A few questions before I put myself in pain. Aritsugu A-Type

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RR13

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Some of you might of seen in a recent thread of mine, I am looking for a new 240 gyuto workhorse. I'm pretty set on an A-Type, and I've decided to just suck it up and put myself through the torture of getting the initial bevel set up. I'm wondering if anyone can comment on the edge that Takeshi Aoki at AframesTokyo sends it with. I know there is NOOOOO WAY I want one sharpened by Aritsugu from what I have read. I emailed him about the knife and edge, and he had this to say:

I usually ask to Aritsugu sending me all my stock for un-sharpened condition, and I sharpen them before shipping, so if you do not want me to sharpen it, I can ship it without sharpening the blade.

Aritsugu usually put on the initial bevel 90/10 like right hand set single bevel, and I have never measure it, but it should be around 30 degree.

Therefore, I usually make 30 degree right hand bevel, and remove just burr on the left hand side with the degree as low as possible like 10 degree.

However, if you prefer to 50/50 double bevel set or left hand set bevel, I can do it.

Thank you.

Takeshi C. Aoki

My question is, has anyone received an A-Type from Aoki that he has sharpened, and how was it? I keep reading how they come with no edge at all, and am prepared for that. Any advice on if I should have him send it unsharpened or let him grind away a little? I'll be looking to put a 90/10 right hand bevel on it.
 
Ohh and to add, I know that even with the edge that he sends it with, I'll be doing some thinning. I'm not looking for it to be ready to go OOTB.
 
Couldn't you ask him to put a 15 degree bevel on it, and just deburr at 10?? So, whatever you want, a lot of the work will have been done.
 
Couldn't you ask him to put a 15 degree bevel on it, and just deburr at 10??

I will probably ask him, but I just wanted to see if anyone has had any experience with his sharpened A-Types. All the horror stories have me spooked!
 
No idea about his sharpening prowess. I'd do it myself, regardless. Good to see someone out there still appreciates the A-type. I have a lot of knives and mine is still top 5, easy.
 
Good to see someone out there still appreciates the A-type

It just seems to be the perfect workhorse knife for me. Weight, thickness, profile, and of course the famed edge retention. This will be my all round gyuto at work, whether I'm splitting lobster tails or cutting chiffonade basil.

This also will be a test of my whetstone skills! I've thinned knives a bit, and of course sharpen my own knives, but I've never had to set up bevels like I'm assuming I'm going to have to do with an A-Type. I'm looking at it as a challenge, and a learning experience, and I'm sure I'll come out of it more skilled... hopefully. I'm thinking a XXC diamond plate, 500 Beston, 1000 and 6000 Imanishi should do it... again, hopefully!
 
I did see that. What I thought the video was missing was the actual time he spent grinding on each stone. :bigeek: Nice vid though.
 
I believe it's a combination of the steel and the amount of it that needs to be removed to make it perform well.
 
The late KC Ma had an A-Type that he put a 99/1 bevel on. Another experienced sharpener called it "easily the sharpest knife I've ever encountered." When asked about steering, KC said

steering is really not a knife related question, it's a knife skill issue. knives don't steer, if you want it to go straight, it'll go straight. point in case... usuba have bigger bevel than any gyuto and it cuts down straight too :biggrin:

May he rest in peace.
 
.......steering is really not a knife related question, it's a knife skill issue.

It's like saying my car hasn't got a steering issue provided I use my skills through have the wheel at 3 O'clock all the time.

.......knives don't steer, if you want it to go straight, it'll go straight......

As a lefty having to use right handed bread knives all my life I can assure you that is not the case. My slices of bread never really look good. There's a reason with handed knives that one side of the knife's flat (or convave as is the case with an usuba) and the other side isn't.

......usuba have bigger bevel than any gyuto and it cuts down straight too......

Mine doesn't!
 
I have used knives that steer and it's pretty easy to get used to them after a little while. As for the A-Type, I used one that belonged to a fellow forum member a while ago that had a lot of work put into it and it was awesome, one of the 2 or 3 best knives I've ever used. The edge retention was insane and the weight and profile are both great
 
And you're a lefty...

HEY MEMBER WITH THE LEFT-HANDED A-TYPE...can I try too? :D
 
I, too, was thinking of KC when I read this thread.
 
I shall leave it to the mystery member to reveal themselves. I thought a few times about getting an A-Type myself because they are actually pretty cheap, but I'm basically working 6 days a week now and I'd never have a chance to do the work needed and I guess you should probably add the cost of a new diamond plate onto the price.
 
so aframes told me their a type wa gyutos have a 60/40 grind, for those interested.

That's interesting. Ordered mine from aframes today. I'll post some pics when it arrives.
 
Received my A-Type 240 Gyuto from aframestokyo yesterday. Four days from Hawaii to Florida, not bad. Here's a couple of pics on how it arrived out of the box, sharpened by Takeshi Aoki at aframes. In an earlier email, he said he sharpens them at 90/10, 30 degree right hand bevel. I'm not good with guessing degree's, but I think the A-Type will be getting a little steeper edge in the near future. I'm pretty happy with what he sent me though. The 240 is thinner than I thought it would be, and I'm not going to have to remove as much material as anticipated. I've read the horror stories about how bulky the are, but I think that mainly applies to the 270's. BTW, it came sharp enough to shave my arm hair, and push cut paper. I'll put it through some food tomorrow, just to see how it wedges and all with this bevel.

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I'm a little confused here, can someone explain to me what the problem with these knives are? If they are so problematic, why get one?
 
I'm a little confused here, can someone explain to me what the problem with these knives are? If they are so problematic, why get one?

The steel used on the A-Types is known to be very tough, without being to hard or brittle. HRC around 59-60. This gives an edge this is extremely resilient, chip resistant, with incredible edge retention. The problem is they usually come unsharpened, with a lot of thinning needed, and are stupid hard to grind... as I'm about to find out. :biggrin:
 
Yes the edge retention of these knives is legendary. I believe Dave doesn't accept these for thinning any more, which should give you an idea if the difficulty involved
 
If they come unsharpened, whats all the stuff I'm hearing about them being extremely asymmetric?
 
If they come unsharpened, whats all the stuff I'm hearing about them being extremely asymmetric?

The left side of the knife is pretty flat I believe, so lefty A-Types are very rare. Brandon at FF modded his to a lefty version, here's a few pictures. Perhaps other members who own them could add their views because I used one for a couple of months and I didn't do any of the thinning or modding
 
So, for a leftie what would be involved in readjusting one of these?

Regrinding the bevel, reversing the flat and convex side, along with masses of thinning?
 
I recently had an A-type that I heavily worked on. I first tried to do it by hand and could get it slightly thinner and sharper, but it wasn't great. Next, I took it to someone who is a vendor here and we reground it completely; it is now actually a great knife with all those quauities of edge retention and toughness while being a good to great cutter. There is no way I could have done this by hand, so a knife grinder is mandatory
 

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