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That's not a knife, this is a knife
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09-10-2009 11:44am#1
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I suspect he saw you coming and had a fair idea you didn't know anything about knives / had more money than sense.
There's a clue in the fact that he spoke better english than your japanese.
Best idea is dump the yoke he sold you, practice on the argos stuff and sharpen up on your japanese language for the next time!
Wow, I hope I'm not as cynical as you when I grow up
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Ok, looking at it again my post didn't address the OPs questions.
So here goes!
Japanese steels are generally hardened to a higher level than French/German kitchen knives. This means they will hold an edge rather than roll it, so less need for a steel to realign the edges.
They are also usually carbon steel laminated with softer cladding (Hitachi White paper or blue Paper steel).
Sometimes like my Hattori some of the Japanese "Super" steels are used that are not allowed to be used outside Japan unless under licence (Cowry X, VG10, S30V, S90V, BG42)
What this means is you can go for a thinner angle and the steel will take an hold that edge, the downside is too thin and the brittle core can chip on you instead of folding like a Sabatier/Henckels/Wusthoff et al.
Traditional Japanese knives are usually specific to various cutting tasks. A Deba is for cutting up heavy fish like a big tuna so is thicker and generally chisel ground (beveled only on one side, also makes some knives left or right handed).
A Nakiri is a light cleaver like knife and used for vegetables mainly. Any heavier work it can chip like a mother (or like my Shinichi Watanabe mukimono!).
There are some Japanese blades that are more multi-purpose and similar to Western knives, I would Imagine you were sold one of these three?
A Santoku, "three virtues" close to a medium chef knife in use, has a pointy enough point, enough belly for rocking chopping cuts and enough length for slicing and mincing.
A Petty which is basically a paring knife, can be long or short but is a great prep knife and peeler but the lack of length can mean slicing is more awkward.
A Gyuto or "Cow Sword" is like a big chef knife more than a dedicated carver (Sahimi) and does what it says on the tin. It's a long knife with a decent belly for long gliding slices and also good for winter squash and Pumpkin carving!
OK, now you know what knife you have and its intended target audience, you need to decide on what angle you want to sharpen at. This depends on what grind you have.
There are about six knife grinds, and real quick here's the highlights.
Hollow ground, done on large round grinding wheels gives a thin edge with less metal behind the edge. Good for slicing but bad for chopping.
Full flat, tapers from the very spine to the edge in one Vee shape, may have a tiny micro bevel right at the edge.
Sabre ground, the knife sides remain even until halfwayish down the blade, then taper to meet at an edge. Tapered lower down the blade it's Scandi ground, mainly used in scandinavia, the knife is flat until maybe five mil. from the edge then a bevel is made to bring to the edge, may also include a micro bevel.
Chisel ground, common on Japanese cutlery to leave a shiny surface on the face of the cut.
Double bevel, often used on a fine thin blade to leave a bit more beef at the cutting edge, handy if your knife is chipping out but you want to keep the fine slicing geometry behind the edge.
Convex grind, what I usually use on softer western kitchen knives. Has an apple seed profile so has a nice sharp edge but with a bit more support behind the edge so less flopping of your edge and less aligning needed in use, also good for outdoorsy knives, machetes and axes!
OK, but how would I sharpen the damn thing!
I'm going to have to make some assumptions here about what you've got.
We'll talk about a double bevel Santoku style, sabre or full flat ground, thin and slicey. I'll also take it you've got a water stone (Japanese like them) and that it's a moderate grit like a 1000? Any writing on the stone, makers name (King, Ice Bear?) or a grit rating (Japanese grits are not = western ratings).
Soak your stone in water, ten minutes submerged is fine. Put it somewhere flat it won't slip, on a teatowel on the draining board is good. Keep the stone wet as you work, Jap. stones are made to break down and it's the gritty "Slurry" that does the work.
DO Not press down, let the abrasive do the work. The weight of the knife will do.
Place the stone running lengthways away from you.
Some people like to sharpen side to side but if your not already in that habit don't start. Something about how the shoulder articulates messes up your angle control so just do slices away from you.
Set your angle, Japanese are generally fine edged so try putting two euro coins on the back of your stone. Put the spine of the knife on the coins, heel of the edge on the stone. Slice away from you as if trying to skim atoms off the stones surface. You can work section by section heel to tip or do slices using the whole length of the blade. I like to use all the blade if my stone is long enough, section by section counting strokes if I can't manage that.
Some guys stay going on one side until they have raised a burr then flip the knife and do the other side. I prefer to do ten strokes one side then ten the other, couple of reasons. I like to keep the wear even on my edges, and I don't want to raise a big ass burr that I will have to deal with down the road on finer grit stones. Some times that wire edge will flop side to side on you and needs to be ripped off on a hard felt pad or brass rod!
So, do your ten strokes and either swap hands to do the other side of the knife or (like me) do ten strokes coming back the other way. Keep your angles consistent and don't gut yourself. Keep going until your getting a decent edge.
Test for edge by feel (carefully) or by cutting some printer paper. Cut some now while your knife is sharp, remember that feel. Cut with it blunt and as you sharpen. Paper from the one ream should be consistent enough to give a decent idea how your edge is coming along.
To finish I like to decrease my strokes per side, 10, 10, 9, 9, 8 ,8 like that until I'm down to alternating strokes. Then I'll either go to a finer grit stone or as you've just the one stone switch to leading with the spine and trailing the edge.
Like trying to spread butter down the stone, light as you can while still making contact. Go heel to tip or tip to heel, whichever feels right to you.
I saw Murray Carter doing that on his DVD, and if it's good enough for him!
That should be good enough and a big improvement on what edge you had. If you want to polish and refine your edge more get some autosol from a local motor factors and spread a little bit on some smooth cardboard (back of a notepad) or a strip of leather ( Back of a belt). Using the same angle and a light touch again trail the edge up and down the strop to polish and refine your edge.
Probably not worth doing on most Western style knives as they are too soft for the effort put in to be a gain. Harder steels can benefit though, and when blunted a bit are still only down to the level of a sharpened western style knife.
Any other questions or comments feel free to ask me. If I've got anything wrong about the kit you have, or if you could post a pic. that'd help. If your stone is any coarser than 1000 grit I'd not use it for sharpening,more for bevel repair, any finer and it will take all day!
Finally some links to good vids. should make what I've posted above easier to visualise.
http://japanesechefsknife.com/HowToSharpen.html is a very good explanation of what I tried to explain above.
Murray is the Daddy!
This guy is a chef and uses 3M sharpening film on a granite base (Scary Sharp method, uses fine sandpaper as waterstones) for great results, watch the end credits!
This is the guy who owns japaneseknifesharpening giving a detailed masterclass on sharpening on waterstones!
Enjoy!0 -
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