Sharpening tricks

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
Although I prefer to free hand sharpen there are times when it doesn't work too well. Case in point, Chuckabochos (Japanese vegetable cleavers). It is very difficult to maintain a constant angle due to the width of the blade, in this situation, 110mm wide by 220mm long. This knife is a San Mai construction Moritaka with the cutting edge made of Hitachi Blue Super Steel and the cladding is a soft carbon steel that turns to red rust if you so much as breath on it. Consequently I have to wash, dry, and coat with mineral oil after every use.

To sharpen it I use an EdgePro Apex, little brother to Chico's Pro model and baby brother to Joe's Gizmo. In this picture you can see that the blade guide has been removed (upper right) and the blade table has been covered with painters' tape to minimize scratching. The stones are soaking in the sink at the left.

Apex01.jpg


Without the blade guide the knife must be held in place with only the blade table for support.

Apex02.jpg


I gave the knife a ten degree secondary bevel (relief bevel, back bevel) stopping just short of burr formation, then polished that part. Then I cut a fifteen degree primary bevel (cutting edge, micro bevel) and formed a burr.

The burr was removed by stropping the edge on a piece of 1/4" brass channel. Some of you may not have heard of this. On certain steels magic occurs. Two light swipes a side and goodbye burr.

BurrRemoval.jpg


Following burr removal I went through the stones with final polish on the 800. After that I stropped with both .5 micron chromium oxide and .25 micron diamond spray charged leather. No, that's not rust on the edge - something about the flash and my inability to take a decent picture....

MoritakaStrops.jpg


The reason I went to the fifteen degree edge is because I use the Chucabocho for chopping vegetables more than slicing them. I needed a robust edge. Here's a picture with the Chucka snuggling up to my other chopper, a 240mm Aritsugu "A" model Gyuto sharpened on the left side only.

AritsugaOnMoritaka.jpg
 
Last edited:

High Cheese

Saucier
I just did mine last weekend. Stopped with a 6000 King. The DW hit some dishes with the edges, was a PITA. I need something faster. Could still shave my arm though.
 

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
I just did mine last weekend. Stopped with a 6000 King. The DW hit some dishes with the edges, was a PITA. I need something faster. Could still shave my arm though.

6K want to be a sharpener do you. :mrgreen:

I go a bit further than that with my kitchen cutlery but not all really depends on the job. I use a couple of things beside free hand which I also do. My cleaver though I use the Gizmo (big white thing) as Buzz mentioned and I have another device someone made for me that I use on really long knives. I also go to a 10K stone followed but 4 different leather strops starting with one using chromium oxide (.5 microns) followed by a diamond sprayed one (.25 microns) then two more untreated leathers.
 

Attachments

  • Kens Gizmo.jpg
    Kens Gizmo.jpg
    46.1 KB · Views: 191
  • Nicks Angle5.jpg
    Nicks Angle5.jpg
    30.2 KB · Views: 185

High Cheese

Saucier
6K is about the finest I'm willing to go my kitchen stuff. Like I said, the wife gets a hold of a knife and who know's what she'll be cutting on....or toss it in the sink clipping the faucet on the way in (yep).

I have strops and such for my chisels and carving tools.

When I get more into sushi I plan on a nice sushi knife that will be hidden from anyone else in the house! For that I would take my time on a nice edge.

6K is good for my use, heck you can see yourself in it. :chef:

I'd like something a little faster though for the start, then I could finish on a 6K or whatever.
 

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
Actually most Japanese kitchen knives come with about a 1K edge and German knives god only knows since they won't hold it long either way.

Image what a edge looks like polished to say 60K levels.
 

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
No he is busy over at Foodie proving to Via his Gizmo will do a better job than he did by hand. I might say based on the pictures Via is making out like a bandit on this deal as Ken has fixed a broke tip, polished the side and actually sharpened it up better than Via did.
 

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
No he is busy over at Foodie proving to Via his Gizmo will do a better job than he did by hand. I might say based on the pictures Via is making out like a bandit on this deal as Ken has fixed a broke tip, polished the side and actually sharpened it up better than Via did.


Yeah. That knife was crap when it arrived but Ken did a hell of a good job fixing it up. You have to give him credit for attempting an impossible edge just for the sake of doing it. Via is getting over a hundred bucks worth of work for free. :wink:
 
Top