Thinning a Misono Swedish?

I have a Misono Swedish 180mm gyuto and I think it is a great knife. I love using it at work, but for some reason, it seems to wedge in onions half way through (when slicing horizontally to make a dice cut, it doesn't want to glide through) and also doesn't want to cut through carrots and other similar vegetables without some added force.

Does this sound like thinning or creating a double bevel would make sense to help my prep problems? The blade is very thin already and I assumed these tasks would be a breeze, but after 2 months of working with this knife, I can't help but wonder what could make it easier. :scratchhead:

Any suggestions for me over my weekend to either research or work on my knife? I haven't ever thinned a knife, but I'm confident in my sharpening ability and am willing to experiment if need be. Thanks guys!

It could also be from changing the knife's geometry during sharpening. Did you make it a 50/50 or change the asymmetry to the other side or anything?

dadams80120 said:

Does this sound like thinning or creating a double bevel would make sense to help my prep problems?

Click to expand...

uhm, the knife is a double bevel knife, it just isn't symmetrical. i think it has a 70:30 ratio or so...

They come fairly thin OOTB. How have you sharpened it so far? Some jig system perhaps? If at least some thinning hasn't been a part of your regular sharpening til now, than sure, it will need some serious thinning.

Sorry, the phrase i meant to say was secondary bevel, not double bevel. I have sharpened this knife once freehanded and only have touched it up on a 6k stone once, and have not changed the 70/30 at all. Perhaps after sharpening, the bevel on either side flattened out and now the knife has a jarring transition from edge to the side of the knife?

That's rather good news, so basically it still has its factory edge that is highly convexed on both sides as I remember from my own Misonos.
I heard about a case of wedging caused by a fat burr. You may verify.
Otherwise, in your case I would first start by stropping on leather, newspaper or denim or whatever you have, in order to reestablish the existing edge. You may verify with the marker trick whether you reach the very edge. I expect the angle to be quite obtuse, I've measured once some 17 degree on the right side and far above 20 on the left one, IIRC.

About stropping:

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/1822-Stropping-De-Burring-with-Leather

Another factor that might have caused the wedging is too tight a grip. In my country apprentices learn to handle their Wüsthofs e.a. "firmly". Once they handle an asymmetric knife they want it to behave in the same way and tighten their grip even more. Crazy wedging and steering is the result.