Advice for Masamoto KS thinning?

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dannynyc

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I have a 240mm Masamoto KS gyuto and would like to have it thinned it behind the edge. I sharpen with an edge pro (gasp!) which is no good for thinning, so I'm going to have it done at a local shop. (Before anyone suggests it, I'm not going to start freehand sharpening, just don't have the time or the inclination). I recently moved to Toronto, and Tosho Knife Arts has a reputable guy trained in Japanese sharpening.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions in how to ask that this be done. I usually sharpen to about 15 degrees. I would love to get some convexity added to the knife, but not sure if that's realistic to ask or if the KS is too thin for that to be feasible.

Would appreciate advice from any KS owners who have good experiences thinning behind the edge. Thanks in advance.
 
Recently thinned mine which started out as a slug. I really didn't go for super-thin myself as I was much more interested in release. Most people would likely go thinner behind the edge, but again I was really looking for better food release. Mine is still a bit hefty behind the edge (though much thinner than it started out), but goes through most things very well. Release is now excellent--potatoes jump off the blade.

I think that if you take it somewhere reputable (my understanding is that Tosho is pretty good though I have no experience with them) they can give you what you want but I guess that my point is that you really need to determine what you want. Stiction drives me nuts so this was my goal--I tend to use plenty of force when cutting so I don't really have issues going through anything. In this case, my lack of skills works to my advantage.
 
I'm trying to get a balance between ease of cutting and avoiding stiction, though its not clear to me what the best thing to do is to avoid stiction. Aim for maximum convexity? Also for those who have thinned, about how far up the knife from the edge would you recommend starting the thinning?
 
I wound up thinning the whole knife a bit, but from the edge up to about 1-1/2 cm on the right I thinned more aggressively and this is also where I worked on making it very convex. On the left side I thinned the entire knife but thinned more and lightly convexed maybe 1/2 cm from edge. Again my goal was more on the side of release, but the knife goes through product much better than it did oob as well. At the tip (maybe last 4 cm) on both sides I thinned edge to spine. I'm sure there is a better way, but this worked well for me.

Guessing you got one of the Rakuten specials like me. :laugh:
 
Guessing you got one of the Rakuten specials like me. :laugh:

Actually this is an older KS that I got off someone on the forum a while ago. Truth be told, there is nothing wrong with my knife, and it cuts well, I just want to see if I can take it a bit further.
 
Huh, I figured I'd get a ton of responses for this one. Bump?
 
Ask him to thin out the blade on both sides from the edge to about 1 cm behind it and to blend it in another 1 cm. If he does it right, your edge bevels should be tiny (< 1 mm) If you're gonna be rough with it, then have him thin it so that your edge bevels end up no wider than just over 1 mm wide. If the edge bevels are much wider than that, it's really still a fatty.
 
You can also ask Ivan from Tosho the same question. From my understanding he is very knowledgeable and he will recommend you the best option for your knife.
 
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