# noob sharpening question



## Stumblinman (Jan 14, 2013)

I just sharpened my knife (50/50) and it shaves one way but not the other. Is that a tell tale sign of improper technique ? I don't feel a burr.
Thanks


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## Yamabushi (Jan 14, 2013)

By "one way" do you mean direction or side of the knife? Generally IME, it's a little easier to shave arm hair with the grain (elbow --> wrist) than against, so I wouldn't be surprised if you could shave with the grain but not against. The knife needs to be sharper to shave against. If you are talking about the right side of your knife versus the left, that's would most likely have to be your shaving technique.


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## Dusty (Jan 14, 2013)

Try slicing into a piece of paper, you won't always feel a burr wih yr fingers. If the knife drags one way or another, you may have a small burr remaining. 

Also, you say 'one way not the other' it will be easier to shave against the grain of the hair, have you tried flipping the knife and shaving in the same direction?

The real test though is what is it like at cutting food? How will does the edge hold up? You can always buy more onions,but arm hair takes ages to grow back


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## Stumblinman (Jan 14, 2013)

thanks ! I actually tried to do it again and I think maybe one side was still wet from the stones. I was going against both times and I guess one side was a little wet so it slid. I was just about to video went both ways cut hair and I look funny with one arm shaved.  Paper is good with a push, I guess it must have been the water and got me a little concerned. Thanks for the responses !


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## Yamabushi (Jan 14, 2013)

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. Of course cutting product is the only true test, but other than that my litmus test is cutting paper with a push cut, no slicing forward or backward. I like to check like that up and down the knife, and I also like to do a full length slicing cut to check for any burrs or nicks anywhere on the blade.


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## TB_London (Jan 16, 2013)

Being softer and more fibrous i find Paper towels or TP more revealing than paper. It will leave fibres in any burr remaining making them stand out


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## quantumcloud509 (Jan 16, 2013)

TB_London said:


> Being softer and more fibrous i find Paper towels or TP more revealing than paper. It will leave fibres in any burr remaining making them stand out



Nice tip.


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## Stumblinman (Feb 15, 2013)

well didn't try the fibrous but found out, yeah, it was the burr holding me up. Obvious now that I think about it. I was doing the cork burr deal but found that if it isn't a hair burr or ahhhh wire burr it didn't take it off immediately. I guess the burr will be my nemesys for a bit while I find out how to get rid of it other then stropping motion on an old steel 'steel'. All is good right now cause I have the sharpest edge in the restaurant and I am to keep it that way.


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## franzb69 (Feb 15, 2013)

> Being softer and more fibrous i find Paper towels or TP more revealing than paper. It will leave fibres in any burr remaining making them stand out



i noticed this with bob kramer as well.



> well didn't try the fibrous but found out, yeah, it was the burr holding me up. Obvious now that I think about it. I was doing the cork burr deal but found that if it isn't a hair burr or ahhhh wire burr it didn't take it off immediately. I guess the burr will be my nemesys for a bit while I find out how to get rid of it other then stropping motion on an old steel 'steel'. All is good right now cause I have the sharpest edge in the restaurant and I am to keep it that way.



congratulations!


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## Von blewitt (Feb 15, 2013)

I've been using wet newspaper for deburring after I saw it suggested in another thread. Works really well


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## franzb69 (Feb 15, 2013)

murray carter deburs and strops with newspaper. i kinda do that.


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## Von blewitt (Feb 15, 2013)

franzb69 said:


> murray carter deburs and strops with newspaper. i kinda do that.



Try wetting it! For Deburring it works much better, use a lot of sheets, wet them, wrap them around the stone tightly and strop.


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## franzb69 (Feb 15, 2013)

i'll try that out thanks.

i strop with a sheet of news paper folded 2 or 3 times dry to deburr and strop.


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## rdpx (Feb 17, 2013)

Another NOOB SHAROPENING Q - I thought best put here rather than starting a new thread...

The #240 side of my combi stone is almost worn away [the #1000 side is good for a while yet.]

When I replace this, would a #400 stone be more/just as useful? Bear in mind I would need this to sharpen dull old knives belonging to friends as well as any of my own nice knives, so I need something that will still quickly cut through metal....


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## franzb69 (Feb 17, 2013)

Somethinf along the lines of a 150-240 for quickly grinding away metal then 400 for setting the bevel. But that's just me. Less work that way, less need to use up one or two stones and give more life to other stones as well.

Eventually you'll find out on your own what works best for you


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## ThEoRy (Feb 17, 2013)

rdpx said:


> Another NOOB SHAROPENING Q - I thought best put here rather than starting a new thread...
> 
> The #240 side of my combi stone is almost worn away [the #1000 side is good for a while yet.]
> 
> When I replace this, would a #400 stone be more/just as useful? Bear in mind I would need this to sharpen dull old knives belonging to friends as well as any of my own nice knives, so I need something that will still quickly cut through metal....



Gesshin 400, Beston 500 or Choosera 400 are the usual low grit recommendations. With good reason too. Each of them have some really strong points. No real reason to go lower unless you have a ton of steel to remove quickly.


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## ThEoRy (Feb 17, 2013)

Stumblinman said:


> I just sharpened my knife (50/50) and it shaves one way but not the other. Is that a tell tale sign of improper technique ? I don't feel a burr.
> Thanks



I'm surprised no one has asked or maybe I missed it but what knife are you sharpening?


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## Stumblinman (Feb 17, 2013)

It was a Shun classic 8" chef's. I think what was happening was the burr or wire edge was flopping and with some newspaper stropping all was well. I've since moved onto a new knife and will have new questions, like why do some knives get stained gray from the grit and is there any problem with straightening a hollow bevel ?


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## ThEoRy (Feb 17, 2013)

I don't know what a grey stain is. What stone and what knife are you talking about. Maybe some pictures will help. As for flattening a hollow bevel, what do you mean straightening? Fattening? What knife is this as well?


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## rdpx (Feb 17, 2013)

ThEoRy said:


> Gesshin 400, Beston 500 or Choosera 400 are the usual low grit recommendations. With good reason too. Each of them have some really strong points. No real reason to go lower unless you have a ton of steel to remove quickly.



Thanks ThEoRy, I will look out for one of those.


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## stevenStefano (Feb 17, 2013)

Stumblinman said:


> why do some knives get stained gray from the grit?



Not totally sure but are you talking about mud from the stones getting stuck in the cladding? Some knives have cladding so soft you can pretty much scratch it with your fingernail. I have noticed this a few times, most noticeably when thinning a Tojiro DP


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## perneto (Feb 17, 2013)

I meant to ask about this too. I've thinned my Tojiro DP paring knife a bit with a Bester 1200 and now the sides are a matte grey; it does seem like stone mud stuck in the cladding. Is there anything I could do to fix it?


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## stevenStefano (Feb 17, 2013)

I used sandpaper and micromesh pads for mine, was pretty straightforward


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## ThEoRy (Feb 17, 2013)

Pictures would be very helpful.


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## Stumblinman (Feb 18, 2013)

Sorry that was a quick post by me. I'm still figuring out how to take really good pictures. I swear I'll have to set up a mini studio to get the lighting right.  I'm working with a Moritaka 210 Blue Gyuto. I know all about the knife maker/purveyor/history and don't want to go into that in this thread please. What I found out when thinning was the bevel is actually slightly concave for lack of better words. I'm using a King 1000/6000 combo right now. It's not hitting the full bevel and only hitting top and bottom (edge) and in the middle (looking horizontal) it's not hitting and the original grind marks are still there. Aahhhh I know not easy to understand in words. working on pics.


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## franzb69 (Feb 18, 2013)

all i've learned about taking photos are setting my camera on auto and using natural light. lol.

concave? so it's hollow ground?


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## Stumblinman (Feb 18, 2013)

Pretty much where the grey is it doesn't touch the stone. You can see some left to right marks that came from the factory. When I hit it with the 1000 the whole bevel is gray and then the 6K brightens it up. Sorry it's a crap pic and after a couple services.


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## ThEoRy (Feb 18, 2013)

That's just the secondary bevel and while yes it does have some grind issues it can theoretically be flattened. The question is are you sharpening the primary bevel or just laying the wide bevel flat on the stone?


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## franzb69 (Feb 18, 2013)

so what i'm seeing here is that knife used to have a kurouchi finish and you took it off? what knife is that?


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## ThEoRy (Feb 18, 2013)

Moritaka.


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## Stumblinman (Feb 18, 2013)

Thinning might have been the wrong term. OK using this diagram http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/jbladeant.shtml I was hitting D My thought was to straighten that out to get a good base line. The thinking was as I sharpened the cutting edge if I had the base line I could watch the progression of blade wear and know when to thin later. Plus it had a slight belly and the heel seemed to be too large so I ground it down so it's flatter and thought I could make the 'D' uniform. Also the cladding was almost down to the cutting edge in one part so I was hoping it would thin when working on the 'D' part. Let me know where I'm going wrong and right if you don't mind. 

Yes it had the k-o finish but with use it wears easily. I got tired of seeing black on my rag and took a green scrubby to it briefly. It seemed to slow it down a little (blackness) but didn't affect performance.


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## franzb69 (Feb 18, 2013)

i would strip it too if that happened to me =D


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## Stumblinman (Feb 21, 2013)

Hmmm seems like I'm on my own on this one.


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## ThEoRy (Feb 21, 2013)




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## Stumblinman (Feb 21, 2013)

gotcha, honestly I'm eyeballing the Gesshin Ginga 210mm White #2 Wa-Gyuto right now. but thought I could get my sharpening 'what to look fors' done now


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## Crothcipt (Feb 21, 2013)

There are reasons why Dave doesn't sharpen Moritaka's any more. Sad thing is they seem to be very plentiful with problems.


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