# benriner mandoline - does everyone sharpen their own blades?



## andygraybeal

Hey, I'm wondering if people sharpen their own Benriner blades. I've seen at least one post in the forum about sharpening these guys. I wonder if everyone does it. I also wonder if there are any tips or suggestions of what or what not to do. The bevel looks concave and the back actually looks slightly concave too. It looks like the blade comes to a very weak edge being that both sides concave in shape.. but i guess this doesn't matter so much because the edge never comes into contact with things like a cutting board.

Also I saw an interest in someone making their own Benriner blades out of a better steel, this sounds awesome *hint hint* -- with a homemade blade for these I wonder if a chisel ground and convex edge would be better, like usuba.

We have both the smaller and the bigger Benriners in the house. I just learned that Japanese Knife Imports (jbroida) sells these suckers!! I love that there is a forum that these guys participate in. 

Much love, thanks!

Andy


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## K-Fed

I sharpen mine and keep it as close to original as possible as far as the edge geometry goes.


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## andygraybeal

K-Fed said:


> I sharpen mine and keep it as close to original as possible as far as the edge geometry goes.



It looks like in another forum that cannot be named they mention 90/10 sharpening. Do you more or less follow this?


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## Jmadams13

Same here


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## SpikeC

Boy howdy, you have to really cheap to sharpen those puppies!

(Yes, I do too.)


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## K-Fed

andygraybeal said:


> It looks like in another forum that cannot be named they mention 90/10 sharpening. Do you more or less follow this?



I haven't looked closely at mine in quite a while but I'd say it's closer to 99/1 really. Just sharpening the bevel to raise a slight burr and only a light pass or two on the flat( top ) side to remove the burr. I also polish the edge up quite a bit using a hard/ fine jnat and finish on a leather strop loaded with chromium oxide. I want the edge to be able to cleanly push cut whatever I throw at it and seeing as a mandoline blade never touches a cutting board edge retention is really a non issue. A couple guys at work have "nipped the tip" while using it without knowing it. It will get frighteningly sharp.


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## knyfeknerd

I just sharpened mine the other day. I went with JBro's single bevel knife sharpening technique, like I use on all my traditional Japanese single bevels.-I went 1k to 4k on the primary and did a push or ura on the flat side with a 6k. It's cutting great now. It's hard to believe I've had the same one for almost 15 years.
Benriners are awesome, unbelievable bang for the buck!

I apologize in advance for using any improper terminology, or for referring to Broida as "JBro"-but you've gotta admit it is a cool nickname and makes him sound like a rapper.


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## panda

i refuse to use them as ive had far too many nicks from them, lol. do everything by hand, or motorized slicer machine.


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## slowtyper

Sharpened benriner blades are awesome to use. I never notice how I sharpen it...I just do, very lightly. I'll take a closer look next time I do it. Using a dull mandolin blade is gross.


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## JohnnyChance

I sharpen mine on occasion. I believe I started a thread here about it once. I also wouldn't mind having a blade made out of a decent stainless steel. The stock steel really likes to hang on to the burr. I sharpen mine entirely on the side with the bevel (the underside when installed) and just deburr on the other.


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## andygraybeal

K-Fed said:


> I haven't looked closely at mine in quite a while but I'd say it's closer to 99/1 really. Just sharpening the bevel to raise a slight burr and only a light pass or two on the flat( top ) side to remove the burr. I also polish the edge up quite a bit using a hard/ fine jnat and finish on a leather strop loaded with chromium oxide. I want the edge to be able to cleanly push cut whatever I throw at it and seeing as a mandoline blade never touches a cutting board edge retention is really a non issue. A couple guys at work have "nipped the tip" while using it without knowing it. It will get frighteningly sharp.



I haven't got jnat yet  one day!


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## andygraybeal

Thanks for all the great responses. I'm going to sharpen our blade this weekend. It's in terrible shape. If I mess up.. I can get a new blade at an inexpensive price  from Jbro  ... our hiphop hero of course.


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## andygraybeal

panda said:


> i refuse to use them as ive had far too many nicks from them, lol. do everything by hand, or motorized slicer machine.



I do not blame you man! They are scary. I am trying to be open to using them... and if I can sharpen/maintain the edge I feel better about using them.

BTW, what slicer machine do you use?


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## panda

just a commercial food slicer at work. at home strictly everything by hand as obviously not gonna have one of those big ass machines laying around lol.


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