stones over the last couple days and I have a little around my fingernail tips. What are you doing with that swarf, anyway? oke1:


 
I think it probably has a lot to do with the 2 stones I'm using. King 1.2k and arashiyama 6k both very muddy stones.


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