I'm struggling a little bit on how to word this. I hope what I'm asking will come through clear even though I'm probably butchering some of the knife jargon. It's a rookie question and I tried searching the forum for answers but had trouble finding a concrete response.
Basically I own a Ginga 210mm petty & 270mm gyuto. Both wonderful knives that cut like a dream. They are my first lasers and I am extremely happy with them.
Being so thin, I am a little confused on how to best sharpen them. They came as exceptional cutters OOTB and while it's probably one of Jon's basic edges, it's got me going down the rabbit hole and questioning all my previous results. They both have no visible primary (or cutting) bevel. Feeling the edge on my fingers didn't blow me away but they absolutely drop through everything I throw at them and have had really surprising edge retention. So far I've maintained them with very light sharpening on 5-6k stones and stropping, paying attention to not set a new, cutting bevel.
My petty in particular I've had longer and been using a lot at work - I think the steel is starting to get a bit fatigued and while it still cuts, I'd like to bring it back to razor sharpness, while maintaining the original geometry.
I've seen folks write that with lasers, because they are so thin, you should treat the secondary bevel/blade face as the 'actual edge', and instead of setting a primary bevel, you should sharpen/polish higher up behind the edge, instead of trying to hit the edge. Does this make sense, and is it true? Should I be doing this by putting them to the stones at a much lower angle than I normally do? Just using higher grit stones to polish and only dropping down to coarse/medium grit when the metal is extremely fatigued?
I know you have a wealth of experience sharpening knives and have also spent a lot of time working with the people from Suisin in the past - so I bow to your knowledge of maintaining laser knives and would really appreciate some advice on how to best sharpen them.
Basically I own a Ginga 210mm petty & 270mm gyuto. Both wonderful knives that cut like a dream. They are my first lasers and I am extremely happy with them.
Being so thin, I am a little confused on how to best sharpen them. They came as exceptional cutters OOTB and while it's probably one of Jon's basic edges, it's got me going down the rabbit hole and questioning all my previous results. They both have no visible primary (or cutting) bevel. Feeling the edge on my fingers didn't blow me away but they absolutely drop through everything I throw at them and have had really surprising edge retention. So far I've maintained them with very light sharpening on 5-6k stones and stropping, paying attention to not set a new, cutting bevel.
My petty in particular I've had longer and been using a lot at work - I think the steel is starting to get a bit fatigued and while it still cuts, I'd like to bring it back to razor sharpness, while maintaining the original geometry.
I've seen folks write that with lasers, because they are so thin, you should treat the secondary bevel/blade face as the 'actual edge', and instead of setting a primary bevel, you should sharpen/polish higher up behind the edge, instead of trying to hit the edge. Does this make sense, and is it true? Should I be doing this by putting them to the stones at a much lower angle than I normally do? Just using higher grit stones to polish and only dropping down to coarse/medium grit when the metal is extremely fatigued?
I know you have a wealth of experience sharpening knives and have also spent a lot of time working with the people from Suisin in the past - so I bow to your knowledge of maintaining laser knives and would really appreciate some advice on how to best sharpen them.