Japanese Knives Sharpening wide bevel dbl bevel knives

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mkriggen

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Jon, I just went back through your sharpening videos and I think I might have been misinterpreting part of your technique. When you sharpen a wide bevel dbl bevel blade do you use the blade road as a guide for creating the actual cutting edge (like on a single bevel) or just for thinning?

Mahalo,
Mikey
 
its a bit more complicated than that... you need to decide if you want a hamaguri edge or not. If not, the wide bevel is thinning, and you put a primary bevel on at whichever angle seems right for that knife and your preferences. If you are going ot use a hamaguri edge, then the wide bevel is both thinning and the primary cutting edge if that makes sense.
 
Out of curiosity, what's most common? I tend to sharpen the large bevels pretty flat and then put a tiny bevel to form the cutting edge.
 
I think about this when doing my takeda. It's sharp after doing the entire bevel but then I basically put a micro bevel on it and it lasts longer.
 
common is tough to say... i think more inexperienced people tend to go for the former, whereas more experienced sharpeners and people with better knife skills tend to go for the latter

(i also tend to use a microbevel when doing the wide bevel hamaguri sharpening... the edges tend to be super thin on knives like that)
 
Ok, I had to look up "hamaguri", but I think I got it now:). As always, thank you for your time and expertise.

Be well,
Mikey
 
Hmmm, not sure if this is appropriate but I have a Yoshikane petty (hammered skd11 if that helps) that, to my eyes, has a uninterrupted "V" shape for three quarters of the blade geometry almost as it were two single bevel knives merged together, if that makes sense. I usually lay either side respectively flat on the stone to maintain the geometry and just put a microbevel at the end of the session, on one side. This cost me the kasumi finish but keeps the edge in top shape with almost no effort. Would that qualify as "hamaguri" ?
 
not quite... imagine this kind of thing, but on both sides (and less of an angle change... i had to make it easy to understand in the picture, so i exaggerated it a bit)...

Where the red and black meet would be the shinogi line (the top of your wide bevel)... where the green and red meet would be where you blend the two bevels together... and the blue would be a microbevel if you choose to use one. The angles arent really significantly different from each other in real life... its more about where and how you place pressure. If the difference in angles is 2-3 degrees, you're overdoing it. And for double bevels, this would be on both sides.

View attachment 17735
hamaguri angles.jpg
 
Slightly OT: Jon, I have a number of shigs and they have monster size convexing on the bevels, including both single and double bevel knifes. I have often thought it was too much and I have starting very gradually flattening a bit. Has this been your experience and do you have an opinion about this?
Thanks,
Seth
 
i am of the opinion that when its a knife maker you trust and you believe understands the design he is using and why he is using it, there's probably a good reason it was done that way. That being said, i also know many knife makers who dont think as much about these things. In the case of shigefusa, i would say he fits more in the former than the latter. He's got a clear image of what hes trying to create and why.
 
I agree with Jon but if you don't like the way it cuts, I'm 100% in favor of either selling it or modifying it, as long as YOU have a clear idea of what you are doing. That said, I do own a Shig and I have thinned and flattened to some extent. It cuts a lot more to my liking now although it still isn't my favorite.
 
Thanks for the schema and explanation Jon, got the picture now!
 
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