Blade edge toward or away from you?

I am preparing to sharpen my Tojiro DP knives for the first time. I have watched a bunch of You Tube videos and can't tell if I should be moving the knife against the sharpening stone with the edge away from or towards me. It seems that the videos show it both ways. Is it a case of it doesn't really matter?

The best advice I can give is to stick with one 'teacher' and we happen to have the best--Jon @ JKI. You can find his playlist here and there are 29 videos total but many are devoted to single bevel knives. You should be able to find what you need there.

Rick 'Theory' also has a very good video, but I'm not sure exactly where to find it.

To answer your question, I use both depending on which side of the knife I'm sharpening.

This video addresses hand postioning directly.

[video=youtube;GB3jkRi1dKs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB3jkRi1dKs[/video]

This one tells you how to move your hands.

[video=youtube;SKeSRDMRpY0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKeSRDMRpY0[/video]

a. With each stroke.. you are removing steel and i assume that when you reach the apex and over shoot.. a burr will form
b. this burr removal stage.. when the edge is very thin... say abt 0.1 mm if not lesser..
i) cutting stroke from you or cutting into the stone.. technically will "break " the burr after which with a few lighter stokes.. you will get the Apex. Overshoot a burr will form and you start all over again.

ii) uncurling stroke.. Pulling the edge away from stone.. I suppose it will just uncurl the edge which is a weak metal and forms a weak edge it you stop there When it is going to break is just a guess. I do not know how to test whether it is a weak edge. I suppose only when it does not stay sharp long enough. So in the videos.. yu see both strokes but pressure is applied in the cutting stroke

IN the final analysis.. know where you want to remove steel, how much and adjust your angle, grit and most importantly.. the pressure to reach the apex. with this in mind when you are sharpening... eventually you will get there

hv fun and rgds
D

either you'll end up doing both, or you'll become abidextrous....BTW, that's how Dave Martell sharpens, comes from his days doing sharpening on belts.

Zwiefel said:

either you'll end up doing both, or you'll become abidextrous....

Click to expand...

Yes, this. Unless you can switch hands you will always have the edge pointing towards you when doing one side and pointing away from you doing the other.

Jon and Rick's videos are excellent. IMHO, the most important thing is using a method that is repeatable and gives you the result you're looking for. I usually sharpen the way these videos suggest, but I was first taught a long time ago with the stones off to my side, rather than in front of me. I sharpened both sides edge in to stones , until stropping.

[video=youtube;bMW5vJ4krPE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMW5vJ4krPE[/video]

Zwiefel said:

either you'll end up doing both, or you'll become abidextrous....

Click to expand...

I used to do this and switched! Bad move, and the backs of my knives suffer for it.

Just like with batting, best to switch hit.

Thanks for all the feedback. The videos you all posted will help immensely