# re-profiling Masamoto VG gyuto



## ruscal (May 6, 2013)

hi chaps

since getting a Konosuke i rarely use my Masamoto gyuto

so i thought i'd have a go at re-profiling the Masamoto

i wasn't sure if i'd need to take metal off the blade, or the spine, or a combination of both

here's a pic of the Masamoto:








and here's a pic of the Konosuke. it's this profile that i'm hoping to get close to with the Masamoto:







so i took both of those pics into photoshop and had a fiddle. ended up with this image. decided i'd rather leave the blade side as is and just fiddle with the spine side:







then i took a sharpie and marked on the Masamoto what i'm thinking about taking off:







i'm planning on using a #120 grit silicon carbide sharpening stone to take off the area's marked with the sharpie

what do you guys think? good idea, bad idea, anything you'd do different?


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## ruscal (May 6, 2013)

here's a better photoshop pic with the Konosuke layered over the marked up Masamoto:







stone has had a chance to soak now so gonna have a go.... wish me luck...


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## Miles (May 6, 2013)

I hope this doesn't come out the wrong way, but before you go about removing a bunch of metal, what exactly are you trying to accomplish? How is it that you want it to be different, aside from just altering the basic blade shape and removing weight? What is the desired change in performance that you're after?


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## stevenStefano (May 6, 2013)

I wouldn't do anything to the spine, it's kinda pointless and will take a long time. It might make the tip a little thinner but for the time and effort I doubt you would notice much of a difference. If I were to do anything I'd thin the blade a little and leave it at that, or maybe get it rehandled


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## Miles (May 6, 2013)

stevenStefano said:


> I wouldn't do anything to the spine, it's kinda pointless and will take a long time. It might make the tip a little thinner but for the time and effort I doubt you would notice much of a difference. If I were to do anything I'd thin the blade a little and leave it at that, or maybe get it rehandled



If it's just a physical appearance thing and/or you want to remove some weight, by all means, proceed. It won't affect the performance of the knife, but if you like the performance of the Kono, you need to look at how the geometry, or cross section of the blade compares with the Masamoto. They're both very good knives, but the geometry is much different. If you want more of that "blade falls through food" performance from the Masamoto, you'll find that thinning the blade on the right side behind the edge will do more to change the cutting performance than will removing metal from the spine. Removing metal from the spine will only affect the weight and the aesthetic, not the cutting performance. Before you proceed, make sure that your efforts will produce the desired effect.


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## ruscal (May 6, 2013)

well, an hour later and i havent actually achieved much beyond putting a groove into both of the thin sides of my flattening stone...

i might have taken half a mm off the masamoto... but barely enough to notice

that was all a bit disappointing really...


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## berko (May 6, 2013)

maybe consider selling it and buy another kono?


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## SpikeC (May 6, 2013)

If you want to remove some metal, for whatever reason, your best bet is a very coarse diamond plate, unless you want to invest in power equipment.


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## mhlee (May 6, 2013)

I wouldn't even bother with any kind of stone. Buy a grinder. For less than $50, you can get one.

If you use a diamond plate, which are not cheap, you'll likely reduce its lifespan by at least 25% to take off as much metal as you want. (I fixed a tip and reprofiled a 120 petty using my Atoma 140 and it wasn't the same. It's about $80 for the replacement plate. I'm still pissed at myself.) And, as you've learned, using a stone will take a long time.


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## ruscal (May 6, 2013)

thanks for the advice and support guys - i really appreciate it

ok, well i spent another hour with it on the silicon carbide stone... and i think i'm starting to get somewhere with it. profile is starting to look a bit more french and a little less like a santoku

here's a side-by-side comparison

BEFORE





AFTER


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## Mrmnms (May 6, 2013)

If you charged yourself by the hour, You could afford to buy a new knife in a a week or so. Best of luck by hand.


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## ruscal (May 6, 2013)

Mrmnms said:


> If you charged yourself by the hour, You could afford to buy a new knife in a a week or so. Best of luck by hand.



lol. i was thinking the same thing...


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## panda (May 7, 2013)

i'm glad you didn't alter the bottom of the blade because that profile is killer! i guess you just wanted a pointier tip?


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## TB_London (May 11, 2013)

Doing it with a stone would be painful. If you're uk based happy to help out with my belt grinder if you mark up the areas you want grinding down.


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## ruscal (May 11, 2013)

hey - thats real nice of you!

might take you up on that bro 



TB_London said:


> Doing it with a stone would be painful. If you're uk based happy to help out with my belt grinder if you mark up the areas you want grinding down.


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## TB_London (May 11, 2013)

No problem, with power and ceramic belts these sorts of things are pretty quick to do


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