(Raunchy pun omitted here)
The blade was way too thick behind the bevel and it showed with the bevel itself a mile wide, so I decided to cure that with my belt sander. Knocked off most of the shoulder first with a 220 grit belt at teh lowest possible angle, then ground down the bladefaces a bit, then rounded over the transition between bladeface and thinned part. Then went over it all again with a 400 grit belt and a cotton cloth buffing wheel with rough buffing compound. Not bad for a $150 sander. I finished with a new bevel (21° each side) on a cheaper waterstone and stropped a bit on my little balsa board loaded with medium buffing compound. Shaving sharpness achieved!
I have two of them (one still unaltered), so you can compare what the bevels of the knives looked like before and after in one pic:
high res: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff200/mhpr53/HPIM0147_zps3a0so6rq.jpg
Right afterwards I used the knife to cut up some cauliflower and some thick stalks of leeks (which can stick and wedge terribly) and I was pretty impressed with the performance. Thinning makes a HUGE difference
The blade was way too thick behind the bevel and it showed with the bevel itself a mile wide, so I decided to cure that with my belt sander. Knocked off most of the shoulder first with a 220 grit belt at teh lowest possible angle, then ground down the bladefaces a bit, then rounded over the transition between bladeface and thinned part. Then went over it all again with a 400 grit belt and a cotton cloth buffing wheel with rough buffing compound. Not bad for a $150 sander. I finished with a new bevel (21° each side) on a cheaper waterstone and stropped a bit on my little balsa board loaded with medium buffing compound. Shaving sharpness achieved!
I have two of them (one still unaltered), so you can compare what the bevels of the knives looked like before and after in one pic:
high res: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff200/mhpr53/HPIM0147_zps3a0so6rq.jpg
Right afterwards I used the knife to cut up some cauliflower and some thick stalks of leeks (which can stick and wedge terribly) and I was pretty impressed with the performance. Thinning makes a HUGE difference