Mangelwurzel
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 14, 2014
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- 183
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Hi all, I'm new to the board and relatively new to Japanese knifes and sharpening with whetstones.
I'm a home cook based in the UK. I recently purchased a Hiromoto AS gyuto (240mm) from JCK as well as a JCK 400/1200 grit combo whetstone and a JCK 6000 grit finishing stone. I previously used a stainless Sabatier and have practiced my sharpening a few times (using online video tutorials) on that before trying out my Hiro on the stones. I think I've got the basics but there's so much to learn!
I'm a lefty and asked JCK to adjust the asymmetrical bevel on the Hiro from 60:40 to 40:60 (not something I fancied doing myself having never sharpened a knife before!). The OOTB edge seemed quite good to me but my frame of reference is somewhat limited by inexperience. After a week or so of use, I touched up the edge on my 6000 grit stone. I only recently sharpened the edge properly (i.e. 1200 grit followed by 6000 grit, followed by deburring with a cork).
Since then, I have used it to chop veg and it goes through onions very well; much better than ever before. It seemed really sharp but I haven't done any of the normal tests that people recommend (I did rest the knife edge on my thumb nail and it digs in a little and leaves a small scratch. Not sure if this is a formal test, or what it shows exactly!). Yesterday - and here is the crux of my question - I used it on some slightly overripe cherry tomatoes and it didn't go through them as easily as I'd expect (or as it did with the OOTB edge). It took a good couple of centimeters of pushing to break the tomato skin. And it even squashed some of the more overripe tomatoes. I then tried it on some quite overripe normal tomatoes (that went past their best before date over a week ago) and, again, it didn't break the skin immediately but required a couple of centimeters of movement to break the skin.
My question is: has anybody encountered similar problems with a seemingly sharp edge and overripe tomatoes? And if so, how can I remedy this? Given how the knife performs with everything other than overripe tomatoes (the edge is certainly sharpener than it was OOTB), I am minded to think that one of the factors contributing to the issue is the overripeness of the tomatoes but want to know how I can fix it.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated
I'm a home cook based in the UK. I recently purchased a Hiromoto AS gyuto (240mm) from JCK as well as a JCK 400/1200 grit combo whetstone and a JCK 6000 grit finishing stone. I previously used a stainless Sabatier and have practiced my sharpening a few times (using online video tutorials) on that before trying out my Hiro on the stones. I think I've got the basics but there's so much to learn!
I'm a lefty and asked JCK to adjust the asymmetrical bevel on the Hiro from 60:40 to 40:60 (not something I fancied doing myself having never sharpened a knife before!). The OOTB edge seemed quite good to me but my frame of reference is somewhat limited by inexperience. After a week or so of use, I touched up the edge on my 6000 grit stone. I only recently sharpened the edge properly (i.e. 1200 grit followed by 6000 grit, followed by deburring with a cork).
Since then, I have used it to chop veg and it goes through onions very well; much better than ever before. It seemed really sharp but I haven't done any of the normal tests that people recommend (I did rest the knife edge on my thumb nail and it digs in a little and leaves a small scratch. Not sure if this is a formal test, or what it shows exactly!). Yesterday - and here is the crux of my question - I used it on some slightly overripe cherry tomatoes and it didn't go through them as easily as I'd expect (or as it did with the OOTB edge). It took a good couple of centimeters of pushing to break the tomato skin. And it even squashed some of the more overripe tomatoes. I then tried it on some quite overripe normal tomatoes (that went past their best before date over a week ago) and, again, it didn't break the skin immediately but required a couple of centimeters of movement to break the skin.
My question is: has anybody encountered similar problems with a seemingly sharp edge and overripe tomatoes? And if so, how can I remedy this? Given how the knife performs with everything other than overripe tomatoes (the edge is certainly sharpener than it was OOTB), I am minded to think that one of the factors contributing to the issue is the overripeness of the tomatoes but want to know how I can fix it.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated