# Daily Sharpening Pics



## cotedupy

How about a complimentary thread to go with @HumbleHomeCook 's knife thread...

What have you whetted recently? What stones did you use?


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## cotedupy

Pics from today, before some maintenance thinning and sharpening on some of the knives my wife uses most; Pallares Solsona, and 3 x Blenheim Forge:







SG 500 for thinning. And then a stone I should use more, because it's very good - a quite light coloured Idwal / Grecian a bit over 5x2"


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## cotedupy

Just me buggering around on stones every day is it? Very well then...

Three Ishizuchi knives on Sigma Select II 1k, followed by a relatively coarse coticule.


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## VICTOR J CREAZZI

Touched up my gyuto on a washita today, but no pictures.


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## HumbleHomeCook

The Shapton Glass 2k doing some routine maintenance on some oft used knives.






Suncraft Senzo Black - VG10
Masakane - SK (15 maybe?)
MAC Pro - I believe widely accepted as AUS-8


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## cotedupy

HumbleHomeCook said:


> The Shapton Glass 2k doing some routine maintenance on some oft used knives.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Suncraft Senzo Black - VG10
> Masakane - SK (15 maybe?)
> MAC Pro - I believe widely accepted as AUS-8



I've never used it, but I imagine that's a pretty good stone for that!

I do quite quite a lot of maintenance / repair of our knives, as my wife can chip Japanese steel just by thinking about dinner. Though her very rough and draggy rock-chopping doesn't help matters, nor does it when she decides one of our smartest AS knives is the best thing for hacking through incredibly hard pork crackling.

That was the Blenheim Forge on the left of this pic a couple of days ago. You can't really see it in the picture but there's chipping all the way allong the edge. Restored with a Washita and a mystery (probably German or UK) slate:


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## cotedupy

Then noticed this evening that the Mazaki gyuto used last night now also needs some attention. This one was probably my fault too though - I'd thinned it a bit and probably should have re-built the edge slightly thicker, knowing it was going to be somewhat bashed about. And I clearly hadn't completely deburred it properly either, as there was a couple of cm that feel like it's folded.

Going again on a Washita, this time an old Pike Lily White:


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## HumbleHomeCook

cotedupy said:


> I've never used it, but I imagine that's a pretty good stone for that!
> 
> I do quite quite a lot of maintenance / repair of our knives, as my wife can chip Japanese steel just by thinking about dinner. Though her very rough and draggy rock-chopping doesn't help matters, nor does it when she decides one of our smartest AS knives is the best thing for hacking through incredibly hard pork crackling.
> 
> That was the Blenheim Forge on the left of this pic a couple of days ago. You can't really see it in the picture but there's chipping all the way allong the edge. Restored with a Washita and a mystery (probably German or UK) slate:
> 
> View attachment 147742



The SG2k was my first water stone and I love it. I skipped right over the 1k and now have a 500, 2k, and 4k. All excellent but the 2k really is my go-to kitchen finisher for most of my knives.


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## cotedupy

There is no god.


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## Pie

Does polishing count as sharpening? I mean, I guess I did touch up the edge in the process.. 








Quick patina removal and working kasumi on soft Hideriyama with hard suita slurry. I suspect not much suita made it into the mud, mostly soft base stone. As such the resulting edge was decent, good bite remains but could stand to be keener. These softer stones make touch ups pretty satisfying, refreshes the toothiness nicely and fun to use.


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## HumbleHomeCook

Tsunehisa Ginsan nakiri getting some Shapton Glass 4000 love.


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## Pie

Tonight’s lineup and victim - yellow monosteel higo vs low grade amakusa, binsui, mystery medium asagi, and mystery iromono vintage razor stone as a finisher. Gonna try that “deep gouges under kasumi” finish a la mazaki


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## refcast

Pie said:


> Tonight’s lineup and victim - yellow monosteel higo vs low grade amakusa, binsui, mystery medium asagi, and mystery iromono vintage razor stone as a finisher. Gonna try that “deep gouges under kasumi” finish a la mazaki



Were you able to make the asagi base yourself?


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## cotedupy

Pie said:


> Tonight’s lineup and victim - yellow monosteel higo vs low grade amakusa, binsui, mystery medium asagi, and mystery iromono vintage razor stone as a finisher. Gonna try that “deep gouges under kasumi” finish a la mazaki View attachment 148402



Nice rocks!

When you say 'medium' asagi - what kinda grit level finish would you guess at roughly...?


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## cotedupy

Some if my sharpening in the last couple of days...

Two SRs on a little old Norton translucent, that I steamed the label off so I could have one side burnished and the other rough:






And doing some coarser work on a knife I made myself, plus sharpening a sloyd knife and meuchi spike which I use for woodworking. Turkish Oilstone, dunno but it's stupidly hard and fine, Medium India, Shapton Pro 12k:






That was the first time I'd used that particular India stone in earnest, and feck me is it good! Seems faster than comparable level SiC stones, while finishing finer. I used it for thinning, bevel set, and sharpening, and got here in about 5 mins. Really superb stone:


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## Pie

Update - f this bs, NP400. Man my coarse jnat selection is


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## Pie

cotedupy said:


> Nice rocks!
> 
> When you say 'medium' asagi - what kinda grit level finish would you guess at roughly...?


Thanks! Only the last 2 are worth anything, truth be told. The asagi is around 7-9k finish depending on the prep? It’s deceptively fine for the feel, and the edges are on the crispy side for a less than hard stone.

Also you have an *incredible* variety of stones. And things to sharpen. 

@refcast yeah! It’s dental plaster, works pretty good.


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## cotedupy

Pie said:


> Thanks! Only the last 2 are worth anything, truth be told. The asagi is around 7-9k finish depending on the prep? It’s deceptively fine for the feel, and the edges are on the crispy side for a less than hard stone.
> 
> Also you have an *incredible* variety of stones. And things to sharpen.
> 
> @refcast yeah! It’s dental plaster, works pretty good.



Interesting! I also have a 'mystery Asagi' though it might be a little finer/harder than yours; it's a bit too hard for nice polishing on cladding, I use it as a razor finisher to good effect. Your description of yours acting finer than it feels is similar though; it's quite a nice silken-feeling stone for something quite hard and fine 






And cheers! Yes, I do have quite a lot of stones... '_too_ many' according to my wife. Though I justify it, at least to myself, because it's part of what I do for work - not all of the knives in my pics above are mine.

I do like to collect and try out quite a wide variety of stones. Good jnats are very nice, especially for polishing, but there are quite a few other things out there are markedly better for sharpening (imo), and seem to get no attention here at all. In particular; old Washitas and Turkish are exceptional stones, which I use all the time, at least as much as synthetics.

---

You've inspired me though to crack out my own cheap Binsui for a bit of bevel and polishing work on a couple of things later. On the left here, along with a natural Coticule/BBW combo (both surprsingly good for polishing) , and an old jnat from Iyo. Knives are a Mazaki petty, and a small-ish yanagi that I restored:






And if it doesn't work out - I'll probably follow your lead and go back down to a SG500!


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## cotedupy

Forgive a shoddy nighttime picture but Belgian Blue Whetstone is rapidly becoming my favourite mid-grit polishing stone:






The one used for that is quite a coarse BBW, so the core steel isn't all that bright - I'll use another stone after. But the cladding is just lovely, even, and with a very light scratch pattern.


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## Pie

cotedupy said:


> Interesting! I also have a 'mystery Asagi' though it might be a little finer/harder than yours; it's a bit too hard for nice polishing on cladding, I use it as a razor finisher to good effect. Your description of yours acting finer than it feels is similar though; it's quite a nice silken-feeling stone for something quite hard and fine
> 
> View attachment 148436
> 
> 
> And cheers! Yes, I do have quite a lot of stones... '_too_ many' according to my wife. Though I justify it, at least to myself, because it's part of what I do for work - not all of the knives in my pics above are mine.
> 
> I do like to collect and try out quite a wide variety of stones. Good jnats are very nice, especially for polishing, but there are quite a few other things out there are markedly better for sharpening (imo), and seem to get no attention here at all. In particular; old Washitas and Turkish are exceptional stones, which I use all the time, at least as much as synthetics.
> 
> ---
> 
> You've inspired me though to crack out my own cheap Binsui for a bit of bevel and polishing work on a couple of things later. On the left here, along with a natural Coticule/BBW combo (both surprsingly good for polishing) , and an old jnat from Iyo. Knives are a Mazaki petty, and a small-ish yanagi that I restored:
> 
> View attachment 148437
> 
> 
> And if it doesn't work out - I'll probably follow your lead and go back down to a SG500!



That asagi was my gateway jnat, an eye opener in terms of how they behave vs synthetics. Comparatively much trickier for polishing, but versatile and intriguing on edges. I do like the feedback from natural stones overall. I’d love to expand my collection, but my main downfall is not spending enough time with each stone learning the nuances. I will live vicariously through those such as yourself for the time being . 








The jnat progression didn’t even get off the ground, the amakusa barely fogged up the steel - just didn’t have the cutting power. Great learning point in that I’ve never actually experienced how different steels behave on the same stone. Iron cladding feels like mush compared to SK monosteel. Ended up going Naniwa synthetic from 400 to 12000 going for mirror finish. Another interesting thing is how hugely difficult perfect mirror polish is. 



Better luck next time .

Edge work coming up next. 

edit: my apologies for being so wildly off topic. Please let me know if I’m clogging up the thread with my ramblings!


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## cotedupy

Pie said:


> That asagi was my gateway jnat, an eye opener in terms of how they behave vs synthetics. Comparatively much trickier for polishing, but versatile and intriguing on edges. I do like the feedback from natural stones overall. I’d love to expand my collection, but my main downfall is not spending enough time with each stone learning the nuances. I will live vicariously through those such as yourself for the time being . View attachment 148535
> 
> 
> View attachment 148534
> 
> The jnat progression didn’t even get off the ground, the amakusa barely fogged up the steel - just didn’t have the cutting power. Great learning point in that I’ve never actually experienced how different steels behave on the same stone. Iron cladding feels like mush compared to SK monosteel. Ended up going Naniwa synthetic from 400 to 12000 going for mirror finish. Another interesting thing is how hugely difficult perfect mirror polish is. View attachment 148536
> 
> Better luck next time .
> 
> Edge work coming up next.
> 
> edit: my apologies for being so wildly off topic. Please let me know if I’m clogging up the thread with my ramblings!



Not at all - I think you're entirely on topic! My Asagi also has something about the feel, that's a bit tricky to describe but just distinctly jnat-y...

When I got it originally ($25 Aus off ebay) I had no idea what it was. A jnat wasn't even on my radar, as I thought it so vanishingly unlikely for a cheap ebay stone, which someone had picked up from and old bloke who'd had it since he was a carpenter in the 50s. When wet it's more green-blue-grey the pic above, and I was thinking perhaps some kind of very light coloured Idwal.

But as soon as I tried it out it out I realised it had to be Japanese. The next thing I immediately realised that the thin white layer I'd lapped off the bottom wasn't old glue - it was sealing it. So I had to re-do that. Duh! Still... a very welcome, and somewhat improbable find .


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## cotedupy

Decided to finish the polish of the little yanagiba from yesterday using just BBWs. The larger one on the right is another one naturally bonded to a BBW, which is a bit too hard and abrasive for a nice finish (though is an excellent sharpening stone). The smaller is probably the softest and slowest of the three:






That was the final stone I used in my all-BBW kasumi progression, and I'm pretty happy with it tbh. It's not quite mirror on the core, but there's some nice contrast I think, and the scratch pattern is almost invisible.


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## cotedupy

Another episode of Fixing Knives My Wife Has Been Using...

This time involving my very, very thin new-stone-testing-knife. Which is absolutely fine to be used for most food, but what it is *not* is a crusty-sourdough-breadknife. Particularly the kind that gets left wet on the draining board after:






Did it up on the stone in the middle here. Which is one I made from a piece of local slate I found. It polishes rather nicely too I think.


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## esoo

Touching up a Kono MM


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## ian

Tonight’s load.


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## cotedupy

ian said:


> View attachment 149329
> 
> Tonight’s load.



That's a lotta finger guards!  

What stones do you use for this kind of knife?


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## ian

cotedupy said:


> That's a lotta finger guards!
> 
> What stones do you use for this kind of knife?



It varies. Today, I used Chosera 400 and 800.

I also started on the 2x72: ground down all finger guards that needed attention, fixed a couple tips, and did a few passes on a 120 grit belt on knives that looked like the edges were chipped or too thick. No more wailing on super coarse stones for this kind of work.

Only did the ones on the kitchen towel tonight. My wife apparently wanted my company, so the other knives must wait.


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## BillHanna

Two Mercers are in the mail.


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## cotedupy

ian said:


> It varies. Today, I used Chosera 400 and 800.
> 
> I also started on the 2x72: ground down all finger guards that needed attention, fixed a couple tips, and did a few passes on a 120 grit belt on knives that looked like the edges were chipped or too thick. No more wailing on super coarse stones for this kind of work.
> 
> Only did the ones on the kitchen towel tonight. My wife apparently wanted my company, so the other knives must wait.








I have to crack out the old Norton Coarse n Fine, which is fine for chip repairs and bevel work. But the bloody finger guards...!


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## cotedupy

I keep getting out my Shibata Tinker Tank and CCK 2204 when doing other knives, and then putting them off because they're both fearsomely difficult to sharpen.

But we have friends over for BBQ tomorrow, so I will get round to it this afternoon. As a 'Pom' I have learnt it is imperative to both impress, and instill fear, in the locals at such an occasion. Otherwise there will be extensive grumblings about how it's "not a sausage sizzle". It also allows them to make their favourite Crocodile Dundee joke _ad nauseum, _which seems to placate them somewhat.

TT only needs a touch up and will go on the Pike Lily White at the bottom. CCK on the Medium India* at the top, then maybe the coarse Washita in the middle after.







* One of the world's _great _sharpening stones. Was part of a job lot and I only started using it recently - a spectacularly good stone, at 240 JIS I believe.


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## MowgFace

esoo said:


> Touching up a Kono MM
> View attachment 149259



What stones?


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## Pie

cotedupy said:


> I keep getting out my Shibata Tinker Tank and CCK 2204 when doing other knives, and then putting them off because they're both fearsomely difficult to sharpen.
> 
> But we have friends over for BBQ tomorrow, so I will get round to it this afternoon. As a 'Pom' I have learnt it is imperative to both impress, and instill fear, in the locals at such an occasion. Otherwise there will be extensive grumblings about how it's "not a sausage sizzle". It also allows them to make their favourite Crocodile Dundee joke _ad nauseum, _which seems to placate them somewhat.
> 
> TT only needs a touch up and will go on the Pike Lily White at the bottom. CCK on the Medium India* at the top, then maybe the coarse Washita in the middle after.
> 
> View attachment 149354
> 
> 
> 
> * One of the world's _great _sharpening stones. Was part of a job lot and I only started using it recently - a spectacularly good stone, at 240 JIS I believe.


That CCK makes the tinker look like a toy


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## M1k3

BillHanna said:


> Two Mercers are in the mail.


Venev diamond stones. You can thank me later.


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## esoo

MowgFace said:


> What stones?



Shapton Glass 3K and Shapton Pro 12K.

I've found that the SG3K gives me the perfect toothy sharp kitchen edge. I then use the SP12K like a strop and it takes that edge to the next level.


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## HumbleHomeCook

cotedupy said:


> I keep getting out my Shibata Tinker Tank and CCK 2204 when doing other knives, and then putting them off because they're both fearsomely difficult to sharpen.
> 
> But we have friends over for BBQ tomorrow, so I will get round to it this afternoon. As a 'Pom' I have learnt it is imperative to both impress, and instill fear, in the locals at such an occasion. Otherwise there will be extensive grumblings about how it's "not a sausage sizzle". It also allows them to make their favourite Crocodile Dundee joke _ad nauseum, _which seems to placate them somewhat.
> 
> TT only needs a touch up and will go on the Pike Lily White at the bottom. CCK on the Medium India* at the top, then maybe the coarse Washita in the middle after.
> 
> View attachment 149354
> 
> 
> 
> * One of the world's _great _sharpening stones. Was part of a job lot and I only started using it recently - a spectacularly good stone, at 240 JIS I believe.



Norton India stones are fantastic. Although I don't use it as often any more, my Fine would be one of the very last stones you'd get away from me because I know I can do of things with it if I need to. I do still use it and love it when I do.


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## captaincaed

M1k3 said:


> Venev diamond stones. You can thank me later.


Diamonds have become his boy's best friend, for sure.


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## M1k3

captaincaed said:


> Diamonds have become his boy's best friend, for sure.


First time using them on the cheapest Mercer's and other assorted "cheap soft mystery stainless" I was a believer for sure.


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## ian

M1k3 said:


> First time using them on the cheapest Mercer's and other assorted "cheap soft mystery stainless" I was a believer for sure.



Damn, I have to get some eventually


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## M1k3

ian said:


> Damn, I have to get some eventually


Yeah, in your case you can do belt grinder > Venev and done! No need for cereal box strop unless you're feeling fancy.


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## ian

M1k3 said:


> Yeah, in your case you can do belt grinder > Venev and done! No need for cereal box strip unless you're feeling fancy.



Really? Hmmmm. That is tempting.

Speaking of sharpening, I feel like I still have a ton to learn about doing it most efficiently…. Hopefully I’ll learn by doing, but it also seems like I’m apt to just keep doing it the way I do it and never really adapt to other methods. Gotta break the cycle!

I also am always uncertain whether to thin soft stainless knives for people. Probably best to be conservative when people treat it like an axe, and since I don’t use the knives I don’t know personally how thin an edge they can really take before folding over or whatever.

Also, this is hard stainless, not soft, but a client brought me an Aritsugu wide bevel a while back, and I was so excited I sent it back with a proper “thin to zero + hamaguri” edge. That was stupid. Client returns a couple weeks later with a big chip in her knife.


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## adrianopedro

Knives of today sharpening session


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## M1k3

ian said:


> Really? Hmmmm. That is tempting.
> 
> Speaking of sharpening, I feel like I still have a ton to learn about doing it most efficiently…. Hopefully I’ll learn by doing, but it also seems like I’m apt to just keep doing it the way I do it and never really adapt to other methods. Gotta break the cycle!
> 
> I also am always uncertain whether to thin soft stainless knives for people. Probably best to be conservative when people treat it like an axe, and since I don’t use the knives I don’t know personally how thin an edge they can really take before folding over or whatever.
> 
> Also, this is hard stainless, not soft, but a client brought me an Aritsugu wide bevel a while back, and I was so excited I sent it back with a proper “thin to zero + hamaguri” edge. That was stupid. Client returns a couple weeks later with a big chip in her knife.


Not necessarily a full thinning, but, soften the shoulder just behind the edge. Think a long the lines of Cliff Stamp's method of sharpening.


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## ian

M1k3 said:


> Not necessarily a full thinning, but, soften the shoulder just behind the edge. Think a long the lines of Cliff Stamp's method of sharpening.



 I usually cut in what’s essentially a pretty low angle bevel and then a more conservative primary bevel. Sometimes I wonder if it’s enough, tho.


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## ModRQC

ian said:


> I usually cut in what’s essentially a pretty low angle bevel and then a more conservative primary bevel. Sometimes I wonder if it’s enough, tho.


 
It is in my experience, until the customer tried to cut bones improperly or throws a drunken party where one of the guests decides to use his knive to « sabrer le champagne »…  

Otherwise they’re very happy with the edges for a long time - too long in my book, but if there’s something hard to teach to some folks is when their knives are dull.

Edit: Especially if you’ve thinned them that way, the extra performance has customers believe a completely dull knife « is still sharp ».


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## M1k3

ian said:


> I usually cut in what’s essentially a pretty low angle bevel and then a more conservative primary bevel. Sometimes I wonder if it’s enough, tho.


They're used to that fat edge behind the edge. Anything thinner than before will be an improvement. Plus it adds a bit of convexity. To thin of an edge will fold, chip or crack.


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## cotedupy

ian said:


> I usually cut in what’s essentially a pretty low angle bevel and then a more conservative primary bevel. Sometimes I wonder if it’s enough, tho.



This is usually what I do too. Mind you an awful lot of the stuff I do for other people has fairly significant chipping / general disrepair to begin with, so I usually have to re-do that part anyway.


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## cotedupy

Nice day for some outside sharpening and polishing on a few things that could do with a bit of tidying up. Ishizuchi 165mm Kiritsuke*, Kai 165mm Bunka, Okeya 150mm Unagisaki, Ishizuchi 150mm Kiritsuke*:






Stones looking pretty too! SG500, King 800, King 1200, Tanaka Aoto, BBW, Old Iyo. 2 x Turkish Oilstones.







* These are double-bevel versions. I am calling them Kiritsuke because that's what Ishizuchi call them when I buy the blades. Just in case any of you purists are getting worried about nomenclature .


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## Pie

Light touch up on a new Takeda 270mm gyuto. This one came with a decent edge, I tried Takeda’s touch up method, but still didn’t quite get there. Shobu suita/Tsushima nagura (can’t get enough of this thing), quite keen, decently toothy. Isn’t at the keenness of a hard finisher, but is very smooth with some feedback through paper towel. Resulting edge feels a bit different than white #2, possibly somewhat aggressive? Although more likely my technique is inconsistent. 

Having done a full synthetic sharpen on a similarly ground bunka, I much, much prefer doing a more extensive touch up on natural stones, as it takes much less steel off. The angles are hard to keep when grinding at lower grits, and small mistakes turn into big ones when you have to grind away at a 6mm wide bevel made of 2 different steels. Definitely not excited for the first full sharpen of the sujihiki version of this.


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## tostadas

cotedupy said:


> Nice day for some outside sharpening and polishing on a few things that could do with a bit of tidying up. Ishizuchi 165mm Kiritsuke*, Kai 165mm Bunka, Okeya 150mm Unagisaki, Ishizuchi 150mm Kiritsuke*:
> 
> View attachment 149845
> 
> 
> Stones looking pretty too! SG500, King 800, King 1200, Tanaka Aoto, BBW, Old Iyo. 2 x Turkish Oilstones.
> 
> View attachment 149846
> 
> 
> 
> * These are double-bevel versions. I am calling them Kiritsuke because that's what Ishizuchi call them when I buy the blades. Just in case any of you purists are getting worried about nomenclature .


What's the wood on the far left handle?


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## Pie

Not a sharpening picture per se, but rare footage of my stones being allowed onto the kitchen counter. Renovations are going on and stuff is getting on my stuff, and the wife graciously offered up some counter space. 




Jnat/scotch/preworkout cave




What a mess .


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## cotedupy

Pie said:


> View attachment 150057
> Light touch up on a new Takeda 270mm gyuto. This one came with a decent edge, I tried Takeda’s touch up method, but still didn’t quite get there. Shobu suita/Tsushima nagura (can’t get enough of this thing), quite keen, decently toothy. Isn’t at the keenness of a hard finisher, but is very smooth with some feedback through paper towel. Resulting edge feels a bit different than white #2, possibly somewhat aggressive? Although more likely my technique is inconsistent.
> 
> Having done a full synthetic sharpen on a similarly ground bunka, I much, much prefer doing a more extensive touch up on natural stones, as it takes much less steel off. The angles are hard to keep when grinding at lower grits, and small mistakes turn into big ones when you have to grind away at a 6mm wide bevel made of 2 different steels. Definitely not excited for the first full sharpen of the sujihiki version of this.



Cool! That's a lotta knife... would probably make my Tank look small in comparison too!


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## cotedupy

tostadas said:


> What's the wood on the far left handle?



I believe that one's Maple burl from memory. A piece stabilized and kindly given to me by @birdsfan


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## cotedupy

Trying out my beautiful new (old) hard black on a few things recently:






And another, starting with a Nakayama Tomae:






Also needed to thin this little parer slightly on SG500, and then tried a fun 'hybrid edge' with a translucent ark after:






Though I think I'll probably revert to this, my absolute favourite stone of all:


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## birdsfan

cotedupy said:


> I believe that one's Maple burl from memory. A piece stabilized and kindly given to me by @birdsfan


Quite a good memory my friend, it is a stabilized piece of maple burl!


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## cotedupy

birdsfan said:


> Quite a good memory my friend, it is a stabilized piece of maple burl!



And it's feckin' lovely, gracias! Going to a good home too... a friend who was for a long time the GM at a seriously good Michelin-starred restaurant in London, though now moved back to her native New Zealand.


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## esoo

New gear testing - Naniwa 3K Diamond + 1u diamond loaded strop.


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## birdsfan

cotedupy said:


> And it's feckin' lovely, gracias! Going to a good home too... a friend who was for a long time the GM at a seriously good Michelin-starred restaurant in London, though now moved back to her native New Zealand.


Pretty cool that a block of wood that started in my little workshop is in the hands of a professional on the other side of the world!


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## Pie

The lowliest of the low. IKEA something and a grocery store petty I de-serrated, converted to double bevel, and thinned. Maybe thinned too much, as the edge I put on it came back pretty destroyed. This thing must be made of putty. Cerax 320 for fun (and speed) and maybe a few NP1k swipes to keen it up a bit.





Update - kinda hard to get a crisp clean edge on the cerax. Interesting. I mean it’s a great stone, very fast for repairs and setting bevels, but producing a final edge is uncharted waters to me. NP1k did the trick. I wonder how much of it is a product of just how bad the steel is.


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## HumbleHomeCook

Sorry for the bad pic but this is my Hinokuni Shirogami #1 180mm gyuto. You can see it has two high spots that were causing some accordioning and it was time to see what I could do about it.






I think @cotedupy and @stringer can appreciate this. Pulled out the Norton Course Crystolon and started in.


My back is toast any more so once I got the profile mostly fixed I needed a break. Did some thinning later in the day but it'll be something I need to get back to to finish up.


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## Pie

An odd combination: aizu nagura on a hard suita. Heavy lifting on NP1k. The stone has given some keen edges in the past, but fairly polished. Added some crunch to the mix and it retains most of the fine edge feel, with much aggression.

The knife is one my wife made me buy at a shop in Tokyo for about $30. It’s a discount crazy thin nakiri that was clearly unsalvageable. The choil shot says single bevel, it’s badly warped and way overground in a few spots. It’s responsible for starting me down the sharpening road, and is horribly ugly as a result, but it’s the only knife she’ll use so it gets plenty of attention. Cuts quite nicely somehow.


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## MowgFace

esoo said:


> New gear testing - Naniwa 3K Diamond + 1u diamond loaded strop.
> View attachment 150361



How do you like the Naniwa Diamond?


----------



## esoo

MowgFace said:


> How do you like the Naniwa Diamond?



It was different than I expected. I'd only had the electroplated type diamonds before this and it is completely different. As opposed to a plate type, which is screechy and annoying, the Naniwa has what I would call a "plastic-y" feel to it. Minimal feedback, but I would say more than a Shapton Pro 5000 (which I absolutely hated for knives as it gave nothing). Not as quick as I'd thought it would be, but gets the job done. Seems to load a bit easily, but the cleaning stone does it's job. I'd have to use to more to comment further.


----------



## stringer

Pie said:


> View attachment 151252
> 
> An odd combination: aizu nagura on a hard suita. Heavy lifting on NP1k. The stone has given some keen edges in the past, but fairly polished. Added some crunch to the mix and it retains most of the fine edge feel, with much aggression.
> 
> The knife is one my wife made me buy at a shop in Tokyo for about $30. It’s a discount crazy thin nakiri that was clearly unsalvageable. The choil shot says single bevel, it’s badly warped and way overground in a few spots. It’s responsible for starting me down the sharpening road, and is horribly ugly as a result, but it’s the only knife she’ll use so it gets plenty of attention. Cuts quite nicely somehow.



Your wife did you a real service. Cheap nakiri can be a little rough around the edges. But I find that their geometry is mostly hammered in. This makes them look pretty crude, but in some ways this means they have to be more perfect because there's just a tiny bit of weakly held kurouchi hiding it's essential form from the world. No room to hide anything. Low spots on the bevels are a given. But generally the geometry is not an accident or an afterthought. The geometry is the knife. No BS or fillers or makeup. Form follows function. I did a video about my favorite little dude.


----------



## Pie

stringer said:


> Your wife did you a real service. Cheap nakiri can be a little rough around the edges. But I find that their geometry is mostly hammered in. This makes them look pretty crude, but in some ways this means they have to be more perfect because there's just a tiny bit of weakly held kurouchi hiding it's essential form from the world. No room to hide anything. Low spots on the bevels are a given. But generally the geometry is not an accident or an afterthought. The geometry is the knife. No BS or fillers or makeup. Form follows function. I did a video about my favorite little dude.



She really did. The other 3 I bought were just randomly picked off the shelf purely based on looks, and only this one stays out for daily use. Otherwise, i’d never have started screwing around with stones and thinning. One of these days im going to follow your lead and really map out the geometry and see what’s going on. It’s been subject to so much abuse/chip removal that little of the bevel geometry remains, but the blade face remains mostly unaltered. If anything, I need to see what that massive concave at the choil is all about. Luckily it looks righty biased, and performs as such.


----------



## Knivperson

Cut some fresh turmeric I had to polish off. Then it needed sharpening. JNS 6000 did the job. Cuts soft tissue paper like nothing.


----------



## Knivperson

Clean cuts


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Got back to the Hinokuni.

This is my most extensive project so far. I've never ground down the actual edge like I did on this guy. I got it evened out but in the process I eradicated most of the original bevel on the back half or so yet most of the bevel in front of that wasn't touched much.

I'm still a greenhorn when it comes to thinning too. Done some, but still need a lot of experience.

All of that combined with a knife that, well, retains its rustic forging heritage, equaled a challenge. But, it's one I wanted to tackle because I really do like this knife and I want to improve my skills.

Once I had the high spots ground out of the blade, I set about thinning it. I had no concern with aesthetics to start, I just wanted function and to judge my own progress. I did a good bit of work on the Norton course Crystolon. It left some prominent scratches but did make a noticeable difference.

I transitioned to my SG500, 2k and even the 4k. There were still a lot of scratches but I got some polish at the very edge and tried to fool myself into believing I was happy with the sharpness. I put it on the magnet and told myself it was fine.

It wasn't.

So, back at it again today.

Still some scratches, I'm honestly not concerned with the looks so that is okay with me. I just need to get an edge I was alright with. Today I spent more time on the Crytolon and laid the edge back a bit. I formed it too fat the first go around and didn't do a good job of blending it with the original edge at the front half.

This time I stopped on the SG2k and am pretty happy with the results. Great learning experience, and an awesome baseline to get better.


----------



## MowgFace

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Got back to the Hinokuni.
> 
> This is my most extensive project so far. I've never ground down the actual edge like I did on this guy. I got it evened out but in the process I eradicated most of the original bevel on the back half or so yet most of the bevel in front of that wasn't touched much.
> 
> I'm still a greenhorn when it comes to thinning too. Done some, but still need a lot of experience.
> 
> All of that combined with a knife that, well, retains its rustic forging heritage, equaled a challenge. But, it's one I wanted to tackle because I really do like this knife and I want to improve my skills.
> 
> Once I had the high spots ground out of the blade, I set about thinning it. I had no concern with aesthetics to start, I just wanted function and to judge my own progress. I did a good bit of work on the Norton course Crystolon. It left some prominent scratches but did make a noticeable difference.
> 
> I transitioned to my SG500, 2k and even the 4k. There were still a lot of scratches but I got some polish at the very edge and tried to fool myself into believing I was happy with the sharpness. I put it on the magnet and told myself it was fine.
> 
> It wasn't.
> 
> So, back at it again today.
> 
> Still some scratches, I'm honestly not concerned with the looks so that is okay with me. I just need to get an edge I was alright with. Today I spent more time on the Crytolon and laid the edge back a bit. I formed it too fat the first go around and didn't do a good job of blending it with the original edge at the front half.
> 
> This time I stopped on the SG2k and am pretty happy with the results. Great learning experience, and an awesome baseline to get better.



If that is a low spot on the left face near the tip, I’d make sure to monitor that over your next few sharpening/thinnings. Looks like is not too far from the edge, either being an over grind that could lead to a hole, or a possible twist or bend in the blade near there.


----------



## Pie

My beat to **** vanilla white #2 migaki maz 240. It looks like hell from all the experimenting and thinning but it punches above its weight class, in my humble collection. Have some poké to make tomorrow and it’s great for the finer, thinner, not-accordion cut stuff. Just touched up on fine (but relatively soft!) barber koppa with Takeda shobu nagura slurry. Having a finer stone that’s easy to use despite its shape is actually really nice, develops a pleasantly soft mud. On the smoother side, a milder edge with some light tooth on the tip and “belly”, somewhat unintentional and due to my inability to properly follow a curve. A bit higher polish than usual in an attempt to keep the daikon and cucumber crispy fresh.


----------



## refcast

@Pie

that still is one of the best stones I've used / had


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

MowgFace said:


> If that is a low spot on the left face near the tip, I’d make sure to monitor that over your next few sharpening/thinnings. Looks like is not too far from the edge, either being an over grind that could lead to a hole, or a possible twist or bend in the blade near there.



Thank you and I agree. It's a low spot.


----------



## Pie

refcast said:


> @Pie
> 
> that still is one of the best stones I've used / had


It’s a real keeper my friend. I like it more every time I use it. The clay feel is something else entirely at this level of fine finisher.


----------



## Knivperson

Trying som jigane kasumi and hagane migaki on this honesuki. An absolute noob and no naturals, but it was fun. Blood, knives, stones and beer.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Grinding the pads off your fingers smarts. I have experience.


----------



## Knivperson

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Grinding the pads off your fingers smarts. I have experience.


I'm an academic. Fingers are good for nothing. Well... almost nothing, you know...


----------



## Pie

Worst part is you don’t notice until it’s way too late and that red streak shows up.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Pie said:


> Worst part is you don’t notice until it’s way too late and that red streak shows up.



Yeah you get that quick, hey, was that like a little sliver of metal? Oh wait...


----------



## Pie

Had 10 minutes before work today, went from NP400 straight to shobu suita. For science. Discovered this thing is obscenely fast. Close to synthetic speed on self-slurry . Gonna try to take out all the scratches, see what happens


----------



## tcmx3

Pie said:


> Had 10 minutes before work today, went from NP400 straight to shobu suita. For science. Discovered this thing is obscenely fast. Close to synthetic speed on self-slurry . Gonna try to take out all the scratches, see what happens View attachment 151956



Ive been testing some bigger jumps after hearing some claims about it and I have definitely seen some of my stones, especially my suitas, can absolutely go from 500 on the soft iron (I dont own a 400 grit synth, but I do own and love the SG500). I dont love the results on core steel but on the cladding it's unreal how fast some stones can be on that cladding.


----------



## stringer

Time to sharpen the the work knives. Some maintenance thinning with SG500 to SS2K. Then bevel set on washita with a finish on aizu with aizu slurry. Final deburr on cbn pasted denim.


----------



## stringer

After pics in the morning. No good light


----------



## Pie

tcmx3 said:


> Ive been testing some bigger jumps after hearing some claims about it and I have definitely seen some of my stones, especially my suitas, can absolutely go from 500 on the soft iron (I dont own a 400 grit synth, but I do own and love the SG500). I dont love the results on core steel but on the cladding it's unreal how fast some stones can be on that cladding.


I was surprised, I heard suita were fast but I didn’t expect this. Blows through cladding but I agree with you on the hagane, it’s not what I would want as a final product. I’m thinking this one might be worth a try on denka cladding.


----------



## tcmx3

Pie said:


> I was surprised, I heard suita were fast but I didn’t expect this. Blows through cladding but I agree with you on the hagane, it’s not what I would want as a final product. I’m thinking this one might be worth a try on denka cladding.



hard for me to say without knowing that individual stone, but for me I found the greatest success on TF cladding with very soft/muddy stones. my Maru shiro suita is my personal favorite for that task but YMMV. I think some of my other suitas are a bit too hard for that sort of thing but it probably can be mitigated with a slurry.


----------



## Pie

stringer said:


> Time to sharpen the the work knives. Some maintenance thinning with SG500 to SS2K. Then bevel set on washita with a finish on aizu with aizu slurry. Final deburr on cbn pasted denim.
> View attachment 151926
> 
> View attachment 151927
> 
> View attachment 151928
> View attachment 151929


Now that’s a proper microbevel.




tcmx3 said:


> hard for me to say without knowing that individual stone, but for me I found the greatest success on TF cladding with very soft/muddy stones. my Maru shiro suita is my personal favorite for that task but YMMV. I think some of my other suitas are a bit too hard for that sort of thing but it probably can be mitigated with a slurry.


I get this sort of buyers remorse in the form of “I wonder what the other one was like”. The suita layer has my attention, and now I need to find another marou to buy. My shobu is muddy, but not squishy soft like my hideriyama tomae. I have a ways to go before I tackle the TF thankfully.


----------



## tcmx3

Pie said:


> I get this sort of buyers remorse in the form of “I wonder what the other one was like”. The suita layer has my attention, and now I need to find another marou to buy. My shobu is muddy, but not squishy soft like my hideriyama tomae. I have a ways to go before I tackle the TF thankfully.



well you know Ive never regretted buying a natural stone, only the consequences of buying a natural stone.


----------



## Pie

NP1k to shobu suita - this might be a nice jump.


----------



## Pie

Just achieved the first ever “easy” HHT pass - nick the hair and it pops, some spots it cuts/splits, near the tip it barely passes with a good amount of convincing. First time trying hybrid edgetoo, although I definitely spent too much time on the finisher. I have to say I’m impressed. NP400 (I love how this stone works), 5 minutes or so on the suita. Hard nagura to mostly use base stone mud. Last time you’ll see this knife until it’s refinished, I promise!


----------



## uniliang

Still long way to go…


----------



## Pie

A fools errand, sharpening an oversized 270mm on a tiny stone. Awesome tiny stone. Hard suita with its own thin watery nagura slurry, A+ edge cleanliness with no strop, good amount of tooth. Beats the heck out of high synthetic overpolished edge. Haven’t used this guy for edges much, as it’s way over my skill level but it’s easier than the last time I tried. Takeda’s constant belly really takes well to full length stropping motions.


----------



## Pie

Bright idea, taking apart a bunch of squash with soft(er) white #2. No chips, but plenty of banging/smashing/2 handed pressure on the spine. Rolled some edge on the half near the tip.

Soft Hideriyama with some speed to it to reform the edge , deburr on hard suita


----------



## Knivperson

Sold this Konosuke YS-M 240 yesterday. Sharpened it before. Made this little video to persuade the masses:


----------



## uniliang

Your browser is not able to display this video.
















The machi is pretty horrible, and there is no much of neck. Wanna keep the og look so just cut a little to have a even machi height.


----------



## Pie

Couldn’t resist touching up the honesuki. Beautiful iromono barber koppa a la @refcast. Soft, smooth and fine fine. Weird. Awesome. Hard nagura is a revelation.


----------



## M1k3

Light thinning and convexing on @HSC /// Knives Zwear.







HSC wrought/52100 after quick vinegar etch







Aftermath


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> Light thinning and convexing on @HSC /// Knives Zwear.View attachment 159018
> View attachment 159019
> 
> 
> HSC wrought/52100 after quick vinegar etchView attachment 159021
> View attachment 159020
> 
> 
> Aftermath View attachment 159022



Dude, grinding that pad off sucks so bad!


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Dude, grinding that pad off sucks so bad!


It's not so bad, it started happening after I worked most of the aggressive particles off the SP120


----------



## captaincaed

It looks like you added your own Kanji


----------



## AT5760

Put a fresh edge today on this 180 that I got from BST a while ago. It’s sharp.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

AT5760 said:


> Put a fresh edge today on this 180 that I got from BST a while ago. It’s sharp.View attachment 159025



Ah yes, the One Knuckle Test. Are you familiar with the Index Fingernail Test? I certainly am.


----------



## M1k3

captaincaed said:


> It looks like you added your own Kanji


The translation says "Bernal"


----------



## M1k3

Sharpening some dull and slightly damaged knives.

Atoma 140, SG 500, Venev 400/800.





Also realized I'm avoiding the middle of the stone?


----------



## stringer

> Also realized I'm avoiding the middle of the stone?



I'll swap you my dished stones for your reverse dished stones every couple of months and neither of us will have to flatten.


----------



## chefwp

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Ah yes, the One Knuckle Test. Are you familiar with the Index Fingernail Test? I certainly am.


Is that related to the "fingernail shaving garnish?"

on a more serious note: thank goodness for fingernails! Fingernails, that evolutionary stride that prevented chefs from chopping off their fingertips and later dying from gangrene.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

chefwp said:


> Is that related to the "fingnail shaving garnish?"



One and the same.


----------



## esoo

Touch up day


----------



## uniliang

Finally done with kaisei, chunagura next.


----------



## Knivperson

stringer said:


> I'll swap you my dished stones for your reverse dished stones every couple of months and neither of us will have to flatten.


Gotta be a better name for it. "man, you're doming your stones again"....?


----------



## stringer

Knivperson said:


> Gotta be a better name for it. "man, you're doming your stones again"....?



In the razor world they call them convex stones. And some people really like them that way.


----------



## stringer

I accidentally convexed my naniwa ss 2k by trying to keep it flat with a dished shapton glass 500.


----------



## Pie

Guys these freaking bevels.


----------



## Bear

Pie said:


> View attachment 160891
> 
> View attachment 160892
> 
> 
> Guys these freaking bevels.


He must have lots of grand children, free labor


----------



## Pie

Fixing weird tip on denka. 





NP400 not quite fast enough 





SG220 refreshed with sic


----------



## ModRQC

A Wakui and a progression of SGs...





See some more in this update.


----------



## donegoofed

Just got my first jnat (Aiiwatani from JNS), and tried it out yesterday on a Matsubara bunka. Didn't do a great job on removing scratches on the previous stones, so there is still some scratches. I like the satin(?) finish on the core tho..


----------



## Pie

donegoofed said:


> Just got my first jnat (Aiiwatani from JNS), and tried it out yesterday on a Matsubara bunka. Didn't do a great job on removing scratches on the previous stones, so there is still some scratches. I like the satin(?) finish on the core tho..
> 
> View attachment 161837
> View attachment 161838


Nice contrast! Is it one of those lvl 2.5 ones? I’d love a few stones from there but the duties scare me.


----------



## donegoofed

Pie said:


> Nice contrast! Is it one of those lvl 2.5 ones? I’d love a few stones from there but the duties scare me.


Thanks! Yes, it’s an lv 2.5. 
Go for it!


----------



## ModRQC

donegoofed said:


> Just got my first jnat (Aiiwatani from JNS), and tried it out yesterday on a Matsubara bunka. Didn't do a great job on removing scratches on the previous stones, so there is still some scratches. I like the satin(?) finish on the core tho..
> 
> View attachment 161837
> View attachment 161838



Stainless cladding likes mud. I like the contrast there, and the core is real nice. IDK perhaps you could raise a thicker slurry and see what happens. It really looks like it could do very well, that stone.


----------



## Pie

I have no idea what 90x means, but I have an inkling it’s not coarse enough.


----------



## captaincaed

Gotta go 36 grit shredder on the vfd. It’s the only way


----------



## ian

Clearly


----------



## M1k3

I worked on my wrought clad/52100 @HSC /// Knives Gyuto some more.

Progression was SG 500, SG 4k, 1k sandpaper, 1 micron diamond paste. Followed by etching (a mix of balsamic vinegar, old coffee and coffee made with white vinegar). Wrapped some paper towels around the blade, and poured the mixture over the blade several times. Then let it sit for 20 minutes. I then gave it a vigorous washing with hot water, soap and the soft side of a sponge. I think it turned out pretty good?


----------



## HSC /// Knives

M1k3 said:


> I worked on my wrought clad/52100 @HSC /// Knives Gyuto some more.
> 
> Progression was SG 500, SG 4k, 1k sandpaper, 1 micron diamond paste. Followed by etching (a mix of balsamic vinegar, old coffee and coffee made with white vinegar). Wrapped some paper towels around the blade, and poured the mixture over the blade several times. Then let it sit for 20 minutes. I then gave it a vigorous washing with hot water, soap and the soft side of a sponge. I think it turned out pretty good?
> 
> 
> View attachment 162275
> View attachment 162276
> View attachment 162277
> View attachment 162278


1k sandpaper after the 4K stone?


----------



## IsoJ

M1k3 said:


> I worked on my wrought clad/52100 @HSC /// Knives Gyuto some more.
> 
> Progression was SG 500, SG 4k, 1k sandpaper, 1 micron diamond paste. Followed by etching (a mix of balsamic vinegar, old coffee and coffee made with white vinegar). Wrapped some paper towels around the blade, and poured the mixture over the blade several times. Then let it sit for 20 minutes. I then gave it a vigorous washing with hot water, soap and the soft side of a sponge. I think it turned out pretty good?
> 
> 
> View attachment 162275
> View attachment 162276
> View attachment 162277
> View attachment 162278


Wild


----------



## M1k3

HSC /// Knives said:


> 1k sandpaper after the 4K stone?


Yes. Didn't like the finish after the stone. I'm not good at stone polishing. But swiping sandpaper across the blade I can do with acceptable results.


----------



## Pie

M1k3 said:


> I worked on my wrought clad/52100 @HSC /// Knives Gyuto some more.
> 
> Progression was SG 500, SG 4k, 1k sandpaper, 1 micron diamond paste. Followed by etching (a mix of balsamic vinegar, old coffee and coffee made with white vinegar). Wrapped some paper towels around the blade, and poured the mixture over the blade several times. Then let it sit for 20 minutes. I then gave it a vigorous washing with hot water, soap and the soft side of a sponge. I think it turned out pretty good?
> 
> 
> View attachment 162275
> View attachment 162276
> View attachment 162277
> View attachment 162278


Coffee made with vinegar is next level


----------



## M1k3

Pie said:


> Coffee made with vinegar is next level


Also cleans out the coffee maker. Win-win.


----------



## donegoofed

Early morning sharpening session. Pictured is a Kagekiyo White #2 150mm petty and previously mentioned Aiiwatani koppa. Full progression was Shapton 1k, NP 3k and finished on the Aiiwatani.

I've tried to have a zero edge on this, but it failed way to early. So this time I've put a less acute angle on it, and it got screaming sharp. @stringer's edge leading video has really made a difference in my sharpening!


----------



## tylerleach

donegoofed said:


> Early morning sharpening session. Pictured is a Kagekiyo White #2 150mm petty and previously mentioned Aiiwatani koppa. Full progression was Shapton 1k, NP 3k and finished on the Aiiwatani.
> 
> I've tried to have a zero edge on this, but it failed way to early. So this time I've put a less acute angle on it, and it got screaming sharp. @stringer's edge leading video has really made a difference in my sharpening!
> 
> View attachment 162865


Where can I watch said video? Always looking for good sharpening videos. All you guys and your Jnats… jealous over here! I just have a pile of synthetics. Granted they are great ones but still…


----------



## stringer

tylerleach said:


> Where can I watch said video? Always looking for good sharpening videos. All you guys and your Jnats… jealous over here! I just have a pile of synthetics. Granted they are great ones but still…



I need to update it. It's been a few years. But my basic take remains the same. Get the knife thin behind the edge. Then build a nice clean burr free cutting bevel. Lots of ways to get there. Edge leading with gradually diminishing pressure works very well for me.


----------



## M1k3

stringer said:


> I need to update it. It's been a few years. But my basic take remains the same. Get the knife thin behind the edge. Then build a nice clean burr free cutting bevel. Lots of ways to get there. Edge leading with gradually diminishing pressure works very well for me.



@TSF415


----------



## Pie

It’s finally zero bevel. Wow that took a while. Things I learned.. 

- TF AS is kind of hard to thin
- SG220 dishes faster than I thought, and seems to glaze a bit. When it’s good, it’s good tho
- Cerax 320 is inappropriately muddy. I think I like what it can do but my goodness the mud
- TF stainless cladding isn’t super hard or abrasion resistant. Actually kind of nice to work with

I had to remove what feels like a ton of steel, but in reality probably wasn’t much. Didn’t do myself any favours with stone choice either.


----------



## tylerleach

Pie said:


> View attachment 163343
> 
> View attachment 163344
> 
> It’s finally zero bevel. Wow that took a while. Things I learned..
> 
> - TF AS is kind of hard to thin
> - SG220 dishes faster than I thought, and seems to glaze a bit. When it’s good, it’s good tho
> - Cerax 320 is inappropriately muddy. I think I like what it can do but my goodness the mud
> - TF stainless cladding isn’t super hard or abrasion resistant. Actually kind of nice to work with
> 
> I had to remove what feels like a ton of steel, but in reality probably wasn’t much. Didn’t do myself any favours with stone choice either.


I could not agree more about the Cerax 320. I have gone through like 70% of mine already and I have not had it long enough to merit that. It does cut well (albeit very loudly) but mine makes a crazy amount of mud and dishes out like nobody’s business. For thinning that can obviously be a good thing but I just couldn’t believe how fast I went through it! I recently picked up the Imanishi pink brick 220 and I like that for fast cutting and thinning a LOT more. I keep it permasoaked as well as run water on it during use and it cuts like nothing I’ve ever used. My other go-to for fast cutting is a SG 320. That’s probably my favorite lower grit stone period. Mine hasn’t dished if at all.. I keep it super flat but it basically looks the same as it did when I bought it like a year ago. Anyhow, cheers brother! That Denka is definitely on my list.


----------



## Kiru

Pie said:


> View attachment 163343
> 
> View attachment 163344
> 
> It’s finally zero bevel. Wow that took a while. Things I learned..
> 
> - TF AS is kind of hard to thin
> - SG220 dishes faster than I thought, and seems to glaze a bit. When it’s good, it’s good tho
> - Cerax 320 is inappropriately muddy. I think I like what it can do but my goodness the mud
> - TF stainless cladding isn’t super hard or abrasion resistant. Actually kind of nice to work with
> 
> I had to remove what feels like a ton of steel, but in reality probably wasn’t much. Didn’t do myself any favours with stone choice either.


Great even bevel, I agree with the cerax 320 statement, it doesn't cut well for neither edge sharpening or thinning as dishes too quickly.


----------



## ChrisCrat

donegoofed said:


> Early morning sharpening session. Pictured is a Kagekiyo White #2 150mm petty and previously mentioned Aiiwatani koppa. Full progression was Shapton 1k, NP 3k and finished on the Aiiwatani.
> 
> I've tried to have a zero edge on this, but it failed way to early. So this time I've put a less acute angle on it, and it got screaming sharp. @stringer's edge leading video has really made a difference in my sharpening!
> 
> View attachment 162865



Very nice! I tried to sharpen and thin mine for the first time, only to find out it was hollow ground.
Aesthetically not great but sharp and functional.


----------



## Bear

I really haven't used my strops in awhile but this knife really likes likes the 3µ


----------



## deltaplex

This knife was surprisingly usable after a dip in the 'ol electrolytic bucket, so this is my first time doing any work on it (sanding faces, easing the spine, and sharpening). I'll get the rest of the vertical 220 scratches out next go round, as I'm still working both improving my sharpening in general and gathering info about all the stones I've accumulated. This was a Medium India to Hindostan progression, and it's not ideal for this knife (or I'm not yet ideal for this knife plus this stone progression).


----------



## ChrisCrat

Working my way through various knives (wife's, colleauge's, my own petty) w shapton 1k, my new ouka, bbw and coticule.


----------



## stringer

ChrisCrat said:


> Working my way through various knives (wife's, colleauge's, my own petty) w shapton 1k, my new ouka, bbw and coticule.



SP 1k and then deburr on coticule is one of my most frequently used "progressions"


----------



## ChrisCrat

stringer said:


> SP 1k and then deburr on coticule is one of my most frequently used "progressions"


I was just trying your edge leading method from the vid above. Very nice!
Still no hht sharpness for me though.


----------



## deltaplex

stringer said:


> SP 1k and then deburr on coticule is one of my most frequently used "progressions"


Deburr each side or burr->flip->burr->deburr?


----------



## stringer

deltaplex said:


> Deburr each side or burr->flip->burr->deburr?



I do all that on the 1k. And then just a couple of edge leading strokes on the coticule to further deburr. And final deburr on a rag.


----------



## cotedupy

I've been slightly remiss in not actually posting anything on this thread for a while, so here's some stuff from today...

Top to bottom: Escher, Escher, Schwedenstein, Green Thuri, Lily White:






L to R: Debado 600, SG500


----------



## cotedupy

And this was fun a coupla days ago trying out some very fine finishers.

L to R: Glanrafon, Mystery Purple Stone, Mystery Aqua Stone, Nakayama Tomae.


----------



## Pie

Put a microbevel on the denka I’ve been thinning last night. NP3k, Hideriyama, iromono vintage barber koppa. Sharpest yet, hair poppingly so. After trying all my finishers, there’s a clear favourite - the cheapest, smallest stone of unknown strata or pedigree. It works just how I want it to .


----------



## gaijin

Teaching myself on a Fiskars... JNS 300 & 800 today.






This knife is no fun.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

gaijin said:


> Teaching myself on a Fiskars... JNS 300 & 800 today.
> 
> View attachment 164326
> 
> 
> This knife is no fun.



Good for you! Remember, never hesitate to ask for help. There's some incredibly knowledgeable and generous folks here!


----------



## gaijin

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Good for you! Remember, never hesitate to ask for help. There's some incredibly knowledgeable and generous folks here!



Thank you! To not derail this thread, I made a followup here: Fiskars Functional Form experience


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Getting to know the Yoshikane in SKD. The OOTB edge was super thin and somewhat fragile. It's also a really low angle. I'd guess somewhere around 10dps. I didn't set out to change anything, just get rid of the "factory" steel a bit and see if the apex toughens up some. This is one I'll creep up on over time because it slices so well I don't want to screw anything up!

Stone wise, started and stopped on a Shapton Glass 2k. Stropped on suede with CrO and then bare cardboard.











Man I don't know if it was the proximity of my phone to me cutting but it sounds really loud! Still not as smooth as I'd like but not too bad.


----------



## Greasylake

This knife was a lot of firsts for me. I did my first tip repair on this knife, which was really quick and easy on the SG500, really satisfying way to start off a somewhat painful journey with this knife actually. Next I moved the shinogi up a fair amount, in anticipation of chip repair. This was pretty smooth and I got a pretty good feel for the SG500 doing this, as it was also my first time using this stone. Next, I removed a number of small chips along the length of the blade, from the heel to the tip, and in doing so got a lot of practice finding and maintaining an angle, as well as following the geometry of the knife. After all this I went ahead and sharpened it, SG500, chosera 1k, and chosera 3k, I have to say the scratch pattern on the chosera 3k is really not very good looking, seeming the most inconsistent out of the 3 stones and giving the least contrast. If I did something wrong with this stone someone please let me know, I'm still relatively new to these things. Anyway, just off the 3k stone I was pretty satisfied with the edge, happily making paper shavings (but not cutting paper towel) and it deburred quickly and cleanly. The knife is some flavor of mystery stainless, but I have no experience sharpening stainless other this knife so I can't really make any comparisons about how it behaved. Overall this knife was a really good learning experience for me, and for like 30 bucks I'm pretty satisfied with it. If I had an edge guard or a saya, it would definitely make its way into my backpack during fishing trips.


----------



## Pie

A little bit of detail and polishing on an SK monosteel higo. Will try to take it as close to mirror as I can with what I have.


----------



## gaijin

Todays session - reparing the damage I did with a Tormek. When I borrowed a Tormek from a friend I managed to create something between a flat spot and a reverse belly near the tip of a small IKEA 365+ knife:







The marked tip is where the problem is. Well, the problem on top of it being an IKEA knife then. 

My current preferred sharpening station is to place a plastic container on top of my kitchen table with decent amount of water in it, and then a sink bridge on top. This gives me a reasoable hight and decent light.

First the knife and a JNS 300 Matukusuyama:






With this setup I first fixed the profile by "sharpening" at a pretty high angle - I went over the edge in front and back until I had the profile as I wanted it. 









After that, I started sharpening at a pretty low angle as good as I could on this stone. When I felt finished I changed to the (now permasoaked) JNS 800 Matukusuyama and continued grinding. I actually forgot to take a picture of that. Bad influencer, bad!

At this step I could almost shave my arm and I could cut newspaper pages without problems. But since I have a third JNS stone, the Synthetic Aoto, I put it to work too. First normal sharpening, burr removal, and then some edge leadning "stropping" or whatever you want to call it:






After this the knife looked decent for an amateur-sharpened IKEA knife and I was more than pleased with the sharpness tests. Final result:






Well... that was that.


----------



## KingShapton

gaijin said:


> After this the knife looked decent for an amateur-sharpened IKEA knife and I was more than pleased with the sharpness tests.


----------



## cotedupy

The wife noticed today that the Superbowl was on, so decided we needed to BBQ, dashed out to the butcher, and got some baby backs. Now I've never had much luck with pork ribs, as they've always dried out a bit by the time they were done. But happily @stringer was on speed dial for some advice, and I nailed them this time ...










Though, as my back was turned, the better half had also decided that our Shibata TT was the best thing for hacking them up to serve. And unfortunately it was not...






Only a tiny couple of chips, so let's see if we can get them out on this Coti x BBW:


----------



## cotedupy

I had the Coti out already actually, as just before I had been comparing how BBW and Hindostans did in terms of cleaning up bevel scratch patterns immediately following an SG500.






And frankly I think they did rather well (bearing in mind I only spent a minute or so on each side, and am no great polishing expert anyway)...

SG500:






BBW:






Hindo:


----------



## KingShapton

cotedupy said:


> Though, as my back was turned, the better half had decided that our Shibata TT was the best thing for hacking them up to serve.


When I read this sentence, I had an ominous premonition, almost a deja vu....without having seen the picture.

Please don't ask me where the deja vu is coming from...I don't want to talk about it...


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

My Arkansas stones have largely sat since I started seriously exploring Japanese synthetic water stones. But @stringer and @cotedupy inspired me to rectify that. Hell, I even broke my own long-standing rule and used water instead of oil. Old dog, new trick. Ruff! 






Started out just wanting to see how the Yoshi responded. I was really doing more just very light stropping work than any actual sharpening. I was quite pleased with the results. As I stared out the window at the near blizzard swirling outside, I found myself touching up a few more knives while I was at it.

Man, it's always good to reunite with old friends. I think, at least for a while, this guy will be staying within arm's reach.

Thanks for the kick fellas!


----------



## Pie

Testing out a couple new stones - edge built on the iyoto, finished on the suita. The iyoto is the first jnat I can comfortably set a bevel on. It’s not quite as fast as a synthetic, but it’s close to a 1k in terms of speed, 2-3K in terms of keenness, and beastly toothy. Scratchy, as it should be, but manageable depth and consistency for polishing. Softer, muddied especially on stainless.

The suita is chalky, full of feedback and a surprisingly pleasant polisher. It was difficult to not overcook the edge, took some self control to stop playing around. You can get it to start low at around 3-4K but a textured mirror happens quickly with a stone this fast. Beautiful cladding haze, not an auto-kasumi but on the easier side. Fastest stone I have, by far. HHT achieved with no strop. Helps that Togashi’s white #2 supports unbelievable, effortless edge taking.

I’ve had a bit of a revelation as well - it seems these days I each stone I try is “the best ever”. Now that can’t possibly be true, so I’ll chalk it up to recency bias, but also to the possibility that I’m actually clueless at both polishing and sharpening, and when I try a new stone, the actual act of using it teaches me something new about my technique (or lack thereof) regardless of the stone. It’s quite humbling, and makes me a little guilty when I even consider buying more jnats. I guess the positive side is that I have years worth of learning available with my current collection, but it really causes me to pause and wonder if I know what I’m doing or not.

I bought these with very little prior knowledge of how they behave and feel, just to see if I was capable of judging and categorizing them. At a glance I might have at least succeeded in at least this.


----------



## deltaplex

Well, finally getting this one usable led me to discover that my previous phone didn't back up all of my "before" shots for things that I have in WIP. This particular Nakiri came to me quite thin with a huge rust rash in the middle of the rh side and a 2-3mm deep set of chips about 1/4 the way up from the heel. I learned a ton about de-rusting, handle removal, breadknifing, thinning, and edge straightening/profile adjustment in getting this one to here. I went with the medium india to smooth out the edge and thin, then sg500-> hindostan with a little mud for some attempt at polishing and then final edge refinement. I'll make a handle for it (maybe using the exisitng with the ferrule replaced) and then it should be all set.


----------



## M1k3

Somewhat abused Benriner Mandolin blade.













Did a progression of SG 500 -> Venev 400/800 -> SG 4k -> 1 micron diamond on balsa


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> Somewhat abused Benriner Mandolin blade.View attachment 168936
> View attachment 168937
> View attachment 168938
> View attachment 168939
> 
> 
> Did a progression of SG 500 -> Venev 400/800 -> SG 4k -> 1 micron diamond on balsaView attachment 168941
> View attachment 168942
> View attachment 168943



Very cool.


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Very cool.


Especially when I quietly put it back on the rack for the next coworker to use.


----------



## KingShapton

M1k3 said:


> Especially when I quietly put it back on the rack for the next coworker to use.


I do something similar from time to time with my mother-in-law's kitchen knives


----------



## ModRQC

M1k3 said:


> Especially when I quietly put it back on the rack for the next coworker to use.



I wasn't entirely sure of the outcome you were hoping for there...



KingShapton said:


> I do something similar from time to time with my mother-in-law's kitchen knives



... but here there's no being mistaken. 

Psychopaths!


----------



## M1k3

ModRQC said:


> I wasn't entirely sure of the outcome you were hoping for there...
> 
> 
> 
> ... but here there's no being mistaken.
> 
> Psychopaths!


Sharpness/"That 'look' on their face"


----------



## ModRQC

M1k3 said:


> Sharpness/"That 'look' on their face"



... when they shave a whole fingerprint off?


----------



## M1k3

ModRQC said:


> ... when they shave a whole fingerprint off?


----------



## BillHanna

As a guy who would take the shield off of the deli slicer, working with @M1k3 would have been life changing. Positive? Negative? The world will never know.


----------



## ModRQC

M1k3 said:


>




Think I just understood why I've seen many pros have their first cut(s) slower...

...

They've worked with YOU at some point.


----------



## ModRQC

BillHanna said:


> As a guy who would take the shield off of the deli slicer, working with @M1k3 would have been life changing. Positive? Negative? The world will never know.



You might have found your future knife skills diminishing by the slice... in a gush of blood screaming in agony all the way. Looking back at it with fond laughters 20 years later "Aaaaah that Mike, man, what a joker!" looking at your stump.

Ok ok...


----------



## ModRQC

Sorry @BillHanna ... these the kind of jokes always coming to my mind. Twisted that way. Nothing I can do but shut up, which as a matter of fact I've been trying to do a lot lately. To no avail, it would seem...


----------



## M1k3

BillHanna said:


> As a guy who would take the shield off of the deli slicer, working with @M1k3 would have been life changing. Positive? Negative? The world will never know.


Depends on who's life we're talking about.

Work smarter, not harder.


----------



## Bear

Today, zero ground then cleaned up, tomorrow scratched and blue.


----------



## Pie

I uh.. I think I need a bigger stone. Seriously this thing is weird as heck to sharpen. 




A nice blast from the past, a cheap white amakusa that I had a hard time finding a use for. These 2 play very nice together. The soft carbon and grittiness of the stone make for a nice feel through flesh.


----------



## gaijin

JNS on JNS


----------



## ModRQC

Pie said:


> I uh.. I think I need a bigger stone. Seriously this thing is weird as heck to sharpen.
> View attachment 169795
> 
> A nice blast from the past, a cheap white amakusa that I had a hard time finding a use for. These 2 play very nice together. The soft carbon and grittiness of the stone make for a nice feel through flesh. View attachment 169796



You're a great explorator and to my eye show tremendous skills, more and more. Love seeing your stuff.


----------



## ModRQC

gaijin said:


> JNS on JNS
> View attachment 169809



How do you like the stone? I've always been tempted to try some of these.


----------



## Pie

ModRQC said:


> You're a great explorator and to my eye show tremendous skills, more and more. Love seeing your stuff.


Thanks for the kind words! I have blast trying and learning new things


----------



## gaijin

ModRQC said:


> How do you like the stone? I've always been tempted to try some of these.



I mainly use it as the final stone for the edge on some kitchen knives... and for that I really like it. I get a really sharp result, still with some bite. But... I'm not the most experienced here. Others can probably give better comparisons to other stones.


----------



## Kiru

Fun time with this uchigomori yesterday, for a while I didn’t quite like the stone because it’s very reactive, It often leaves brown stains on my knife after rubbing it on the stone… it’s kind of a bummer because the stone is so fun to use, good sharpening feel, just right amount of mud and the mud isn’t sticky. 
I took an advice from a friend and it worked great but I’m unsure if it will affect the stone in a long term, fingers crossed!

Knife is a beefy petty from migoto.


----------



## Pie

White #2 honesuki, iyoto/Takeda’s random nagura. 

The iyoto isn’t so much coarser than I thought, but the particles don’t shear down readily. Just a touch up, so not much pressure or steel removal had to happen and I suspect the edge would show mostly the characteristics of nagura mud. The result was a sort of boring, inert feeling edge that easily pushes through flesh but struggles with sharpness tests. Success, right? 

White #2 bonus: hit one bone, re-touch up!


----------



## hien

Touch up before service


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Masakane SK on an older (and my favorite) Soft Ark.











Damnit if @stringer and @cotedupy (and I suppose Cliff Stamp) don't have me playing around with water.  

Ignore any red spots. When I do use a Sharpie I use a red one and there's some artifacts of that.


----------



## M1k3

"sharpie" uh-huh...


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> "sharpie" uh-huh...





The only stone I've ever ground my pads off on was my SG500.

_Tingle, tingle... sting... well that's weird... OW!_


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> The only stone I've ever ground my pads off on was my SG500.
> 
> _Tingle, tingle... sting... well that's weird... OW!_


I've done that, once. On a diamond stone. Learned really quick what NOT to do...


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> I've done that, once. On a diamond stone. Learned really quick what NOT to do...



Yeah that sucks and takes a bit to heal.


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Yeah that sucks and takes a bit to heal.


Heat sucks on it!


----------



## Pie

Takeda family photo. 

I need to get some more of his stones, the single one I have is amazing.


----------



## MattPike4President

Weekly touch up, maybe if I had saved money and bought Shapton instead of Naniwa I could have bought a stone holder . Knife is a Masashi Koi, stone is Naniwa Pro 3k


----------



## Heckel7302

Playing around with my new Gesshin 6k Resinoid


----------



## Greasylake

Finished my first "refurb" today. It's not super pretty, and I may spend some more time on it in the future to clean up the bevels a bit more.

This is how the knife looked once I knocked the handle off









I went ahead and soaked it in rust remover and used a brass brush to clean off all the rust and scale, and used some steel wool to clean off the evaporust patina.

The knife seemed to be pretty much entirely forged to shape, with the only grind marks I could see being on the spine and choil. 













After this I took it to the stones and removed 90% of the pitting, all the chips, and flattened them mildly, then went ahead and sharpened and popped the handle back on.

Here is the knife as it sits today:










Thanks for looking


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Sakai Kikumori on another Soft Arkansas.


----------



## deltaplex

Breaking in the BBW side of this monster, I really like it! You can see the old razor size coti that was my great grandfather's in the finished pic, and the big one fells like it's just the huge version of that (bbw side at least). I also got to confirm that the bevels on this Hinoura are slightly concave, so I'm going to mess around with doing some stone powder polishing on it to even it out.


----------



## bsfsu

Some random things I've sharpened and/or fixed recently.
The first Hoffman rescue knife I've sharpened.










Shiny and hazy...







Old grindy thing


----------



## Pie

Renge suita powers, combine!









Touched up my “thinned to the point of no return” denka. I had folded the edge over at the thinnest part, so I spent a little longer taking some steel off on this semi-finisher. 

I think I’ve come fully to the point where I realize that stropping was my own personal crutch for poor technique. Turns out if I pay attention and follow the feedback, it’s not really needed anymore .


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

The forum motivated me to pull out the SG4k and keep experimenting with it. Akifusa in Aogami Super (great knife btw).


----------



## Pie

The art of the touch up. The thinnest of koba. (Not really)








Man white steel gets crispy. But doesn’t hold it. I’ve recently figured out the touch on a couple stones for lightly restoring the raging HHT-ness of white #2. I never used to be able to do this, maybe it’s levelling up from too much Takeda sharpening, maybe it’s clean water on stones, who knows. Basically no steel comes off. I’m hanging onto the tiny chip in the bunka going on 6 months. 

The usual suspect 




That suita. Again. This thing is amazing @Hassanbensober. You don’t see much happening but you can feel it. Fast enough to be predictable, hard enough to make it easy. 

Full patinas live on!


----------



## Pie

The lowest of the low - Imanishi amakusa. $20 for a 5lb brick. Cheaper than a stone holder. Feels weird, slippery and gritty at the same time. Couldn’t do squat with this, my very first natural stone, for about a year. Forget setting bevels, I couldn’t even get a good burr up. 






A full weekend of prep was a bit much for my honesuki, and what the heck at least I don’t have to baby this thing. A little aizu slurry to get the ball rolling and out pops a surprisingly clean edge, with minimal worry and effort. The feedback leaves much to be desired, but it’s a good lesson to myself that not every stone needs to be of some exotic pedigree and cost 3-4 figures to be good. Just a little more time and some unknown revelation in my sharpening process. Great freaking edge.


----------



## ModRQC

I had very limited time before me with a S. Tanaka that needed sharpening and borderline to get a real serious thinning session. Decided to cut a relief for now, and just try to hit and polish the core a bit while I was at it. Trying to keep collateral damages to the minimum possible. SG320 starting point.










The essential work done. Polishing came next with SG500 and SG6K.








The modest end results. That real thinning is now unavoidable next time around.













There will be some slight overgrinds to see about, but overall it looks like it should be a pretty straightforward thinning.






Relief vs. micro.

Must admit I was pretty impressed with the abilities of the SG6K to take over SG500 for polishing the core, especially in such a hurry as I worked this out. The 6K develops a good dark mud quite readily, doesn't need much babying neither once you get it. I thought it managed to feel pretty good at it too, more than I expected.


----------



## Pie

I noticed the last sharpening of my old Takeda bunka resulted in a wonderfully consistent burr. This was done all on synthetics from 400 up. This time the heavy grinding was done with a Hideriyama supposedly from Takeda himself, and refined on a progression of jnats. 






I used an ozuku that’s super hard and fine as a finisher. I’m pretty sure it‘a a razor stone, but I impulse bought it at the same time as I got that amakusa. Also have had zero good results with it until now. The feedback is surprisingly alive for such a fine stone, and the edge it gives on this AS is about as keen as I’ve gotten from a natural stone. No strop HHT!


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Not technically a sharpening pic but another forum I engage in asked to see pictures of people's most used sharpening gear so I thought I'd drop the pic here as well.


----------



## BillHanna

HumbleHomeCook said:


> another forum I engage in


YOU. WHORE.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

BillHanna said:


> YOU. WHORE.



Think of it as a Will and Jada type of arrangement.


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Think of it as a Will and Jada type of arrangement.


Who plays Chris Rock?


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> Who plays Chris Rock?



Mazaki.


----------



## ModRQC

Had to take a bit of care to the Sukenari HAP-40 that was lent to a friend of mine for a good while... Since my initial refinish after some work wasn't ideal, nor the blade extravagantly thin BTE, I went for a second maintenance thinning and refinish... AND sharpening.

Stones made available for the entire purpose:








Of the permasoaked Cerax 320, Cerax 700, Cerax 1K and Ouka were used. Also the Arashiyama 1K (not perma) tucked on top of the plastic container here.

Most of all for different purposes but quite a few coming back around for both polishing and sharpening: Cerax 320, Ouka, Shapton 4K and Shapton 6K





Thinning/Repolish: Cerax 320





Core/Clad Cleaning: SG500 and it sure made that overgrind nearing the heel on the right side of the blade prominent again... 





I think this was after SG4K but could be SG6K. Nothing much separating both on HAP-40. Cleaned around the overgrind making it even more pinpoint. 


Then Cerax 700, Arashiyama 1K and Ouka for repolishing over... Aaaand Cerax 320, Cerax 1K and Ouka for resharpening.

Then SG4K for some slight refining of the edge, and SG6K for deburring further. Then one swipe per side on 1u diamond paste fine leather strop. Some sandpads along the way.
















Less ugly than after my first refinish, but ugly still yet what I call functional finish alright. Some weirder stuff happening at the tip on both sides as is customary.


I don't get rid of overgrinds and weird stuff in a go or a few nowadays because I'd rather not flatten the wide bevel/15-25mm BTE too much. Hence the weird stone progression that basically ensures me I keep the core clear and nice while retaining original geometry. Then with typical vertical Migakis I'll just use a blend of longitudinal and vertical, usually 320 vertical and #800 both ways. Camouflages some, looks about right, keeps with the original behavior somehow. In my experience, finer finishes or going against a vertical migaki is never much a winning move. I'd rather slowly but surely keep the kinfe an equal balance of none too flat and none too nice looking. 



The tool for every single part of getting that meal ready:


----------



## Pie

I bought this kanna for its obvious intended purpose: to test stones. The problem is the edge is rounded off to the point where almost no core steel gets polished. I’m not sure if it was like this when I got it, or if it was a result of my initial ineptitude. 



Sooo SP120, and some shameful misconduct - using the stamped side of the stone.




Thoroughly unpleasant but wow is it fast. Kind of excited to start from a clean slate with this.


----------



## ModRQC

Nothing exciting...






SG500 on the BST Masamoto KS. 

Very light trailing to barely of a burr, feather light leading until it sounded clean. 






A thick marker line to ensure I kept to the original beveling, just restoring the apex. Printer paper was of the cleanest cuts afterwards so I just finished on SP2K with leading strokes only. Slicer edge alright. Think I like the combo SG500 - SP2K even more than I did SP1K-SP2K. For a slightly microchipped edge going dull with a fine grain steel it works fast and clean.


----------



## chefwp

Found two tiny chips in my Takada nakiri and my Mazaki petty. 400/1000/strop-with-compound, and they are gone. Post-picture, I also buffed out the orange patina on the nakiri with some baking soda paste and microfiber, looking too much like rust for my comfort. Heck, maybe it was rust...


----------



## Pie

In the midst of restoring an old y. Kato that has only seen food and no stones for about 12 years. First time cutting a convex relief bevel.. I’m really enjoying the cerax 320. Aside from the soaking and insane mud production it’s great - cuts moderately well, doesn’t understand how to glaze, and automatically erases facets. Smoother and less jarring than my coarse shaptons. It seems to respond well to variable pressure, and actually I don’t mind it as a one step for light thinning jobs.


----------



## Knivperson

Just cutting up some uchigumori powder which was lumpy.


----------



## Knivperson

Result

Before








After


----------



## Pie

Knivperson said:


> Just cutting up some uchigumori powder which was lumpy. View attachment 179061



…. Sooooooo did you use the first line and snort the second? Earthy?


----------



## Knivperson

Pie said:


> …. Sooooooo did you use the first line and snort the second? Earthy?


Na.. Just snorted both.


----------



## Pie

Best friends for life - perfect match with size, steel and butchery edge. Until a better medium grit comes along. Unlikely. CCK2203 and another refcast special - soft kaminae aoto. Muddy as heck, can’t tell when/what it’s cutting, but woooo this stone is fun. Big bonus points for the wet earth smell explosion.


----------



## M1k3

A coworker had me fix his Tojiro.
Progression of SP 120 -> SG 500 -> SG 4k -> sandpaper.

Before:











After:


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> A coworker had me fix his Tojiro.
> Progression of SP 120 -> SG 500 -> SG 4k -> sandpaper.
> 
> Before:
> 
> 
> After:



Nicely done! Did you return it with a general "no lemongrass" warning?


----------



## M1k3

M1k3 said:


> A coworker had me fix his Tojiro.
> Progression of SP 120 -> SG 500 -> SG 4k -> sandpaper.
> 
> Before:
> View attachment 180428
> View attachment 180429
> View attachment 180430
> 
> 
> After:
> 
> View attachment 180431
> View attachment 180432


Wow! The scratches look way worse in the pictures than in person


----------



## Lars

M1k3 said:


> Wow! The scratches look way worse in the pictures than in person


Booo! Liar!!


----------



## M1k3

Lars said:


> Booo! Liar!!







The light reflection can really make a difference.


----------



## captaincaed

The camera flash is a harsh mistress


----------



## M1k3

captaincaed said:


> The camera flash is a harsh mistress


And kitchen lighting in the wee hours of the morning.


----------



## Pie

Not so much knife sharpening, more like sharp thing repair. 






This is one of those things that would be better off throwing the damn thing out and buying a new one. Borrowed from my mother in law’s boyfriend (???) for the purpose of making my own jnat bases. Nope. Nope this won’t make anything. One corner flipped up, no edge to speak of and no ura. Squishy monosteel construction. 








Roughly an hour in, probably 25% done judging by how much steel still needs to come off. 

Freehand chisel repair suuuuuucks. SG220 manages, even when glazed. The hardest part is maintaining a bevel angle and deburring the backside… I can’t really figure that part out as it sort of bent upwards in a few places. The final product will be atrocious but useable I hope.


----------



## Pie

Repairs in progress.. early morning geometry check.




I’m digging trying different techniques to achieve consistent convexity above the edge, a basic concept that took me about a year to understand. Nowhere near being able to execute well, but at least the theory matches the results. Mean “contrast” . 

Yeah, I know it’s a stamped shun.. barely deserves the work, but it’s sort of fun to play with.


----------



## captaincaed

Even Shuns need love too.

How would you describe the process to achieve consistent convexity, in a nutshell? I’ve basically only got the hamaguri process in my toolbox. I’ve tried thinking about ‘consistent convexity’ for a while, and the only ideas I have are
- concave jig with belts/paper
- practice a lot


----------



## KingShapton

captaincaed said:


> practice a lot


 exactly


----------



## Pie

captaincaed said:


> Even Shuns need love too.
> 
> How would you describe the process to achieve consistent convexity, in a nutshell? I’ve basically only got the hamaguri process in my toolbox. I’ve tried thinking about ‘consistent convexity’ for a while, and the only ideas I have are
> - concave jig with belts/paper
> - practice a lot



I’ve tried a few things, but haven’t really landed on a magic process yet. 

1. Cutting 3 facets and then blending, both from top down and edge up.. this isn’t great for me as angle control isn’t super consistent

2. Not even cutting facets, basically heavy blending - this works great on soft steels when combined with soft coarse stones (cerax 320 is killer for this). I find more control doing this, maybe paradoxically. I really have to ensure the blade is perpendicular to the stone to make sure it works properly. The other variable is whether you want to take it to zero edge or not, and doing it this way allows for ultra easy polishing. 

3. One big facet + some blending. I almost feel like I get this smoother than multiple facets, but this method really relies on that first relief bevel being perfect. Beyond my capabilities atm. 

I like #2 the most I think… it gives me the most consistent results. Keep in mind I’m quite the novice with convexing, actually most things sharpening. My methodology as well as actual hands on work both need huge amounts of practice.




Your browser is not able to display this video.




This one actually turned out quite nice, method 1 with the facet cutting. A little bit of an angle between the edge and middle facets.


----------



## M1k3

Touching up the Forgecraft and HSC Z-wear on the line


----------



## Pie

When you see a handle like this, you know you’re in for a treat. I’m thinking cerax 320 followed by iyoto.


----------



## Alder26

Pie said:


> View attachment 183241
> When you see a handle like this, you know you’re in for a treat. I’m thinking cerax 320 followed by iyoto.



I hear the "Betty Crocker Stainless steel" takes a mean edge....


----------



## deltaplex

Pie said:


> View attachment 183241
> When you see a handle like this, you know you’re in for a treat. I’m thinking cerax 320 followed by iyoto.



Show us that Choil!


----------



## Pie

F’ing atrocious. I usually don’t rush jobs but I’m not putting the effort into geometry for something like this. They started out as butter knives, so literally anything is an improvement. The black plastic handle one actually takes a monster 220 grit edge tho. 

Get your special tube sock out guys, check out this sweet choil


----------



## Pie

Red spot aoto - A bit scratchy but great prepolisher. Big heavy contrast with some nice sparkle to the core 







Aaaaand ozuku suita. What an experience. Unnaturally fast, extremely hard, and about 7/10 fineness. None of it matches up but it cuts iron with no hesitation or mud. Definitely a unique one, I suppose I should have expected something weird from a stone I’ve never known existed.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Shinichi Watanbe's Pro 180 gyuto. I also have one of his 180 Pro nakiri's. Both are close to zero grind but this gyuto much more so. It came with a very thin edge bevel that many here would consider a micro-bevel. Sharp as it was, I found the edge a bit fragile. Actually had a couple roll spots, affirming the thinness of the edge bevel.

I did some light work on an 8k but it still wasn't what I wanted so today I took it to the SG4k. When I was done the edge bevel looked consistent with just a hint of the most persistent "weak" spot showing. I suspect it will be gone in short order.

In no way am I disparaging Shinichi or perpetuating myself as a superior sharpener. I love the knife and am just reporting my experience.






Speaking of my sharpening deficiency, when I was done I held up a paper towel and sliced through it cross grain. My wife was walking by, stopped and said, "You can do better." True story! 

I was a bit shocked and thought maybe she was just giving me a hard time. But she said, "It's cutting but I can see it hanging up. I've seen you do better."

She was right, there is still a little hang up. I reckon after all these years she's been paying attention.


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Shinichi Watanbe's Pro 180 gyuto. I also have one of his 180 Pro nakiri's. Both are close to zero grind but this gyuto much more so. It came with a very thin edge bevel that many here would consider a micro-bevel. Sharp as it was, I found the edge a bit fragile. Actually had a couple roll spots, affirming the thinness of the edge bevel.
> 
> I did some light work on an 8k but it still wasn't what I wanted so today I took it to the SG4k. When I was done the edge bevel looked consistent with just a hint of the most persistent "weak" spot showing. I suspect it will be gone in short order.
> 
> In no way am I disparaging Shinichi or perpetuating myself as a superior sharpener. I love the knife and am just reporting my experience.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Speaking of my sharpening deficiency, when I was done I held up a paper towel and sliced through it cross grain. My wife was walking by, stopped and said, "You can do better." True story!
> 
> I was a bit shocked and thought maybe she was just giving me a hard time. But she said, "It's cutting but I can see it hanging up. I've seen you do better."
> 
> She was right, there is still a little hang up. I reckon after all these years she's been paying attention.


Sounds like you have a keeper!


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> Sounds like you have a keeper!



Well, after 30+ years, I reckon we're settling in.   

For me, the problem is she seems to not remember all those times I didn't (don't) even slice the paper towel! Unrealistic standards I say.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

After cutting God only knows how many feet of cardboard ranging from thin to quite thick, a fair number of branches, twine, banding straps, and myriad other medium, my favorite pocket knife needed a touch up.

But didn't need anything more than a 1200 diamond plate and some light stropping to bring it back into fighting shape.






Spyderco Endela in K390 with LynchNW clip.

K390 just rocks!


----------



## M1k3




----------



## bahamaroot

Ooopps...


----------



## Pie

M1k3 said:


> View attachment 186308
> View attachment 186309
> View attachment 186310


SP120 indeed.


----------



## M1k3

Pie said:


> SP120 indeed.


Yes! Surprised how quickly it was grinding Z-wear.


----------



## Benuser

Got a Kanetsune carbon, crazy thick behind the edge, with a Honesuki-like factory edge. A bit of work on the SP120. The dark part is the original forced patina. Now used for the first time. I like its response.


----------



## bahamaroot

Ooopps....wrong thread....


----------



## Greasylake

Officially joining the Tnat gang


----------



## deltaplex

Smaller Sab getting some time on the washita (it's a fast one!).


----------



## cotedupy

I used these two together yesterday, and thought they probably deserved a picture...


----------



## ModRQC

The Higono was in for a tuning...







Maintenance thinning on Nano 200:






Refined on Arashiyama 1K:






Some metal polish and sharpened SG320-SG500:





It was only worked as much once before, when about new, very similar job.

Already there's no escaping that next time will be regrinding the tip and accept that the heel section will start to be lost unto me. There's a chance I might still get to blend the hollow there with the finish... but then again why would I care working for it precisely, IDK...

I like Higonokamis, really, it makes a stand as a pocket knife around here. Shows off some foreign color. But thick and lame as they come, they have a very very short lifespan before the heel part is just a bother. It's why I've chosen quite a longer one for a second unit, when I lost the first one.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

ModRQC said:


> The Higono was in for a tuning...
> 
> View attachment 187868
> 
> 
> 
> Maintenance thinning on Nano 200:
> View attachment 187869
> 
> 
> 
> Refined on Arashiyama 1K:
> View attachment 187870
> 
> 
> 
> Some metal polish and sharpened SG320-SG500:
> View attachment 187871
> 
> 
> It was only worked as much once before, when about new, very similar job.
> 
> Already there's no escaping that next time will be regrinding the tip and accept that the heel section will start to be lost unto me. There's a chance I might still get to blend the hollow there with the finish... but then again why would I care working for it precisely, IDK...
> 
> I like Higonokamis, really, it makes a stand as a pocket knife around here. Shows off some foreign color. But thick and lame as they come, they have a very very short lifespan before the heel part is just a bother. It's why I've chosen quite a longer one for a second unit, when I lost the first one.



Ever use a Douk Douk? Another humble but effective and surprisingly comfortable knife.


----------



## ModRQC

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Ever use a Douk Douk? Another humble but effective and surprisingly comfortable knife.



Nope... will look into it. Comfort is surely not the Higono's cup of tea so much neither, come to think of it.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

ModRQC said:


> Nope... will look into it. Comfort is surely not the Higono's cup of tea so much neither, come to think of it.



Similar handle style but my example has always felt surprisingly good. It's a knife with a lot of history and even more fans.

It's all relative of course but for what it is, it's pretty good. 

A Frenchmen I used to know told me it is pronounced like Look Look but not sure if that is accurate.


----------



## ModRQC

Lee Valleys carry them for a decent price... Not so sure about the absence of a lever to the blade though. 

Think next time I'll go for a more proper EDC option instead. Or that's what she said.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

ModRQC said:


> Lee Valleys carry them for a decent price... Not so sure about the absence of a lever to the blade though.
> 
> Think next time I'll go for a more proper EDC option instead. Or that's what she said.



It's a stiff-pivot slip joint but I understand. Look forward to what you consider in the EDC world.

_Ah hem_... Spyderco... _cough cough_


----------



## cotedupy

deltaplex said:


> Smaller Sab getting some time on the washita (it's a fast one!).
> 
> View attachment 186696




Even without the swarf that looks like a blindingly quick Washita. Most of my favourites have looked similar .


----------



## ModRQC

HumbleHomeCook said:


> It's a stiff-pivot slip joint but I understand. Look forward to what you consider in the EDC world.
> 
> _Ah hem_... Spyderco... _cough cough_


Yeah looked at the Butterfly or whatits once and a few more as well. Not sure I want to splurge so much for what is basically a glorified Exacto. But well we know how THAT usually goes...


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Japan meets Belgium meets American redneck. 






Watanabe's in Aogami 2 and my new-to-me Belgium Blue Stone. I love these knives but am still tuning the edge for stability so there's no better candidates to try out my stone.

This was one of those reflective sessions. Appreciating both the knives and stone and how fortunate I am to have them. Contemplating on my learnings. Swapping hands and having success, something I couldn't do not all that long ago. The way the knife carries in my motion hand but how my fingers feel on the guide hand. That naturalness settling in. Stropping on the stone only just to see how my edge is, another thing I never used to do.

Pondering how so many people have educated and inspired me. Just in that picture is a stone I was able to get purely out of the generosity of @SolidSnake03 but one I absolutely knew I wanted because of @cotedupy's great posts. @stringer's posts on his Watanabe edges helping inform my observations and providing insight into how I might best proceed with my own edges and needs. @Deadboxhero who first gave me the confidence to start trying to use both hands and reminding me that it's okay to screw up as long as you're learning.

And so, so many more people here and elsewhere over the years who've played parts larger or smaller but no less important in my sharpening education. Such an awesome community!

No matter how old we are, what our skill or experience level, we are all still learning and exploring. I love that we all share in that and approach it with such an enthusiasm to help one another!

Another thing Shawn first showed me was the paper towel test and it's always been my measure. Sometimes better than others but how I always check. Sorry I'm a little shaky. The arthritis in my thumbs can make my grip a little unsure sometimes.


----------



## SolidSnake03

Glad you are liking the stone!! Well done on that edge, that’s a good paper towel test


----------



## cotedupy

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Japan meets Belgium meets American redneck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Watanabe's in Aogami 2 and my new-to-me Belgium Blue Stone. I love these knives but am still tuning the edge for stability so there's no better candidates to try out my stone.
> 
> This was one of those reflective sessions. Appreciating both the knives and stone and how fortunate I am to have them. Contemplating on my learnings. Swapping hands and having success, something I couldn't do not all that long ago. The way the knife carries in my motion hand but how my fingers feel on the guide hand. That naturalness settling in. Stropping on the stone only just to see how my edge is, another thing I never used to do.
> 
> Pondering how so many people have educated and inspired me. Just in that picture is a stone I was able to get purely out of the generosity of @SolidSnake03 but one I absolutely knew I wanted because of @cotedupy's great posts. @stringer's posts on his Watanabe edges helping inform my observations and providing insight into how I might best proceed with my own edges and needs. @Deadboxhero who first gave me the confidence to start trying to use both hands and reminding me that it's okay to screw up as long as you're learning.
> 
> And so, so many more people here and elsewhere over the years who've played parts larger or smaller but no less important in my sharpening education. Such an awesome community!
> 
> No matter how old we are, what our skill or experience level, we are all still learning and exploring. I love that we all share in that and approach it with such an enthusiasm to help one another!
> 
> Another thing Shawn first showed me was the paper towel test and it's always been my measure. Sometimes better than others but how I always check. Sorry I'm a little shaky. The arthritis in my thumbs can make my grip a little unsure sometimes.





Good job! Glad you like, always nice to hear that my impressions of stones aren't completely off the mark .

And I wholeheartedly echo your other sentiments - I likewise have learnt (and continue to) a huge amount from the likes of Stringer, Ian, Kingshapton &c. &c.


----------



## Pie

Red spot aoto and vintage barber hone. In the opposite order . Polished up too high and finished 1.5 steps down, just edge leading muddy strops to bring the bite. Accidental burrs slightly dampen the fun tho. Call it picking out sloppy wire edges.


----------



## jurdon

Tried to refresh kasumi on a Jiro. Came out a lil bit too scratchy and uneven but im pretty ok with it since it's my first time doing it. Definately need to source some better fingerstones.


----------



## cotedupy

Greasylake said:


> Officially joining the Tnat gang
> 
> View attachment 186501
> View attachment 186502




Is this one of the Thai stones...?

Looks cool!


----------



## Greasylake

cotedupy said:


> Is this one of the Thai stones...?
> 
> Looks cool!


Yep both are Thai stones! The light one is the Thai Binsui and the black one is Khao Men


----------



## Pie

ModRQC said:


> The Higono was in for a tuning...
> 
> View attachment 187868
> 
> 
> 
> Maintenance thinning on Nano 200:
> View attachment 187869
> 
> 
> 
> Refined on Arashiyama 1K:
> View attachment 187870
> 
> 
> 
> Some metal polish and sharpened SG320-SG500:
> View attachment 187871
> 
> 
> It was only worked as much once before, when about new, very similar job.
> 
> Already there's no escaping that next time will be regrinding the tip and accept that the heel section will start to be lost unto me. There's a chance I might still get to blend the hollow there with the finish... but then again why would I care working for it precisely, IDK...
> 
> I like Higonokamis, really, it makes a stand as a pocket knife around here. Shows off some foreign color. But thick and lame as they come, they have a very very short lifespan before the heel part is just a bother. It's why I've chosen quite a longer one for a second unit, when I lost the first one.


Is that a secondary bevel I’d see? I usually try to keep mine zero, but that’s only because it came with no edge..


----------



## cotedupy

Greasylake said:


> Yep both are Thai stones! The light one is the Thai Binsui and the black one is Khao Men




Nice!

Would love to hear your thoughts / impressions when you have a moment...


----------



## Greasylake

cotedupy said:


> Nice!
> 
> Would love to hear your thoughts / impressions when you have a moment...


Sure! First things first, the stones are huge. I didn't really do a good job of showing the thickness in this photo but the stone on the left is 9lbs, the middle stone is 4.5lbs and the khao men is something like 8lbs. I've been trying to find a shop to cut them in half for me but no one has the tooling apparently. 






The Binsui on the left is the coarsest and softest. I don't use it very often because of how coarse it is, but it leaves really deep scratches, I think it's better suited for putting an edge on a knife with microchips and such. The middle stone is harder and finer, and the edge off it following the coarse stone is super toothy but still pretty refined, on a paper towel slice it felt like it was both cutting the towel and trying to grab and rip it at the same time, if that makes sense. The khao men is finer still and makes more mud than the binsui, and I used it as the last stone in this progression. It seemed to refine the edge a little further and got rid of some of the toothiness, so I think it's optional depending on what kind of edge you want. I probably wouldn't use it on a butchery knife but on a nakiri it left a pretty fun edge. As a side note, I used these in a progression on a deba and I was kind of amazed at how they left basically zero contrast. If I had spent more time trying to remove the scratches from the coarse stone I probably would have been well on my way to a mirror finish on both cladding and core steel, so I just use these in progression for my double bevel knives now haha. 

Hopefully this was helpful, I've never really written a stone review before so I apologize if I missed anything important. If there's anything specific you were curious about free to ask and I'll do my best to answer


----------



## Pie

Sloppy sharpening over time has made an undesirable microbevel-facet-thing. Fixing session ended early tonight .


----------



## M1k3

Pie said:


> View attachment 190446
> 
> Sloppy sharpening over time has made an undesirable microbevel-facet-thing. Fixing session ended early tonight .
> View attachment 190450


It's called "food release" and "beer-o-clock".


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Pie said:


> View attachment 190446
> 
> Sloppy sharpening over time has made an undesirable microbevel-facet-thing. Fixing session ended early tonight .
> View attachment 190450



Flipping off the knife that bit ya. I like the defiance. 

EDIT: I guess in this case it should be the stone.


----------



## tostadas

Haven't used my ohira suita in a while. Took it out for some touch ups today.


----------



## Pie

tostadas said:


> Haven't used my ohira suita in a while. Took it out for some touch ups today.
> View attachment 190611


Man that’s a nice looking stone.


----------



## itzjustchris1

Quick touch up in the morning before another dinner shift starts


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

itzjustchris1 said:


> Quick touch up in the morning before another dinner shift starts View attachment 190933



Great pic!


----------



## itzjustchris1

Thank you sir.


----------



## itzjustchris1

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Great pic!


Thank you sir


----------



## ModRQC

Been a long time without a real project... Well there was the Kaji-Bei a few months ago, and possibly THAT would be considered more of a real project than what comes next... however the Kaji-Bei is a 200$ CAD knife, so with a modicum of experience one just... goes at it how one sees fit without much of extra care or second thoughts.







Twice the price Wakui however, now 1 year + with me (time flies!!), was a project I knew inevitable sooner or later if I didn't sell it, and one I've been looking forward to. Well I didn't sell it, and decided it was time for "maintenance thinning". Very little to do in fact in terms of thinning but a first go at polishing the wide bevel, and I wanted it to be neat. Taped the faces even where I wasn't so worried of either the stones at hand or consistency of the wide bevel - just maniacally wanted to ensure looks would keep kosher. 






Nanohone 200: fast (for good knives) and tidy. It was little work getting both sides done, an easy check before the next stone in line, where final thinning would be dealt with, and the real polishing would begin. Not that the Nanohone isn't a good start in that regard, especially if you spend a little more time with it...






... yet Cerax 320 would at once allow me to paint an even better start yet while being that much more comfy and tactile getting the bevel and BTE how I wanted. Still dealt with speed in mind - about 15 minutes required. I don't care much for stray scratches from it especially with iron clad. Tape was removed from there on - next stones mud nowhere coarse enough to inflict any discoloration to the KU-Nash, unless you really rub at it. 





A little bit of extra work at the tip, not entirely erasing my last microbevel (quite acute as a last resort to the BTE getting irremediably thick) but almost. More of it kept towards the heel.





And the choil shot now slightly thinner...





... than it got to me in the first place OOTB. Can still see the remnant of my last micro-bevel. I saw no point getting it extra thin... yet. Separation was as good as could be expected OOTB anyhow. Preservation work here, if you will. 



But... most of the stop here is how good Cerax 700 can be - in my use. Which is no bragging... see next post.


----------



## ModRQC

I said... "in my use"... for there's a cheap dirty trick.






#320 sandpad. The other piece was intended to give a refresh to the handle. A single piece of this size suffice for what I have in mind when polishing with stones. Used scarcely out of Cerax 320 helped with its mud, used more extensively out of Cerax 700. Blending mostly using the same direction than the stone strokes, but I always do the last of any step with it using perpendicular to edge strokes. 









As I say, very little could be done from there and call it a day. 

But I went further, using Cerax 1K which has seen seldom polishing action yet and had me still curious about it. Encountered some slight problems - Cerax 1K tend to load and discolor from carbon steel/iron clads, and as soon as the stone gets there, you can say bye bye to its abilities. My first go at it was almost perfect, but a few spots I wanted to get as good... but I didn't resurface. 

Ah well, I went to Ouka and could call it a day still. Used the now quite finer #320 sandpad and oil to get a bit more of a hue





... bathing in oil... 















Well of course there are scratches! I'm not a polisher, just a guy with a fast prog to a quite workable finish.

Also a look at the new Atoma 140... which I've had for nearly a year now, but kept using the old worned out one because it did the job.

Just showing it raised mud and flattened the Nanohone 200 without the slightest of depreciation.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Excellent @ModRQC and thank you for posting!

I'm really impressed by how light your scratches seem to be on the low grits. Are you using much pressure?


----------



## ModRQC

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Excellent @ModRQC and thank you for posting!
> 
> I'm really impressed by how light your scratches seem to be on the low grits. Are you using much pressure?



Ah well I guess it goes down to the dirty trick! Look at the shot out of Nanohone or even Cerax 320, where none or little of the trick was used.

But still I guess experience helps a bit. You talked about pressure. Well once upon a time I just went crazy forcefully on coarse stones. Of course it was fast and my BTE got crazy thin, but... It's not how they should be used however. Mud and lighter pressure is a must. But also learning to apply the most pressure BTE. Sort of using the clad line as the pressure point. Carbon core will always be keener to get polished than the cladding. With SS clad the notion is crucial, but even with iron clad it helps a lot.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

ModRQC said:


> Ah well I guess it goes down to the dirty trick! Look at the shot out of Nanohone or even Cerax 320, where none or little of the trick was used.
> 
> But still I guess experience helps a bit. You talked about pressure. Well once upon a time I just went crazy forcefully on coarse stones. Of course it was fast and my BTE got crazy thin, but... It's not how they should be used however. Mud and lighter pressure is a must. But also learning to apply the most pressure BTE. Sort of using the clad line as the pressure point. Carbon core will always be keener to get polished than the cladding. With SS clad the notion is crucial, but even with iron clad it helps a lot.



Thanks dude. That's actually quite helpful.


----------



## ModRQC

IDK but glad if it is!


----------



## ModRQC

Ah BTW also helps with keeping a convex if you must or creating one. But @ian and others have already pointed this out and for this geometry it was of little use. Should have said that the Wakui was mostly a very very straight affair.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

ModRQC said:


> IDK but glad if it is!



Because my scratches are too deep and I've been telling myself to ease up on pressure and to also slow down and spend more time around the cladding line. That's almost exactly what you posted as advice!


----------



## ModRQC

Depends on where you position yourself scratch wise. I never went to boast that any of my results dealt with all of them. I once followed either a tighter prog or more blending to get there more closely, but really when you get that at some point you're loosing benefits (sucky finish) with either too fine of a stone/sandpad for a few scratches that won't hinder any of the cutting... I've so treated most of my more or less crude Migaki vertical finishes with clad line pressure, lazy not so fine polishing and rather coarse perpendicular to edge finish because that's how they behaved so good in separation to start with... and I don't care how they look as much as very precisely the cutting feeling I liked them for in the first place - just enhanced. Got even lazier and less worried after thinning a Sukenari HAP-40 - not only the SS cladding but the very hard core and the typical too flat Sukenari grind quite difficult to improve upon AND get a great polish upon at the same time with minimal involvment.

So also hours of work willing to invest for a project vs. real benefits except being temporarily amazed by the level of finish obtained - to be completely forgotten at best, cursed upon at worse, in use - have long lost interest to me. But I'd get it if anyone was of a different mind. Need to adjust to what you're seeking for.


----------



## ModRQC

Wakui update: lightly etched and sharpened






SG320 did the honors, SG500 and Morihei 4K waiting in the wing.






Choil without a mushy edge remnant on top...











The handle - where that other piece of #320 sandpad was used.


----------



## M1k3

ModRQC said:


> Wakui update: lightly etched and sharpened
> 
> View attachment 191680
> 
> 
> SG320 did the honors, SG500 and Morihei 4K waiting in the wing.
> 
> View attachment 191679
> 
> 
> Choil without a mushy edge remnant on top...
> 
> View attachment 191683
> 
> 
> View attachment 191684
> 
> 
> The handle - where that other piece of #320 sandpad was used.
> 
> View attachment 191681
> 
> View attachment 191682


Looking good!


----------



## esoo

Sharpening day. 1 stone down


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Munetoshi.


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Munetoshi.



So easy to sharpen!


----------



## esoo

Not perfect but definitely good enough for today. Touch up after trying to bring out the banding on my Shihan. 





Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

esoo said:


> Not perfect but definitely good enough for today. Touch up after trying to bring out the banding on my Shihan.
> 
> View attachment 191975



Nice!

Got me feeling all inadequate now.


----------



## esoo

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Nice!
> 
> Got me feeling all inadequate now.


Don't feel too inadequate - this is about as good as I get.


----------



## captaincaed

Unsolicited advice. Don't take up razor honing. It'll turn you into an obsessive weirdo. 

Speaking on behalf of a friend.


----------



## ethompson

captaincaed said:


> Unsolicited advice. Don't take up razor honing. It'll turn you into an obsessive weirdo.
> 
> Speaking on behalf of a friend.
> View attachment 191993


How do you find razor honing? I expected it to be super challenging based on all the stuff I’d read an borderline violent arguments had about it online. I personally just didn’t find it that hard… angle guide is pretty much built in after all


----------



## captaincaed

ethompson said:


> How do you find razor honing? I expected it to be super challenging based on all the stuff I’d read an borderline violent arguments had about it online. I personally just didn’t find it that hard… angle guide is pretty much built in after all


Getting to "good enough" was easy for exactly the reason you say. Getting to HHT 4/5 appears to be my Achilles heel. 
Best guess so far is I need a cleaner set bevel. Or a stone between 8/10k and the Arks. Hard to know for sure. 

I mean, my friend needs to do those things.


----------



## runninscared

ethompson said:


> How do you find razor honing? I expected it to be super challenging based on all the stuff I’d read an borderline violent arguments had about it online. I personally just didn’t find it that hard… angle guide is pretty much built in after all


the only difficult things about razor honing are knowing when you are finished with a stone and ready to move onto the next, and dealing with razors with geometry issues(rolling x strokes are your friend here). synthetics make things braindead easy. hard jnats have a learning curve. 

i find knife sharpening to be harder but thats probably because ive spent WAY more time with razors.


----------



## runninscared

captaincaed said:


> Unsolicited advice. Don't take up razor honing. It'll turn you into an obsessive weirdo.
> 
> Speaking on behalf of a friend.
> View attachment 191993


can confirm, it does turn you into an obsessive weirdo.


----------



## captaincaed

That's a pretty killer edge. May I ask how you got there? (Asking for a friend)


----------



## runninscared

captaincaed said:


> That's a pretty killer edge. May I ask how you got there? (Asking for a friend)


with the usb microscope i use, the edges look black when they are highly polished. 

i used to use the above pictures to illustrate the difference between razors finished on synths with high polish and naturals that leave a more matte/hazy finish. both shave very well. 

top picture is a naniwa 12k edge under fairly high magnification. bottom picture is a hard jnat finished on misty slurry. both pics are from about 6 years ago. if i ever get a chance to dig through my comp in the living room ill try to find some other pics. i had a massive library of bevel pics finished on various naturals. jnats/coti's/eschers/ark's etc as well as a bunch of synth finishers/progression stones and lapping film. basically a little bit of everything.


----------



## mack

I love my Bogdan 






Mack.


----------



## Pie

Just finished the base for this strange little piece of nakayama. Man woodworking is tough. On the plus side, loving the new polish mule @Greasylake, it’s wonderful!


----------



## Bear

Making a mess in more ways than one.


----------



## nakiriknaifuwaifu

mack said:


> I love my Bogdan
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Mack.


 I love your Bogdan too
Been thinking of grabbing one, but can't find our where + ukraine stuff


----------



## mack

nakiriknaifuwaifu said:


> I love your Bogdan too
> Been thinking of grabbing one, but can't find our where + ukraine stuff



Got mine a few years ago, was rather cheap these days (~350€), use it quite often and won't let it go anymore. There are a few other similar systems, but I'm sure you know that.

Mack.


----------



## mengwong

runninscared said:


> with the usb microscope i use, the edges look black when they are highly polished.


Can you share the make & model? I want to get a better look than my 60x loupe allows.


----------



## Greasylake

A quick working finish and some maintenance sharpening on this yanagiba. One day closer to forcing this stone into giving me an even finish...


----------



## deltaplex

I take the streaks as a personal affront.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

On a little van life roadie and have found a use for what I now call a "travel size" aizu  




Some unknown Tosa knife next to it, funnily enough I will pass through Tosa in the next day or two and see what the knives there are like. Should be cool!


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> ...
> 
> Some unknown Tosa knife next to it, funnily enough *I will pass through Tosa in the next day or two *and see what the knives there are like. Should be cool!



Pics or it didn't happen!


----------



## Patinated

ModRQC said:


> Been a long time without a real project... Well there was the Kaji-Bei a few months ago, and possibly THAT would be considered more of a real project than what comes next... however the Kaji-Bei is a 200$ CAD knife, so with a modicum of experience one just... goes at it how one sees fit without much of extra care or second thoughts.
> 
> 
> View attachment 191046
> 
> Twice the price Wakui however, now 1 year + with me (time flies!!), was a project I knew inevitable sooner or later if I didn't sell it, and one I've been looking forward to. Well I didn't sell it, and decided it was time for "maintenance thinning". Very little to do in fact in terms of thinning but a first go at polishing the wide bevel, and I wanted it to be neat. Taped the faces even where I wasn't so worried of either the stones at hand or consistency of the wide bevel - just maniacally wanted to ensure looks would keep kosher.
> 
> 
> View attachment 191047
> 
> Nanohone 200: fast (for good knives) and tidy. It was little work getting both sides done, an easy check before the next stone in line, where final thinning would be dealt with, and the real polishing would begin. Not that the Nanohone isn't a good start in that regard, especially if you spend a little more time with it...
> 
> 
> View attachment 191048
> 
> ... yet Cerax 320 would at once allow me to paint an even better start yet while being that much more comfy and tactile getting the bevel and BTE how I wanted. Still dealt with speed in mind - about 15 minutes required. I don't care much for stray scratches from it especially with iron clad. Tape was removed from there on - next stones mud nowhere coarse enough to inflict any discoloration to the KU-Nash, unless you really rub at it.
> 
> View attachment 191049
> 
> A little bit of extra work at the tip, not entirely erasing my last microbevel (quite acute as a last resort to the BTE getting irremediably thick) but almost. More of it kept towards the heel.
> View attachment 191050
> 
> 
> And the choil shot now slightly thinner...
> View attachment 191051
> 
> 
> ... than it got to me in the first place OOTB. Can still see the remnant of my last micro-bevel. I saw no point getting it extra thin... yet. Separation was as good as could be expected OOTB anyhow. Preservation work here, if you will.
> 
> 
> 
> But... most of the stop here is how good Cerax 700 can be - in my use. Which is no bragging... see next post.
> View attachment 191052
> View attachment 191053
> View attachment 191054
> View attachment 191055


Like the idea of putting tape around the handle!


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

runninscared said:


> with the usb microscope i use, the edges look black when they are highly polished.
> 
> i used to use the above pictures to illustrate the difference between razors finished on synths with high polish and naturals that leave a more matte/hazy finish. both shave very well.
> 
> top picture is a naniwa 12k edge under fairly high magnification. bottom picture is a hard jnat finished on misty slurry. both pics are from about 6 years ago. if i ever get a chance to dig through my comp in the living room ill try to find some other pics. i had a massive library of bevel pics finished on various naturals. jnats/coti's/eschers/ark's etc as well as a bunch of synth finishers/progression stones and lapping film. basically a little bit of everything.


Do you have any recommendations for usb microscopes? I'm keen to get weird


----------



## runninscared

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> Do you have any recommendations for usb microscopes? I'm keen to get weird



innolife Portable 50X-500X Magnification 8-LED USB Digital Microscope Endoscope with Stand for Education Biological Inspection https://a.co/d/2j9kLYK

If these Amazon links aren’t allowed please remove.

This is the one I bought in 2015 to take pics of my razor bevels. I’d imagine the newer usb microscopes would probably have a bit better picture quality. But this one got the job done surprisingly well.


----------



## Pie

Final edge to finish restoration of a decades old chisel, with my beloved aoto brick.



I can’t believe how much better these are to use when actually sharp.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Pie said:


> Final edge to finish restoration of a decades old chisel, with my beloved aoto brick.View attachment 194173
> 
> I can’t believe how much better these are to use when actually sharp.



Ever seen videos of those Japanese wood shaving competitions? That'll blow your mind!


----------



## deltaplex

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Ever seen videos of those Japanese wood shaving competitions? That'll blow your mind!


I haven't, and I'm going to pretend like I never read this.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

Thanks @runninscared man they're cheap! The same looking one I can see available is up to 1600 magnification, who knows what's actually legit with those budget things though.. I'll give it a try.

Went to a store in tosa today that had various knives and tools and bits n bobs, the knives were all quite generic and seemed quickly finished with convex double bevels but it seems to go hand in hand with being practical just like the tools! There was an example of some tamahagane in the entrance along with some huge examples of uhhh knives/swords? Hard to tell the size but the actual sword looking one was maybe 1.2m in length! Sorry for average pictures but I was in a bit of a rush.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

deltaplex said:


> I haven't, and I'm going to pretend like I never read this.


Oh man you gotta see!


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

deltaplex said:


> I haven't, and I'm going to pretend like I never read this.



Ima jus gonna leave this here....


----------



## deltaplex

Wabisabi-Ken said:


> Oh man you gotta see!


yamete kudasai


----------



## Pie

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Ever seen videos of those Japanese wood shaving competitions? That'll blow your mind!


Oh man those long strips of straight see through wood is crazy. The one with the huge kanna is so satisfying. 

After spending hours screwing around with chisels and kiridashi I now realize it’s not just knives, but anything that can be sharpened intrigues me. 

Btw @Wabisabi-Ken that museum place looks awesome! When I go back to Japan I’m going to bore the heck out of my family.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Pie said:


> Oh man those long strips of straight see through wood is crazy. The one with the huge kanna is so satisfying.
> 
> After spending hours screwing around with chisels and kiridashi I now realize it’s not just knives, but anything that can be sharpened intrigues me.
> 
> Btw @Wabisabi-Ken that museum place looks awesome! When I go back to Japan I’m going to bore the heck out of my family.



I wonder what one of those huge blades cost?

Maybe @refcast knows...


----------



## refcast

@HumbleHomeCook 

I could look it up again but I think there was a giant kanna on Yahoo auction for like $3000 or more, I forget. Hokuto pro shop might have some prices too. I know I've seen them for sale


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

refcast said:


> @HumbleHomeCook
> 
> I could look it up again but I think there was a giant kanna on Yahoo auction for like $3000 or more, I forget. Hokuto pro shop might have some prices too. I know I've seen them for sale



Really amazing. I bet sharpening one that large is quite a feat too.


----------



## Greasylake

This one sold on Mercari for $3,100



https://jp.mercari.com/item/m27040623562











東一正芳 大鉋 和鉄 五寸 150ミリ 磨き仕上げ 超... - ヤフオク!


東一正芳の磨き仕上げになります。　矢羽模様も大変丁寧に施されていて頭には槌目模様があります。　背中は綺麗な銑がけがされており非常に手間のかかっている仕上げです。大変苦労して探し求め　やっと巡り会えた鉋ですが、　いろいろと道具が増えすぎた為、　本当に欲しい方に譲ろうと思います。正芳の五寸鉋は数が少ないため、ものすごく希少価値の高いものです。錆防止に薄くニスが塗ってあります。画像などをよく見て判断していただければと思います。



page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp


----------



## ethompson

From what I’ve seen $3k usd is the low end for those massive kanna and they can get up to multiples of that.


----------



## Pie

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Really amazing. I bet sharpening one that large is quite a feat too.


I’m imagining small vehicle sized aoto boulders. Kinda curious now about that.


----------



## MowgFace

Pie said:


> I’m imagining small vehicle sized aoto boulders. Kinda curious now about that.



Attach the Kanna to the front of a forklift, you can raise the forks to adjust for the tip!


----------



## ethompson

If you’re doing it right those big bois can easily suck to a stone so firmly you can lift up big 2kg+ suita with the blade.


----------



## deltaplex

Greasylake said:


> This one sold on Mercari for $3,100
> 
> 
> 
> https://jp.mercari.com/item/m27040623562
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 東一正芳 大鉋 和鉄 五寸 150ミリ 磨き仕上げ 超... - ヤフオク!
> 
> 
> 東一正芳の磨き仕上げになります。　矢羽模様も大変丁寧に施されていて頭には槌目模様があります。　背中は綺麗な銑がけがされており非常に手間のかかっている仕上げです。大変苦労して探し求め　やっと巡り会えた鉋ですが、　いろいろと道具が増えすぎた為、　本当に欲しい方に譲ろうと思います。正芳の五寸鉋は数が少ないため、ものすごく希少価値の高いものです。錆防止に薄くニスが塗ってあります。画像などをよく見て判断していただければと思います。
> 
> 
> 
> page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp


For $3100 you get to BYO dai and osae-gane


----------



## ethompson

deltaplex said:


> For $3100 you get to BYO dai and osae-gane


Pretty sure these big ones are usually used without a chip breaker, but I’m not an expert by any means


----------



## ethompson

Stepped away from my late night polishing setup yesterday and when I came back realize it was fairly photogenic (in my mind). Life feels so much simpler when it’s just me, some rocks, a blade, and preferably a glass of something nice. I actually enjoy polishing in this setup - no lights besides two bright LED strips right overhead. Was working with some uchigumori stones on a yanagiba.


----------



## deltaplex

What was on ice?


----------



## ethompson

deltaplex said:


> What was on ice?


A splash of prune brandy!


----------



## Pie

ethompson said:


> Stepped away from my late night polishing setup yesterday and when I came back realize it was fairly photogenic (in my mind). Life feels so much simpler when it’s just me, some rocks, a blade, and preferably a glass of something nice. I actually enjoy polishing in this setup - no lights besides two bright LED strips right overhead. Was working with some uchigumori stones on a yanagiba.View attachment 194414


The happy place! Lots of rooms and lots of stones. Something about it just melts the rest of life’s troubles away.


----------



## tim huang

cotedupy said:


> How about a complimentary thread to go with @HumbleHomeCook 's knife thread...
> 
> What have you whetted recently? What stones did you use?


what have i done... ruin the beautiful finish...and over thinning
Naniwa pro #400 #1000 #5000
Nigara SG2 K-tip gyuto
/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~


----------



## Pie

tim huang said:


> what have i done... ruin the beautiful finish...and over thinning
> Naniwa pro #400 #1000 #5000
> Nigara SG2 K-tip gyuto
> /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
> View attachment 194529
> 
> 
> View attachment 194530
> 
> 
> View attachment 194531
> 
> 
> View attachment 194532


I see slight shoulder easing and laser edge widths. Give the right side (choil shot right side) some more love and you’ve got some thin af smoother cutting slightly visually different awesome going on. 

The hollow will ease itself as further thinnings happen, and the overthinning will cure itself with more sharpening. 

Ugly is ok. Better cutting is significant.

I also think we have the same counter tops


----------



## tim huang

Pie said:


> I see slight shoulder easing and laser edge widths. Give the right side (choil shot right side) some more love and you’ve got some thin af smoother cutting slightly visually different awesome going on.
> 
> The hollow will ease itself as further thinnings happen, and the overthinning will cure itself with more sharpening.
> 
> Ugly is ok. Better cutting is significant.
> 
> I also think we have the same counter tops


it's kinda tricky for me at the moment. i have pay attention on the thinning already but still.....


----------



## cotedupy

tim huang said:


> what have i done... ruin the beautiful finish...and over thinning
> Naniwa pro #400 #1000 #5000
> Nigara SG2 K-tip gyuto
> /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
> View attachment 194529
> 
> 
> View attachment 194530
> 
> 
> View attachment 194531
> 
> 
> View attachment 194532




I'm with @Pie... I wouldn't worry too much about the aesthetics of it, as long as you've thinned evenly all the way along the edge of the knife. And with time you should hopefully get to a finish that's nice than the original anyway.

And as mentioned - it does look a little like a left handed grind atm, so you could do some more work on the RHS if you wanted.


----------



## tim huang

cotedupy said:


> I'm with @Pie... I wouldn't worry too much about the aesthetics of it, as long as you've thinned evenly all the way along the edge of the knife. And with time you should hopefully get to a finish that's nice than the original anyway.
> 
> And as mentioned - it does look a little like a left handed grind atm, so you could do some more work on the RHS if you wanted.


i definitely would do that


----------



## Pie

tim huang said:


> it's kinda tricky for me at the moment. i have pay attention on the thinning already but still.....


There’s a first time for everything friend . The important part is that you actually did it, learned some stuff, and didn’t destroy anything in the process. 

It’s very difficult to maintain the appearance of a knife when doing big work like this, try not to let it bother you too much, and don’t hesitate to go back to the stones to fix things that you notice. 

Best of luck!!


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

Man at the rate it takes me to remove material from a bevel I can't see how I would over thin, just getting a bevel flat seems to take forever and I look at it way too often hoping its flat already 

Speaking of such I just got this shapton 120, and hey look I see a fracture line running down the side of it. Reckon it's gonna end up being a problem?


----------



## OyakoDont

My car got broken into last night, so in my sadness I put some metal onto rocks and rubbed it around. I don't have any experience polishing knives, so this was a fun therapeutic trip. I thought there would be a difference in finish between the stainless steel and the carbon steel core, but I guess not. Went from a Shapton 1k, Naniwa 3k, and finally a wakasa tomae. Obvious inconsistencies, but I'll be back later. Open to advice is anyone wants to dish.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

@OyakoDont as a fellow Washingtonian, I feel your pain. Crime is rampant. I too find comfort in my knives and stones.

The polishing gurus will be along to help.


----------



## ethompson

Looks like you still have some low spots and scratches from coarse stones to work out, but they’ll end up smoothing out over time. If you have an atoma or a tomo nagura handy, try working up a thickish mud on that tomae and then working it with just enough water to keep things smooth, I find I get my best contrast with a thick slurry bordering on glazing over.


----------



## OyakoDont

ethompson said:


> Looks like you still have some low spots and scratches from coarse stones to work out, but they’ll end up smoothing out over time. If you have an atoma or a tomo nagura handy, try working up a thickish mud on that tomae and then working it with just enough water to keep things smooth, I find I get my best contrast with a thick slurry bordering on glazing over.


Thanks, it's your stone, so I think you know it best


----------



## ethompson

OyakoDont said:


> Thanks, it's your stone, so I think you know it best


Maybe


----------



## ethompson

And then never forget the most important rule of polishing… however long you think your desired result will take to achieve, expect it to take 3x that


----------



## M1k3

ethompson said:


> And then never forget the most important rule of polishing… however long you think your desired result will take to achieve, expect it to take 3x that


*On your first few attempts possibly nearly double as you might start over.


----------



## tim huang

cotedupy said:


> How about a complimentary thread to go with @HumbleHomeCook 's knife thread...
> 
> What have you whetted recently? What stones did you use?


before





after





i know ive shouldn't thin a deba! and obviously i have made the mistake...so i sit in front of my laptop and trying to convince myself... "see, its not that bad"


----------



## Pie

OyakoDont said:


> My car got broken into last night, so in my sadness I put some metal onto rocks and rubbed it around. I don't have any experience polishing knives, so this was a fun therapeutic trip. I thought there would be a difference in finish between the stainless steel and the carbon steel core, but I guess not. Went from a Shapton 1k, Naniwa 3k, and finally a wakasa tomae. Obvious inconsistencies, but I'll be back later. Open to advice is anyone wants to dish.
> View attachment 195845
> View attachment 195846
> View attachment 195847


Mud mud mud mud and light pressure. You’re working the cushion vs working the stone. The sound and feel should be much different than clean water and stone. Tsushima if you have one handy can make gloriously smooth mud. Mud. Mud mud mud. Also you’re polishing stainless steel which, to be honest turns out better than I had thought in the past, might not give the same sort of contrast iron would. 

Sorry to hear about your car tho. It’s happened before and it involves many heavy sighs.


----------



## ModRQC

_Last Sunday, late afternoon:_

Early afternoon I posted my Denka review, and it was all I needed to settle down working on it. It was the only next logical step… short of selling it while it still cuts… surely more purposeful than idly maintaining the edge/resharpen it… quite absolutely the most interesting prospect. As with any TF…






_Notice the “finish-shy” bevel painting, as expressing the general idea here…_

At the left of the above picture, a partial inclusion of the Nanohone 200 and SG 320. I often use them together as a first go-to run since they’re not too muddy for speed so very precise – the 320 mostly used complementarily BTE for fine tuning. But I didn’t feel for the SG this time around: I was satisfied with how thin the knife came out of the Nanohone already – that is, conservatively. It still had the Cerax 320/700 to go, and even in lighter polishing fashion, these will go some way getting a more refined BTE.

What I had in mind was simply “degreasing” the original lump there, checking on those bevels no more than necessary in regards to the first aim, as to get a working finish fast as well.









_Nanohone 200 – without further ado_

My best experience with TF indeed being to work in steps, and that one session is never really enough anyhow: truth is they generally require “unexpected” extra work on top of a couple things you aim to improve upon, and trying to tackle everything at once can be a bit daunting – perhaps even overshooting things.

Here one of my aims was to improve the thick tip. Nothing much dedicated yet, but I did have a start with it. You’ll be able to appreciate that on the left side such work led quickly into erasing a chunk of the KU completely; while on the right side, it sort of just eroded the KU over the shoulder pretty consistently, and went up into it slightly only just “behind” the pressure spot. Mostly indicative of a much more consistent shoulder until the tip on the right side.

Otherwise, a couple spots with some of the slight initial concavity left after my light thinning: I’ve seen some dire overgrinds with TF, such ones that superficial work as I did here would but just show in the most atrocious contrasts, but in this case I think it’s mostly “natural concavity” and nothing much to point a finger at even if it’s NOT “natural concavity” – I’ve seen worse, and not only from TF indeed.









_Cerax 320 – sandpad #320 with the residual stone mud._

So these are the goals and inconsistencies I feel it’s important to gather from all these pictures.I’ll tend to finish a step further with usually but not exclusively Arashiyama 1K, but here I didn’t see the point – for basically the same reasons I didn’t see a point bringing it to SG 320.









_Cerax 700 – sandpad #320 with the residual stone mud._


I’m showing what I usually use as “secondary choil shot” in reviews first because it’s truer. 


See next post…



Here’s the OOTB “secondary choil shot” to compare to.











_With alcohol and music (couldn’t take a decent picture of the latter…) these are the golden moments._

The sandpad #800 (heavily loaded one in the center) was used to smooth the rather crude original chamfer work at the spine and choil. Next thinning I might crown that half-a$$ spine chamfer because it looks half-a$$… but you know, probably not unless I’m really bored. I don’t see much incentive in use…


----------



## ModRQC

Here we are with the usual choil shot:






As well, a comparison with the OOTB:






I’m not especially defending TF here, but with this particular unit there’s a good reason why the mandate choil shot aggravatingly looks like scoliosis:






Tsuchime hammering at the notch on the left side achieves the illusion that a fair chunk of its outline there is plowed in – almost looking like a warp. However if you reconcile the straight choil shot here with the slanted, upside down one last post, you get the right picture. In fact, the geometry itself is pretty exemplary of what I surmise TF tends to aim at in general nowadays.

From where we left things at last post, I used a bit of metal polish to clear the bevels and core some further, as well as removing the discoloration incurred with the Cerax 700 in this case.












_Last Monday, evening_

Of course I also needed to resharpen it… a joyful obligation, full to the brim with promises of unseen music, leveling glasses of gold and rubies, and peace of mind…






_Forecast: beer will have turned into wine, knife will be sharp_








There, the SG 320 did come of use – to give the primary edge, no less. Refined on Cerax 1K and Ouka… Finished with ultralight leading strokes on Morihei 4K. Just how I love my Blues.











_Big red onion told me things were going much better already..._


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Not great pics from me today but I'll share nonetheless.

This is my Wat Pro 180 gyuto. I've been struggling with some fine chipping on the edge and have been creeping up on it. Each light correction has shown improvement but today I decided to go for it a bit more earnestly.

I'm still learning so still not getting crazy with altering geometry all at once but definitely having a go at it. SG500 to 2k to Belgian and then cardboard strop.

STARTED:











AFTER (Had trouble getting the camera to focus):















At any rate, the very beginnings of "maintenance" thinning, starting to put a little convexity in the edge, and again subtly increasing the edge angle.


----------



## ModRQC

Man it looks like a fuuun knife to get to the stones!

Care to share a before/after choil shot if that is possible?



HumbleHomeCook said:


> Not great pics from me today but I'll share nonetheless.
> 
> This is my Wat Pro 180 gyuto. I've been struggling with some fine chipping on the edge and have been creeping up on it. Each light correction has shown improvement but today I decided to go for it a bit more earnestly.
> 
> I'm still learning so still not getting crazy with altering geometry all at once but definitely having a go at it. SG500 to 2k to Belgian and then cardboard strop.
> 
> STARTED:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> AFTER (Had trouble getting the camera to focus):
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At any rate, the very beginnings of "maintenance" thinning, starting to put a little convexity in the edge, and again subtly increasing the edge angle.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

ModRQC said:


> Man it looks like a fuuun knife to get to the stones!
> 
> Care to share a before/after choil shot if that is possible?



Sorry buddy, I didn't think to take any. I suck at them anyway.  

Don't think this round I changed all that much other than some convexity at the edge.


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

Just received this cheapie little 160mm. Straight onto a king 800 to see how the bevel looks.. obviously needs some work so onto shapton 120 it went. Not sure how I feel about the lack of shinogi line. A shinogi line was media blasted on there before but it soon disappeared. In my head it could end up looking cool but at the moment something just doesn't seem right. Maybe I'll get some uchi powder onto the whole thing then get back to work on the bevel


----------



## deltaplex

Looks like the kind of project that ends up being a lot of time and learing.


----------



## Pie

?k polish off an ozuku asagi I have never found a purpose for. My first jnat (in a shipment of 3), it almost ended the journey before it even started. Of Imanishi origin I believe. Also turns out this old Taiwan chisel is cladded .


----------



## Pie

I love this stone @refcast 
Haven’t really got a chance to see it’s potential until now. Cuts fast and deburrs very nicely.


----------



## Delat

I took my first baby step towards thinning recently. This Shiro Kamo R2 is my rough and ready workhorse, but I decided I wouldn’t mind if it moved through produce a little easier. I normally sharpen it at 10/20 due to the righty bias, so I first added an 8 degree back bevel, then another 6 degree bevel. No real noticeable improvement yet so I might need to go thinner, but I just noticed a microchip in this photo so I’ll take it slow.

What I’m most happy with is how consistent I’ve gotten with the curve of the belly and tip. Keeping those consistent were one of the toughest things when I first started sharpening.


----------



## Bear

My 150 garlic slayer


----------



## Pie

Delat said:


> I took my first baby step towards thinning recently. This Shiro Kamo R2 is my rough and ready workhorse, but I decided I wouldn’t mind if it moved through produce a little easier. I normally sharpen it at 10/20 due to the righty bias, so I first added an 8 degree back bevel, then another 6 degree bevel. No real noticeable improvement yet so I might need to go thinner, but I just noticed a microchip in this photo so I’ll take it slow.
> 
> What I’m most happy with is how consistent I’ve gotten with the curve of the belly and tip. Keeping those consistent were one of the toughest things when I first started sharpening.
> 
> View attachment 198066
> 
> 
> View attachment 198067



I was wondering how you’re so exact, then I think I remember the angle checking block thing. 

Looks great! Thinning damascus clad always makes me nervous.


----------



## Delat

Pie said:


> I was wondering how you’re so exact, then I think I remember the angle checking block thing.
> 
> Looks great! Thinning damascus clad always makes me nervous.



Yup, that level of precision definitely isn’t necessary here but I’m just indulging my OCD. I think I need to go lower angle and higher up from the edge but that probably would mess up the damascus and I’m not feeling up to that just yet.


----------



## BoSharpens

Thinning Damascus (or fake Damascus) is something I've wondered about as I've never done it.

But I have a professional chef where I sharpen his 8 knives. Probably 6 of them (Shun/Wustoff) have been sharpened back so far over the last 2-3 decades that the edges are really thick at this point.

How deep toward the spine should the thinning be to keep easy cutting once thinned, plus it takes less time to sharpen for me. My pure guess is about 6-8 mm back from the widest part of the existing edge.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Committed.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Taking this one slow but that doesn't mean I didn't use a variety.


----------



## tri.ngm

Unknown suita?



It's actually a Vietnamese natural stone 
Neither the stone nor the polish is perfect, but I'm pleasantly surprised with this stone.


----------



## cotedupy

Pie said:


> View attachment 197506
> 
> 
> ?k polish off an ozuku asagi I have never found a purpose for. My first jnat (in a shipment of 3), it almost ended the journey before it even started. Of Imanishi origin I believe. Also turns out this old Taiwan chisel is cladded .
> 
> View attachment 197508




Nice work!

Ozuku Asagi should be golden for razor honing, give a shout if ever you fancy a swap...


----------



## cotedupy

This Maruo is a very lovely kasumi stone but I've been using it a bit recently for sharpening too, and been really rather impressed. The stone is fairly slow in comparison to the kinds of things I normally use, but still manages to get a huge amount of aggression into a relatively fine edge.


----------



## Sushiman703




----------



## Sushiman703

Thinned and polished


----------



## Pie

cotedupy said:


> Nice work!
> 
> Ozuku Asagi should be golden for razor honing, give a shout if ever you fancy a swap...


Thanks! 

I’ve never sharpened a razor, but I have done some nagura progression on it for polishing. It appears to be an good base stone (not that I know what one is like), strongly reflecting what the slurry wants to do without any scratches or streaking. 

In terms of a trade… PM incoming!


----------



## itzjustchris1

Kiyoshi Kato knives needed some help. These knives have seen better days. They are my coworkers workhorses. So I decided to lend a hand to my fellow chef and work on them.


----------



## ethompson

itzjustchris1 said:


> Kiyoshi Kato knives needed some help. These knives have seen better days. They are my coworkers workhorses. So I decided to lend a hand to my fellow chef and work on them.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 198784
> View attachment 198785
> View attachment 198786
> View attachment 198787


Knives getting used makes me so happy!!


----------



## Greasylake

Going to call it a day here for the first day of "Greasy's tamahagane/wrought unagisaki revival project series." The goal was to get a better assessment of the condition of the knife and I think I have achieved that, and I feel much more confident tackling the project now than when it looked like a hunk of wavy pointy steel. There are some low spots on the bevel which I will have to work out somehow due to the rust, and I spent a good while trying to increase the size of the hira and begin recreating a shinogi. Actually a lot of progress made so far, but that's because it was a lot of setup. From now on it will be much slower progress I think. Oh yeah I had to straighten the knife too. It was pretty straight to start with but it had a bit of a bend on the kissaki which I think led to the low spot there. Luckily that low spot is not very deep and has come out very quickly. The shinogi is ultra wavy but I expected that from the previous sharpening as well as the low spots. I will try to straighten it out as I go but it's not an ultra high priority for me. 

Before photos:






After photos:






Even the spine has banding!


----------



## Pie

Binging on geometry and polishing lately and loving it. 









Heavy lifting is done, on to smoothing out these tiny wobbly bevels and rounding out any mini facets. NP1k made some cute kasumi along the way.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

itzjustchris1 said:


> Kiyoshi Kato knives needed some help. These knives have seen better days. They are my coworkers workhorses. So I decided to lend a hand to my fellow chef and work on them.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 198784
> View attachment 198785
> View attachment 198786
> View attachment 198787





ethompson said:


> Knives getting used makes me so happy!!



Agreed! In my eyes, those knives have a sexiness that rivals fine mirror finishes.


----------



## tim huang

remove all the scratches on my moritaka B#2 150 petty with Naniwa 1K +#600 sand paper


----------



## Pie

Finished up the Takeda with @refcast ’s mystery vintage barber hone. Not quite as clean as I would like but polishing, not to mention sharpening, is a bit difficult for me with these things. The stone could stand to be a bit bigger but what can you do. 












Can’t wait to get this back into rotation, it’s been like 3 months now .


----------



## deltaplex

Finally moved a stone up into the kitchen for easier touchups. This is post everything, but it was a very successful first run for it:


----------



## Greasylake

Greasylake said:


> Going to call it a day here for the first day of "Greasy's tamahagane/wrought unagisaki revival project series." The goal was to get a better assessment of the condition of the knife and I think I have achieved that, and I feel much more confident tackling the project now than when it looked like a hunk of wavy pointy steel. There are some low spots on the bevel which I will have to work out somehow due to the rust, and I spent a good while trying to increase the size of the hira and begin recreating a shinogi. Actually a lot of progress made so far, but that's because it was a lot of setup. From now on it will be much slower progress I think. Oh yeah I had to straighten the knife too. It was pretty straight to start with but it had a bit of a bend on the kissaki which I think led to the low spot there. Luckily that low spot is not very deep and has come out very quickly. The shinogi is ultra wavy but I expected that from the previous sharpening as well as the low spots. I will try to straighten it out as I go but it's not an ultra high priority for me.


Wrapping up day two of work on the unagi-saki. Didn't feel like doing too much today so I just cut the handle off, soaked the tang in evaporust and then found out I've worn out my bottle. Gotta get a new bottle and some brass brushes before I can finish cleaning the tang. Decided to just hit the knife with my new morihei 1k. Cladding line is now showing its face and the stone brought out some of the banding as well. Getting closer to looking like a proper knife


----------



## Pie

Greasylake said:


> Wrapping up day two of work on the unagi-saki. Didn't feel like doing too much today so I just cut the handle off, soaked the tang in evaporust and then found out I've worn out my bottle. Gotta get a new bottle and some brass brushes before I can finish cleaning the tang. Decided to just hit the knife with my new morihei 1k. Cladding line is now showing its face and the stone brought out some of the banding as well. Getting closer to looking like a proper knife
> 
> View attachment 199391
> View attachment 199392
> View attachment 199393


This looks like an awesome project. 

In return - one low spot out, next one on it’s way! It is thin, but there’s a tiny bit of convex that can come off.


----------



## Jaylilly74

Touched up this takeda funayuki on a 3k shapton last night


----------



## cotedupy

Greasylake said:


> Going to call it a day here for the first day of "Greasy's tamahagane/wrought unagisaki revival project series." The goal was to get a better assessment of the condition of the knife and I think I have achieved that, and I feel much more confident tackling the project now than when it looked like a hunk of wavy pointy steel. There are some low spots on the bevel which I will have to work out somehow due to the rust, and I spent a good while trying to increase the size of the hira and begin recreating a shinogi. Actually a lot of progress made so far, but that's because it was a lot of setup. From now on it will be much slower progress I think. Oh yeah I had to straighten the knife too. It was pretty straight to start with but it had a bit of a bend on the kissaki which I think led to the low spot there. Luckily that low spot is not very deep and has come out very quickly. The shinogi is ultra wavy but I expected that from the previous sharpening as well as the low spots. I will try to straighten it out as I go but it's not an ultra high priority for me.
> 
> Before photos:
> View attachment 198803
> View attachment 198805
> View attachment 198804
> 
> 
> 
> After photos:
> View attachment 198801
> View attachment 198800
> View attachment 198799
> View attachment 198798
> 
> 
> Even the spine has banding!
> View attachment 198802




That knife looks like it's gonna be absolutely kickass. Where did you get it?!

(I am _very _jealous).


----------



## Greasylake

Pie said:


> This looks like an awesome project.
> 
> In return - one low spot out, next one on it’s way! It is thin, but there’s a tiny bit of convex that can come off.


Nice! Glad you're enjoying it. Originally I had left the low spots because the knife is so thin I was worried it would move the shinogi too high before they came out, but I'm glad to see that wasn't the case  That one is probably the lightest knife I've handled, just disappears into your hands


----------



## Greasylake

cotedupy said:


> That knife looks like it's gonna be awesome! Where did you get it?!
> 
> (I am _very _jealous).


Thank you! I've been having a lot of fun with it and I'm excited to see where it goes. It's very satisfying to see a recognizable knife shape begin to emerge from what was essentially a pointy piece of metal and rust haha. This was a yahoo auctions find, and definitely my most unique auction buy to date. I was checking the unagi-saki listings every morning for probably 2 months before this knife got listed haha, totally worth it.


----------



## cotedupy

Don't you hate the way that Translucent Arks are so slow, with rubbish overly refined edges, and horrible streaky scratchy jigane... 



















This (courtesy of a trade with @ables) is one of the best edge sharpening stones I have. Very fine, but with huge amounts of bite and teeth. Even the paper towel I cut landed upright on the floor in appreciation!


----------



## deltaplex

Is that bad boy friable at all?


----------



## cotedupy

deltaplex said:


> Is that bad boy friable at all?




Haha, yes. Good spot! I was being a little bit cute there, that stone is fairly atypical for a Norton Hard Ark...

Though the SG is still up at 2.62, the stone itself is a bit softer, _much _less translucent, and has a more noticeable surface pore structure than they usually do. Here are some comparison pics vs a more normal type of old Norton Hard.


----------



## ables

cotedupy said:


> Haha, yes. Good spot! I was being a little bit cute there, that stone is fairly atypical for a Norton Hard Ark...
> 
> Though the SG is still up at 2.62, the stone itself is a bit softer, _much _less translucent, and has a more noticeable surface pore structure than they usually do. Here are some comparison pics vs a more normal type of old Norton Hard.
> 
> View attachment 199780
> 
> 
> View attachment 199779
> 
> 
> View attachment 199781




I've owned atleast 3 dozen hard arkansas stones but never had one quite like this norton. Unique color, pores, and translucency. I knew it would be a really sweet knife stone and am glad it has a good home with fancy knives to sharpen!


----------



## Sushiman703

Quick thinning session gave it a weird finish


----------



## Pie

Top tier pairing. Now I see the value in heavy ass single bevel honesuki. 




Finally finished the polish, poorly I might add, but I got lazy. The goal was to be able to use this thing and I absolutely love the feel in hand during use. Aoto edge is perfect, both for application and ease of use, although I’m sure my technique can be much better. The sheer weight and rock solid feel packed into such a small blade is a lot different than what I had used before. F yeah, objective achieved.

Edit - the core steel messy, but I like this iron.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Pie said:


> Top tier pairing. Now I see the value in heavy ass single bevel honesuki.
> View attachment 200358
> 
> Finally finished the polish, poorly I might add, but I got lazy. The goal was to be able to use this thing and I absolutely love the feel in hand during use. Aoto edge is perfect, both for application and ease of use, although I’m sure my technique can be much better. The sheer weight and rock solid feel packed into such a small blade is a lot different than what I had used before. F yeah, objective achieved.
> 
> Edit - the core steel messy, but I like this iron. View attachment 200365
> View attachment 200366



Honesuki for the win!  

Glad you're stoked about it buddy. Now, let's see some in-use pics on the Daily Knife Pic thread.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Something different today.


----------



## Pie

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Something different today.


Heck yes. How goes freehanding the bevel?


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Pie said:


> Heck yes. How goes freehanding the bevel?



Humbling.

So, I went into this a bit cocky. I mean, that's a nice wide flat spot at pretty stiff angle and tiny bit of steel. No rotation or anything. Just lay it flat and stroke.

But like all things sharpening, it rather quickly smacked me in the face.

First, these are not expensive chisels so the factory grind is a bit wonky.

Second, my knife sharpening programming kept wanting to lay it back too much. I overcame this one pretty quickly but it was a thing to start for sure.

Third, with such small surface area and just the way you hold them, you really have to be mindful of consistency. It's easy to roll a touch one way or another and on these tools, for precision work, I feel angles matter more than on our kitchen knives.

I did three chisels today and while I made them vastly better, when I took them to some hard oak and tried thin slices, my shortcomings became apparent. With softer wood they were awesome and with the grain of the oak they are good but cross grain, they struggle. And that's with some good polish.

This was my first go at chisels for anything other than busting out chunks of wood so a great learning experience.

I know a lot of woodworkers use jigs for this and I can't say that I blame them. I'll keep practicing but if I do find myself in real need of fine precision across different woods, I would feel no shame in using a jig.

Fun though!


----------



## Wabisabi-Ken

Recently got this takohiki made by a Mr. Shiraki Hamono who has apparently retired from Sakai. Not sure if it's a well known name or not. But man it was so easy to get extremely sharp, it came somewhat sharp, wouldn't cut hairs on forearm but 1 minute later on a nice little koppa and it would smoothly slice through a standing rolled up piece of paper with ease. It's a fun little test. 

It has a "honkasumi" finish but it could be much better, so I look forward to polishing it up properly at some point. Oh and here is a cool video I found while looking up info on Shiraki Hamono. Shows the whole sharpening process in detail.. I recommend checking out the channel!


----------



## Pie

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Humbling.
> 
> So, I went into this a bit cocky. I mean, that's a nice wide flat spot at pretty stiff angle and tiny bit of steel. No rotation or anything. Just lay it flat and stroke.
> 
> But like all things sharpening, it rather quickly smacked me in the face.
> 
> First, these are not expensive chisels so the factory grind is a bit wonky.
> 
> Second, my knife sharpening programming kept wanting to lay it back too much. I overcame this one pretty quickly but it was a thing to start for sure.
> 
> Third, with such small surface area and just the way you hold them, you really have to be mindful of consistency. It's easy to roll a touch one way or another and on these tools, for precision work, I feel angles matter more than on our kitchen knives.
> 
> I did three chisels today and while I made them vastly better, when I took them to some hard oak and tried thin slices, my shortcomings became apparent. With softer wood they were awesome and with the grain of the oak they are good but cross grain, they struggle. And that's with some good polish.
> 
> This was my first go at chisels for anything other than busting out chunks of wood so a great learning experience.
> 
> I know a lot of woodworkers use jigs for this and I can't say that I blame them. I'll keep practicing but if I do find myself in real need of fine precision across different woods, I would feel no shame in using a jig.
> 
> Fun though!


I went through this not long ago, and felt the humbling in spades. I really did need one for some work so I went to the dark side and bought a cheapie angle guide. 

Man what a difference it made. My pride can be shelved for now, the edges are worth it!


----------



## esoo

Raquin was being judgemental of my effort to kasumi the bevels


----------



## esoo

Post action drying shot


----------



## Greasylake

Getting a little better at using harder stones... one of these days I'll get the tip looking nice too


----------



## Pie

A couple gaudy angles on a harder nakayama kan. Kiridashi is dry. You can see a bit of the iron texture(?) in the round reflections in the second picture. 

But sadly, I am neither perfect nor scratch free. The stone is capable of great things, I can only hope to unlock it some day.


----------



## deltaplex

Switched up the in the kitchen stones for touch up and I think it's the perfect spot for this while I work down the edges to try and flatten the overall coti side.






SG on this one is 3.04 @cotedupy


----------



## BarryMM

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Humbling.
> 
> So, I went into this a bit cocky. I mean, that's a nice wide flat spot at pretty stiff angle and tiny bit of steel. No rotation or anything. Just lay it flat and stroke.
> 
> But like all things sharpening, it rather quickly smacked me in the face.
> 
> First, these are not expensive chisels so the factory grind is a bit wonky.
> 
> Second, my knife sharpening programming kept wanting to lay it back too much. I overcame this one pretty quickly but it was a thing to start for sure.
> 
> Third, with such small surface area and just the way you hold them, you really have to be mindful of consistency. It's easy to roll a touch one way or another and on these tools, for precision work, I feel angles matter more than on our kitchen knives.
> 
> I did three chisels today and while I made them vastly better, when I took them to some hard oak and tried thin slices, my shortcomings became apparent. With softer wood they were awesome and with the grain of the oak they are good but cross grain, they struggle. And that's with some good polish.
> 
> This was my first go at chisels for anything other than busting out chunks of wood so a great learning experience.
> 
> I know a lot of woodworkers use jigs for this and I can't say that I blame them. I'll keep practicing but if I do find myself in real need of fine precision across different woods, I would feel no shame in using a jig.
> 
> Fun though!


Tormek for the win!


----------



## Greasylake

15 dollar katsuobushi kanna with the subtle banding??? *chefs kiss*


----------



## Delat

Here’s some progress photos of my first real thinning project. I’m thinning out the primary bevel of this knife below. The feather grooves form an s-grind mid-blade, while the primary bevel forms a kind of symmetric hook grind.






You can see from the choil that the primary bevel is thick, and the edge bevel is sort of a high angle chisel tip. I wanted to ease the edge bevel shoulders and thin the whole primary bevel.

OMG this has been painful - the steel is AEB-L and my SG220 was really slow. So I switched to my coarse Norton India which was fantastic for 5 minutes until it loaded up (my fault for using water, I think). Now using 150 grit sandpaper which seems a little faster than the SG220 at least.






Here’s where I’m at. Edge bevel shoulders convexed but still thick BTE up through the first 5-8mm or so. Time to take a break and evaluate on some produce though, while I wait for my 100 grit 3M pro (aka cubitron) sandpaper to arrive. Hoping that’s the secret weapon for speeding things up.


----------



## BeinM

Delat said:


> Here’s some progress photos of my first real thinning project. I’m thinning out the primary bevel of this knife below. The feather grooves form an s-grind mid-blade, while the primary bevel forms a kind of symmetric hook grind.
> View attachment 203444
> 
> 
> 
> You can see from the choil that the primary bevel is thick, and the edge bevel is sort of a high angle chisel tip. I wanted to ease the edge bevel shoulders and thin the whole primary bevel.
> 
> OMG this has been painful - the steel is AEB-L and my SG220 was really slow. So I switched to my coarse Norton which was fantastic for 5 minutes until it loaded up (my fault for using water, I think). Now using 150 grit sandpaper which seems a little faster than the SG220 at least.
> View attachment 203445
> 
> 
> 
> Here’s where I’m at. Edge bevel shoulders convexed but still thick BTE up through the first 5-8mm or so. Time to take a break and evaluate on some produce though, while I wait for my 100 grit 3M pro (aka cubitron) sandpaper to arrive. Hoping that’s the secret weapon for speeding things up.
> View attachment 203446



Is this how the knife came new or is this after a lot of sharpening that it needed thinning?


----------



## Delat

BeinM said:


> Is this how the knife came new or is this after a lot of sharpening that it needed thinning?



This is OOTB. I knew it would need thinning going in, but just couldn’t resist buying it anyway just to try it out. 

As a disclaimer, plenty of people seem perfectly happy with it and perhaps the maker intended it for professional use and abuse. I just personally prefer very thin BTE knives, which is a little unreasonable to expect on an s-grind honestly.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Delat said:


> Here’s some progress photos of my first real thinning project. I’m thinning out the primary bevel of this knife below. The feather grooves form an s-grind mid-blade, while the primary bevel forms a kind of symmetric hook grind.
> View attachment 203444
> 
> 
> 
> You can see from the choil that the primary bevel is thick, and the edge bevel is sort of a high angle chisel tip. I wanted to ease the edge bevel shoulders and thin the whole primary bevel.
> 
> OMG this has been painful - the steel is AEB-L and my SG220 was really slow. So I switched to my coarse Norton which was fantastic for 5 minutes until it loaded up (my fault for using water, I think). Now using 150 grit sandpaper which seems a little faster than the SG220 at least.
> View attachment 203445
> 
> 
> 
> Here’s where I’m at. Edge bevel shoulders convexed but still thick BTE up through the first 5-8mm or so. Time to take a break and evaluate on some produce though, while I wait for my 100 grit 3M pro (aka cubitron) sandpaper to arrive. Hoping that’s the secret weapon for speeding things up.
> View attachment 203446



Very nice work buddy. Seriously. But please don't be offended when I say that knife grind is an abomination. It looks like pure hype well above performance.


----------



## Delat

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Very nice work buddy. Seriously. But please don't be offended when I say that knife grind is an abomination. It looks like pure hype well above performance.



Can’t argue the point, and I’d heard people say it was thick before I bought it. It’s pretty strange since this maker’s normal offerings are super thin. I’ll probably still try to grab one of his regular knives at some point.

Hoping for some mega ultra super duper food release when I’m done


----------



## Greasylake

Greasylake said:


> Wrapping up day two of work on the unagi-saki. Didn't feel like doing too much today so I just cut the handle off, soaked the tang in evaporust and then found out I've worn out my bottle. Gotta get a new bottle and some brass brushes before I can finish cleaning the tang. Decided to just hit the knife with my new morihei 1k. Cladding line is now showing its face and the stone brought out some of the banding as well. Getting closer to looking like a proper knife


Starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel I think, or at least the list of things left to do is getting a bit shorter. Hira and shinogi are about where I think they will end up, and the hira should be about ready for a sandpaper finish. I will let that wait though as I have work to do at the kissaki still. Spent a bunch of time today thinning the tang to try and get it to an even thickness with the rest of the knife which took a really long time even on the 220 grit. I broke out the files but I couldn't keep them flat like I could the knife on a stone so I did all the work on stones, maybe the first time I wished for a belt sander. The two low spots on the bevel persist but they're much smaller now, I think I'll leave them honestly, I've spent a lot of time chasing them and clearly the previous owner spent so much time chasing them that the shinogi almost reached the spine, so for now I'll live with it. Next step is to tackle the kissaki and yokote, then probably polish the hira and do a kasumi, then sharpen and then finally figure out a handle solution. Oh yeah I should probably think about making the ura shiny too. I'm tired haha


----------



## Pie

Delat said:


> Here’s some progress photos of my first real thinning project. I’m thinning out the primary bevel of this knife below. The feather grooves form an s-grind mid-blade, while the primary bevel forms a kind of symmetric hook grind.
> View attachment 203444
> 
> 
> 
> You can see from the choil that the primary bevel is thick, and the edge bevel is sort of a high angle chisel tip. I wanted to ease the edge bevel shoulders and thin the whole primary bevel.
> 
> OMG this has been painful - the steel is AEB-L and my SG220 was really slow. So I switched to my coarse Norton India which was fantastic for 5 minutes until it loaded up (my fault for using water, I think). Now using 150 grit sandpaper which seems a little faster than the SG220 at least.
> View attachment 203445
> 
> 
> 
> Here’s where I’m at. Edge bevel shoulders convexed but still thick BTE up through the first 5-8mm or so. Time to take a break and evaluate on some produce though, while I wait for my 100 grit 3M pro (aka cubitron) sandpaper to arrive. Hoping that’s the secret weapon for speeding things up.
> View attachment 203446


Amazing progress. Well done! 




Early morning quickie on the magic BBW. Stunned with the purity of this stone, no stray scratches to be found.


----------



## enrico l

Just a little clean up on the Tetsujin. Not the best but getting better!


Before





After


----------



## Pie

The hype is real guys. So real. Creamy, smooth, fast and nary a chatter when mismanaged. Finer than it feels and produces, and the mud is wonderful. 




Damn, I wish it was mine. Much thanks to those in the community willing to help others expand their horizons.


----------



## ew_ut

@Pie, what is it, if I may ask?


----------



## Pie

ew_ut said:


> @Pie, what is it, if I may ask?


My apologies, marouyama shiro suita. I think this is the namazu, sold as a little bit softer than the usual fare iirc.


----------



## Pie

BBW x Aizu =


----------



## ethompson

Managed to accidentally create one of my better edges working with a soft / coarse uchigumori. Very, very zippy through paper towel.


----------



## tostadas

Tune up underway of my brothers Kaeru. Courtesy of JNS 300. Gonna get a full thinning to fix the half-a** stock grind. Polishing to follow.


----------



## Carl Kotte

Delat said:


> Can’t argue the point, and I’d heard people say it was thick before I bought it. It’s pretty strange since this maker’s normal offerings are super thin. I’ll probably still try to grab one of his regular knives at some point.
> 
> Hoping for some mega ultra super duper food release when I’m done


I had the opportunity to test a knife from this series. It was indeed thick behind the edge. It had been thinned by the owner, but imo he could have gone at it even more. But as you say, it is tricky to thin a knife with that geometry on flat stones. You don’t want take too much off the hook geometry, or else it simply becomes a quite ordinary knife with a peculiar groove pattern.


----------



## Choppin

tostadas said:


> Tune up underway of my brothers Kaeru. Courtesy of JNS 300. Gonna get a full thinning to fix the half-a** stock grind. Polishing to follow.
> View attachment 204301
> 
> View attachment 204300


Was it cracking carrots? I’m planning on thinning mine also


----------



## tostadas

Choppin said:


> Was it cracking carrots? I’m planning on thinning mine also


I have 3 of this 210 kaeru. This particular one was very thick behind the edge, but the thinnest of the bunch farther up the blade. Had basically a flat chisel grind on the right side that went up a little more than 5mm. It did crack carrots, but not too bad. Thickness originally was about 0.3/0.9/1.3mm at 1mm/5mm/10mm behind the edge. I took the grind up about 20mm, leaving a right-biased full convex with new measurements of 0.2/0.75/1.2mm at the same distances. Its for my brother who less gentle on his knives than I am, so it's not as thin as I'd personally prefer. But for a beater style knife, it performs quite well now, even before a final sharpening. There's definitely gonna be more pics to come when I finish up this project in the next week or so


----------



## BillHanna

Idwal a la Oli w/ pettesuki a la Maillet


----------



## Pie

Decided to actually follow through with all natural stone progression for an edge. Slow as expected at the coarse step, but workable. Kind of surprised at the amount of metal that suita can move. 

Different. Tooooothy. Interesting. 

Disclaimer: VG10  but good VG10.


----------



## KingShapton

Pie said:


> Different. Tooooothy. Interesting.


That sounds promising, how is the edge doing in use?


----------



## tostadas

BillHanna said:


> View attachment 204500
> 
> 
> Idwal a la Oli w/ pettesuki a la Maillet


How do you say that in American


----------



## captaincaed

BillHanna said:


> pettesuki


----------



## BillHanna

tostadas said:


> How do you say that in American


I asked Simon for a robust k tip petty; it’s intended purpose is chicken slaying. Maybe I need an itty bitty rectangle. 135x35?


----------



## captaincaed

BillHanna said:


> Maybe I need an itty bitty rectangle


I’m sure you have that taken care of already


----------



## BillHanna

captaincaed said:


> I’m sure you have that taken care of already


Not yet


----------



## Pie

KingShapton said:


> That sounds promising, how is the edge doing in use?


Heh, I don’t actually use it, it’s the wife-knife. Being subject to a good amount of abuse, I’ll check it’s longevity over the course of the next few weeks. 

It’s grabby through paper towel but smooth and eager through skin. Definitely trying it again on some carbon steel.


----------



## Sushiman703

Weekly thinning session for my in-laws beater


----------



## northside

Pie said:


> Heh, I don’t actually use it, it’s the wife-knife. Being subject to a good amount of abuse, I’ll check it’s longevity over the course of the next few weeks.
> 
> It’s grabby through paper towel but smooth and eager through skin. Definitely trying it again on some carbon steel.



That’s been my experience with a good ‘not-super-hard’ suita. The edge from my very hard and fine Yaginoshima Suita is a bit too polished for my taste for general use. The edge I can get from my Aiiwatani and Shobudani suitas is just right for a knife that bites into protein but feels like you can push cut it at the same time. For me that’s a result that my synthetics just don’t quite do.


----------



## Pie

northside said:


> That’s been my experience with a good ‘not-super-hard’ suita. The edge from my very hard and fine Yaginoshima Suita is a bit too polished for my taste for general use. The edge I can get from my Aiiwatani and Shobudani suitas is just right for a knife that bites into protein but feels like you can push cut it at the same time. For me that’s a result that my synthetics just don’t quite do.


You called it, a suita of the softer variety. Really gets cutting on edges, something I have some difficulty with sometimes. 



KingShapton said:


> That sounds promising, how is the edge doing in use?






Upon subsequent testing on low mid grits… what tomato skins? Uh oh. I’m liking where this is going .


----------



## KingShapton

Pie said:


> Upon subsequent testing on low mid grits… what tomato skins? Uh oh. I’m liking where this is going


low mid grits - what kind of grit area or stones are we talking about? what did you test with?

According to your reaction, things are going in a very good direction?!


----------



## Pie

KingShapton said:


> low mid grits - what kind of grit area or stones are we talking about? what did you test with?
> 
> According to your reaction, things are going in a very good direction?!


The test with the nakiri was on a white amakusa / binsui from imanishi. A humble stone, slow to release abrasive and easily glazed. Roughly 2k or so grit, decent cutting power with slurry and some degree of burnishing ability. Another one I was frustrated with when starting out. The finished edge on this one was amazing good in food (veggies), but somewhat lacking on paper towel. I can see room for refinement, but the results speak for themselves. 

The next would be with a red amakusa, trying to use it to efficiently set bevels. 

Last would be a sort of mysterious iyoto able to produce its own finished edge, but also capable of being scratchy and taking steel on its own. I’m sure there’s another level I’m missing. 

Much to learn!!


----------



## KingShapton

Pie said:


> Another one I was frustrated with when starting out


Funny thing, I feel the same way with my Jo-Haku (a kind of white binsui).... and then it lay unused in the closet for 6 years. Today I like him very much!

I find your "test series" very interesting right now, and look forward to further updates on red Amakusa and Iyoto.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

This is the space right in front of my cutting board.

Notice anything?






Thanks for the motivation @captaincaed.


----------



## Pie

KingShapton said:


> Funny thing, I feel the same way with my Jo-Haku (a kind of white binsui).... and then it lay unused in the closet for 6 years. Today I like him very much!
> 
> I find your "test series" very interesting right now, and look forward to further updates on red Amakusa and Iyoto.


For me it’s a very guilty issue of time - I always feel like I should be doing things around the house instead of messing with stones. 

That said, my end goal is to go all natural and edges, from start to finish, are truly the whole point of the exercise. A worthy endeavour not to be abandoned. Next episode, AS sujihiki in bad need of a better edge.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Manaka in shirogami and hard Arkansas. I did a fine job scratching this knife up doing a little thinning and have been slowly working on polishing them out.

I'm not a skilled polisher but I'm learning.


----------



## captaincaed

HumbleHomeCook said:


> This is the space right in front of my cutting board.
> 
> Notice anything?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the motivation @captaincaed.


Your big HARD?


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

captaincaed said:


> Your big HARD?





I actually decided to pull out an old but great soft/hard combo.

And I'm using water. The only concern I have is glazing. Should I be or is it a non-issue on simple carbons? Just doing some edge finishing, touch-ups, and some polishing.


----------



## Pie

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Manaka in shirogami and hard Arkansas. I did a fine job scratching this knife up doing a little thinning and have been slowly working on polishing them out.
> 
> I'm not a skilled polisher but I'm learning.



Looks good to me!


----------



## captaincaed

HumbleHomeCook said:


> I actually decided to pull out an old but great soft/hard combo.
> 
> And I'm using water. The only concern I have is glazing. Should I be or is it a non-issue on simple carbons? Just doing some edge finishing, touch-ups, and some polishing.


Awesome! A soapy mix well help. A touch up in sandpaper will help, especially if you do it every 3-6 months. Even old oil stones glaze eventually. It happens to everyone if you use it long enough, unless you have an actual oil bath. The Norton tri hone seems to keep oil stones from glazing, but it's incredibly messy and tedious to clean. Everything has trade offs


----------



## Greasylake

I think I'm done now? The kissaki didn't take long to flatten and clean up a bit, I finished flattening the hira from tip into the tang and polished with 1k wet/dry. I put a hasty polish on it, after 3 hours my wrists hurt and I was ready for bed haha, I just have to put an edge on it and secure a handle for it. All in all I think I put in around 25hrs of work, which was less than I was really expecting


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Greasylake said:


> I think I'm done now? The kissaki didn't take long to flatten and clean up a bit, I finished flattening the hira from tip into the tang and polished with 1k wet/dry. I put a hasty polish on it, after 3 hours my wrists hurt and I was ready for bed haha, I just have to put an edge on it and secure a handle for it. All in all I think I put in around 25hrs of work, which was less than I was really expecting




Great job!


----------



## deltaplex

Greasylake said:


> I think I'm done now? The kissaki didn't take long to flatten and clean up a bit, I finished flattening the hira from tip into the tang and polished with 1k wet/dry. I put a hasty polish on it, after 3 hours my wrists hurt and I was ready for bed haha, I just have to put an edge on it and secure a handle for it. All in all I think I put in around 25hrs of work, which was less than I was really expecting



This rules, and was a really great restoration job!


----------



## M1k3

No audio. Background noise was awful. Hope the video makes sense.


----------



## KingShapton

M1k3 said:


> Hope the video makes sense.


This vid makes perfect sense - you lost your venev?!

Joke aside, Norton India Combi for crappy house knives - fast and effective


----------



## M1k3

KingShapton said:


> This vid makes perfect sense - you lost your venev?!
> 
> Joke aside, Norton India Combi for crappy house knives - fast and effective




Venev is still around. It's in the backpack next to the filing cabinet.

Definitely fast and effective for these knives. And doesn't take 30 minutes to do, including setup and jiggling the goodies drawer.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

M1k3 said:


> No audio. Background noise was awful. Hope the video makes sense.




Timely indeed sir.


----------



## cotedupy

Greasylake said:


> I think I'm done now? The kissaki didn't take long to flatten and clean up a bit, I finished flattening the hira from tip into the tang and polished with 1k wet/dry. I put a hasty polish on it, after 3 hours my wrists hurt and I was ready for bed haha, I just have to put an edge on it and secure a handle for it. All in all I think I put in around 25hrs of work, which was less than I was really expecting





Just look at that steel!* Great work.

Gonna make your own handle now then...? 


* Or is it iron...?


----------



## r0bz

Pie said:


> You called it, a suita of the softer variety. Really gets cutting on edges, something I have some difficulty with sometimes.
> 
> 
> View attachment 205112
> 
> Upon subsequent testing on low mid grits… what tomato skins? Uh oh. I’m liking where this is going .


what knife is that ?
i like rectangles 
is it a tall nakiri ?


----------



## cotedupy

Pie said:


> The test with the nakiri was on a white amakusa / binsui from imanishi. A humble stone, slow to release abrasive and easily glazed. Roughly 2k or so grit, decent cutting power with slurry and some degree of burnishing ability. Another one I was frustrated with when starting out. The finished edge on this one was amazing good in food (veggies), but somewhat lacking on paper towel. I can see room for refinement, but the results speak for themselves.
> 
> The next would be with a red amakusa, trying to use it to efficiently set bevels.
> 
> Last would be a sort of mysterious iyoto able to produce its own finished edge, but also capable of being scratchy and taking steel on its own. I’m sure there’s another level I’m missing.
> 
> Much to learn!!




I started permasoaking my Binsui, and liked it a lot more after....


----------



## BillHanna

r0bz said:


> what knife is that ?
> i like rectangles
> is it a tall nakiri ?


mazaki. regular size.


----------



## Greasylake

cotedupy said:


> Just look at that steel!* Great work.
> 
> Gonna make your own handle now then...?
> 
> 
> * Or is it iron...?


I guess it is iron if it doesn't get harden. I think it might be scrap tamahagane that was used for the cladding actually. It's not super soft like other irons I've felt, maybe has a tiny bit of carbon or something in it.

I do need to get a handle for it haha. Not sure yet if I'm going to outsource that or try it myself, but I'll be the first to admit I'm not much of a woodworker. Might not be too difficult of a handle to make for a first attempt though, they are typically just round


----------



## r0bz

BillHanna said:


> mazaki. regular size.


haven't had the budget to buy a Japanese knife but when i will do if i will be able i will for sure buy a nakiri


----------



## deltaplex

Greasylake said:


> I guess it is iron if it doesn't get harden. I think it might be scrap tamahagane that was used for the cladding actually. It's not super soft like other irons I've felt, maybe has a tiny bit of carbon or something in it.
> 
> I do need to get a handle for it haha. Not sure yet if I'm going to outsource that or try it myself, but I'll be the first to admit I'm not much of a woodworker. Might not be too difficult of a handle to make for a first attempt though, they are typically just round


Aren't they that kind of compressed barrel style with a flat diagonal facet on the back? (like this):


----------



## Greasylake

deltaplex said:


> Aren't they that kind of compressed barrel style with a flat diagonal facet on the back? (like this):


Yep that's exactly right. The handle this one originally came with was that style, but I have no idea what the purpose of the facet on the bottom is. I've never seen anyone use it. I've also seem some modern ones with octagonal handles with the same facet, which I think is a pretty neat look


----------



## deltaplex

Greasylake said:


> Yep that's exactly right. The handle this one originally came with was that style, but I have no idea what the purpose of the facet on the bottom is. I've never seen anyone use it. I've also seem some modern ones with octagonal handles with the same facet, which I think is a pretty neat look



IIRC it's for pounding the nail into the eel's head to secure it to the board before gutting and filleting.


----------



## Greasylake

deltaplex said:


> IIRC it's for pounding the nail into the eel's head to secure it to the board before gutting and filleting.


That's probably what it's meant for but most eel processors I've seen just push into the board with their hand or smack it with the flat bottom part. It's faster to push it with your hand I guess and it doesn't need to go to deep into the board to hold the eel if your knife is sharp.

Here are some people cleaning eels


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Manaka maintenance.






Shirogami on a hard Arkansas. Stropped on the dish towel under it.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Ooopppssss...Actually posted the pic this time.


----------



## Pie

Aw come on past self, flatten your damn stones. I know what did it too, panic polishing that honesuki..


----------



## M1k3

HumbleHomeCook said:


> Manaka maintenance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shirogami on a hard Arkansas. Stropped on the dish towel under it.


@stringer, is that you?


----------



## Beerzebub

My first time sharpening a 'true' wide bevel: Kagekiyo blue 1, bought used here on BST, great knife. But it looked like it had perhaps never been thinned on the wide bevels so I did that a bit and then a micro bevel, using Naniwa Gouken Arata ('Baby Chosera') 800 and Chosera 3000. Clearly the wide bevels are somewhat concave. Maybe I better learn something about finishing next, because yikes... am I supposed to get some uchigomori now? But on the other hand I always like making a knife look terrible, it's like it becomes officially mine and much more grabbable!


----------



## ethompson

The first time scratching up a knife is always the hardest! But you’re right, when it’s done you definitely feel more ownership over the knife.

Unless you fully flatten the bevels, a bench stone polisher (like uchigumori) isn’t going to be of much help here. Finger stones would work. Stone dust would also be good at cleaning the finish up. Someone here also posted photos of an insanely good hairline finish they applied on a knife with similar grind, that’d also be a good option for refinishing. Of course, you could always just leave it and let patina cover it up too.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Beerzebub said:


> My first time sharpening a 'true' wide bevel: Kagekiyo blue 1, bought used here on BST, great knife. But it looked like it had perhaps never been thinned on the wide bevels so I did that a bit and then a micro bevel, using Naniwa Gouken Arata ('Baby Chosera') 800 and Chosera 3000. Clearly the wide bevels are somewhat concave. Maybe I better learn something about finishing next, because yikes... am I supposed to get some uchigomori now? But on the other hand I always like making a knife look terrible, it's like it becomes officially mine and much more grabbable!
> View attachment 207366



Looks fine to me! I agree with @ethompson, it can be a little shocking at first.

Wait until you see the Akifusa I'm working on. I very much underestimated the nature and inconsistency of the grind and it looks like hell. But, I'm not sure I want to keep removing metal to even it all out and make it look nice so it may just stay ugly. Works great though!


----------



## Cliff

Sandpaper with a soft backing, like a cork, will get into the nooks and crannies. Then finger stones or stone powder. Or just patina


----------



## Pie

First time sharpening/chip removing SG2. Man they grind these thin. It’s kinda odd with no distal taper and thin at the heel, gives an extra nose heavy balance despite the ultra thin tip. The edge had some strange deformations and an abrupt transition into the tip upsweep, which I didn’t really expect from Nigara hamono. Eh, can’t finish them all on stones I guess. (Knife was crushing paper towel test pre sharpen (???), I assume the oddities were from factory, not from use)

Bevels would be fun (not) but I don’t think I can confidently take out all the hollows all that easily. Rather not overstep my boundaries the first time someone comes to me with a knife.




Happy to play with another legit j-knife, one that I wouldn't actually buy myself. Also nice to find out SG2 can be all sorts of reasonable on the stones.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

@Pie knife?


----------



## Pie

HumbleHomeCook said:


> @Pie knife?


My apologies, Nigara hamono bunka in SG2. Their vanilla offering, I suppose. I didn’t spend much time with it but it has left a positive impression.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Pie said:


> My apologies, Nigara hamono bunka in SG2. Their vanilla offering, I suppose. I didn’t spend much time with it but it has left a positive impression.



Thanks. Good looking knife for sure.


----------



## tostadas

Not really sharpening yet, but this is going to be the next project. Spine and choil first. Also hit the ku with some sandpaper and kinda like the look.


----------



## Martyn

Tipped the beater Munetoshi. Guess this is the sort of thing that's bound to happen when you thin a knife this much... decided to go for a rounded tip, kinda cute -





Current condition of the knife - 








Before thinning -


----------



## ethompson

Convexity is key - easier to make a pretty finish with flat bevels but curves are sexy




Your browser is not able to display this video.


----------



## Choppin

Martyn said:


> Tipped the beater Munetoshi. Guess this is the sort of thing that's bound to happen when you thin a knife this much... decided to go for a rounded tip, kinda cute -
> View attachment 209189
> 
> 
> Current condition of the knife -
> View attachment 209190
> 
> View attachment 209191
> 
> Before thinning -
> View attachment 209192
> 
> View attachment 209193


How did it impact performance? Was it too wedgy before?


----------



## Rideon66

An old bullnose I Wilson Sheffield off a coticule barber stone.


----------



## Martyn

Choppin said:


> How did it impact performance? Was it too wedgy before?


not just wedgy... it had the worst grind I had seen out of the box... bent, twisted like a snake and needed some serious straightening, and after that, thinning. 

but it cuts really well now.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Martyn said:


> not just wedgy... it had the worst grind I had seen out of the box... bent, twisted like a snake and needed some serious straightening, and after that, thinning.
> 
> but it cuts really well now.



That's a bummer. My Munetoshi is very nice. I did some light touch ups but nothing much more than I would with any other knife. Just getting it to my preferences and playing around.


----------



## brimmergj

Did a bit of polishing/edge work on my Fellipi 250. Pretty happy with the results. He really does make a great blade.


----------



## Rideon66

The Anryu Bunka had a small chip. So it hit the 1.5k Shapton. Then the Narutaki Renge Karasu Suita.


----------



## Cliff

Getting ready for the big day: Moritaka and SG500


----------



## tostadas

Cliff said:


> Getting ready for the big day: Moritaka and SG500


Is that the tall nakiri or the cleaver?


----------



## Cliff

tostadas said:


> Is that the tall nakiri or the cleaver?


Cleaver


----------



## ethompson

Wasting my day off waiting for a service tech at the restaurant. Figured I might as well bring my toys with me.


----------



## Greasylake

Me thinks I see something hiding in there  reveal your secrets to me, mr. Unagi knife 

*


*


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Tuning up my wife's Murata petty. It's her favorite knife and she picked it out herself. A little rust formed on the cladding and she didn't like that at all and is now quite diligent about maintaining it.

I sincerely thank you guys for motivating me to pull out my Arkansas stones and get them back in service. Used appropriately, they're no compromise.


----------



## Choppin

Trying the Naniwa Gouken Arata 2k. Quite pleased so far. Sharpened a Kaeru WH and this (forgot the maker) stainless petty. 

On the harder side of things but right where I like it. “Creamy hard” defines it well. Kinda feels like a softer suita (hardness wise). Great feedback, cuts fast for a 2k but finishes finer than 2k. Easy to deburr. Equally competent on both steels. Could easily be a one and done stone for good stainless and even carbon (although I prefer to strop on an Aizu or Suita after to refine the edge a bit). 

I polished the petty’s bevels a bit and it started to show a mirror polish. Nice and even scratch pattern.


----------



## rob

ethompson said:


> Wasting my day off waiting for a service tech at the restaurant. Figured I might as well bring my toys with me.
> View attachment 212120


Nice Rocks.  
And sink bridge.


----------



## deardorff8x10

Amazing set up.


----------



## Greasylake

Polish and sharpening for the beater makiri before a fishing trip. Shiny things attract fish I hear (ft. The brown poop rock)


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Manaka in shiro:


----------



## tostadas

Battle with my Yaoke is still not over, but I think I'm starting to pull ahead. Started out with a 0.45mm edge thickness and a massive hollow. Just a few more low spots remain.


----------



## Choppin

tostadas said:


> Battle with my Yaoke is still not over, but I think I'm starting to pull ahead. Started out with a 0.45mm edge thickness and a massive hollow. Just a few more low spots remain.
> View attachment 215890
> View attachment 215891


What stone are you Using to flatten the bevels?


----------



## tostadas

Choppin said:


> What stone are you Using to flatten the bevels?


JNS 300. I like this stone a lot. Doesn't dish too bad, refreshes grit on its own, and it's huge so I don't see myself using it up ever.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

Who among us is without sin?
















It's weird because I had the full support of the esteemed Prof. Adolph Coors and Dr. Bushmills going into this endeavor. 

Anyway, that was yesterday. No point in dwelling in the past!
















The Tactical Response Team:


----------



## tostadas

tostadas said:


> Battle with my Yaoke is still not over, but I think I'm starting to pull ahead. Started out with a 0.45mm edge thickness and a massive hollow. Just a few more low spots remain.


Finally, both bevels are fully convex. Arms are tired now, gotta save polishing for another day.


----------



## BillHanna

Bless y’all that polish. I can’t imagine it, but I still need work on my sharpening, so it isn’t really relevant.


----------



## HumbleHomeCook

BillHanna said:


> Bless y’all that polish. I can’t imagine it, but I still need work on my sharpening, so it isn’t really relevant.



Yeah man. Polishing is impressive.


----------



## Choppin

tostadas said:


> Finally, both bevels are fully convex. Arms are tired now, gotta save polishing for another day.
> View attachment 216003


Those scratches look good, I have to try that JNS 300 when my SG220 wears out...


----------



## tostadas

Choppin said:


> Those scratches look good, I have to try that JNS 300 when my SG220 wears out...


I prefer it over my sg220. The 220 feels like it dishes too fast


----------



## Cliff

I really like the JNS 300, but I find it a little slow for bevels. I am still liking the Debado 180. The JNS 300 takes those scratches out quickly.


----------



## Pie

It’s been a while since I’ve done a full sharpen. Too bad it’s on soft steel. 



Wow synthetics are fast, but jnat edge wins every time when finishing.


----------



## Cliff

How did you finish that soft, stainless cleaver?


----------



## Pie

Cliff said:


> How did you finish that soft, stainless cleaver?


Nakayama koppa around 7-10k . I mostly did it to get some glare on the edge. Gonna last about 10 cuts or one really hard one lol. I guess I could have left it at 5k but I really don’t like how slick the edge gets on superstones.


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## tostadas

tostadas said:


> Finally, both bevels are fully convex. Arms are tired now, gotta save polishing for another day.


Another day, another couple hours. Also fully rounded and polished the spine and choil.


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## Pie

tostadas said:


> Another day, another couple hours. Also fully rounded and polished the spine and choil.
> View attachment 216525


Damn, sir. Unbelievable skills.


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## ethompson

tostadas said:


> Another day, another couple hours. Also fully rounded and polished the spine and choil.
> View attachment 216525


Talk to me about the finish on this one! Progression, etc. love the texture under the KU


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## HumbleHomeCook

tostadas said:


> Another day, another couple hours. Also fully rounded and polished the spine and choil.
> View attachment 216525


Awesome!


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## tostadas

ethompson said:


> Talk to me about the finish on this one! Progression, etc. love the texture under the KU


Actually this is just the base polish with king 800. The finish actually sucks to use, so I plan to progress to other stones tomorrow. 

My progression thus far is fairly standard for me. JNS 300, sp1k, sp2k, arashiyama 6k to "mirror" the core. 

The spine and choil were simply sandpaper 120,220,400,800. I could go higher but for more rustic finished knives I like to stop at 800.

And the ku part I love the most about this line of yoake. I just did vertical light brushing with 800 sandpaper to remove the top layer of the ku, but leave the grind marks or whatever it is from the smiting.


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## jedy617

tostadas said:


> Another day, another couple hours. Also fully rounded and polished the spine and choil.
> View attachment 216525


Looks amazing. This may be a stupid question but something I haven't considered. When polishing/removing material on wide bevels...how do you achieve convexity vs just having the grind become full flat? I feel like over time thinning or even reprofiling, the bevels would lose the convexity and they would turn flat.


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## tostadas

jedy617 said:


> Looks amazing. This may be a stupid question but something I haven't considered. When polishing/removing material on wide bevels...how do you achieve convexity vs just having the grind become full flat? I feel like over time thinning or even reprofiling, the bevels would lose the convexity and they would turn flat.


If I want flat, I use sandpaper on atoma. For convex, I use my stones cuz it's pretty hard to go full flat, even if you're trying to. 

There's a lot of ways to do convexity. Helps to check your progress often to see how much there is and where it is. That way you can gradually make adjustments. You just gotta do it, mess up a few times, and learn from mistakes.


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## ian

jedy617 said:


> Looks amazing. This may be a stupid question but something I haven't considered. When polishing/removing material on wide bevels...how do you achieve convexity vs just having the grind become full flat? I feel like over time thinning or even reprofiling, the bevels would lose the convexity and they would turn flat.



Usually you do this with finger pressure. On a wide bevel knife usually you’re going for slight convexity rather than something super convex, and you can achieve this by doing the thinning sort of in two stages, one where you keep your fingers near the shinogi and one where you keep them near the edge. There’ll be some natural blending of the two resulting “bevels” because you’ll wobble a bit when you do this. And you can also intentionally blend a bit.


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## jedy617

Makes sense. I have thinned before, and restored kasumis on widebevels...but I never really considered how I was forming the profile of the knife with my stones, was probably never necessary since I haven't ever done a project where I have removed a ton of material and really changed the grind. Might try on my thicc yaoke


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## Cliff

Pie said:


> Nakayama koppa around 7-10k . I mostly did it to get some glare on the edge. Gonna last about 10 cuts or one really hard one lol. I guess I could have left it at 5k but I really don’t like how slick the edge gets on superstones.


Whoa, that is not what I was expecting.


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## ethompson

jedy617 said:


> Makes sense. I have thinned before, and restored kasumis on widebevels...but I never really considered how I was forming the profile of the knife with my stones, was probably never necessary since I haven't ever done a project where I have removed a ton of material and really changed the grind. Might try on my thicc yaoke


The foundation of any good polish is good geometry. You can maintain gentle convexity on a wide bevel using targeted finger pressure and angles of attack alone, for something fully convex you basically need to polish / thin in sections and then blend together as you go.


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## Pie

Cliff said:


> Whoa, that is not what I was expecting.


I’m… very curious what you were expecting . 

There’s no way the steel holds, but I hadn’t had the pleasure of bright mirror polishing a fat edge bevel in a while. Normally something like this i would do at 1k and deburred a touch higher. 

Judging by how clean the handle is, this knife does not go through its paces. The chips might say otherwise but I’ll give the owner a few quick thrills before the edge dies and the geometry has to shoulder the load. 

Entertainment, as well as an opportunity to practice non-invasive thinning, for myself, really. .


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## Cliff

Pie said:


> I’m… very curious what you were expecting .


Oh, something like JNS800/SP100 and deburr with that new Belgian Blue.


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## esoo

Got the SG8K for Christmas, so time to bring back the edges on these two. Not sure how my cousin in-law managed to dull both of them by washing them.


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## esoo

Whoops.


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## bsfsu

My last restoration for the year. 

A customers father had brought this 源菊久Gen Kikuhisa (maybe a defunct shop) in Japan in the 90's. 

It had some nice chips and some surface rust but no pitting. A lot of work on an Imanishi 600 brick and then a bit of playing around on various stones/finger stones/stone powder etc.


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## tostadas

tostadas said:


> Another day, another couple hours. Also fully rounded and polished the spine and choil


Last polish photo of this Yoake KU for now. Fully rounded/polished spine and choil, removed all low spots, convex regrind, thinned and jnat polish. Needs a new handle now.


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## Rideon66

tostadas said:


> Last polish photo of this Yoake KU for now. Fully rounded/polished spine and choil, removed all low spots, convex regrind, thinned and jnat polish. Needs a new handle now.
> View attachment 217483
> View attachment 217484
> View attachment 217485
> View attachment 217486
> View attachment 217487


Nice job on that. What Jnats did you use?


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## Pie

Looks like an axe . Last of these henckels, had to be a heavy ass cleaver too.


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## tostadas

Rideon66 said:


> Nice job on that. What Jnats did you use?


Bulk of polishing portion on this one was from a king 800 followed by a really muddy aoto. I didn't use the ohira suita much this time, but still considering playing with a hard nakayama on the core to try and bring out some more detail. As it stands now though, the finish has the perfect balance of low drag and decent food release.


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## Pie

Hooooo boy it’s getting there. So close to zero for about half the edge. The good news is the sink bridge works. The bad news is I’m pretty inconsistent on my thinning locations, or there’s some wide ass low/highs. 

Question - I’m getting some burr in some spots where I still see the glint of a non-insignificant microbevel on the front side. Might just be me getting sloppy and popping the spine up by accident. Keep going, or let call it a day there and move on?


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