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Badgertooth

Badgertooth

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Anyone got their white whale that they couldn't edge the way they wanted to?

I got a beautiful Tanaka ironwood gyuto that I had really looked forward to and took it to the stones when I got it and just couldn't get it to take an edge. Tried all the tricks and like a sullen child put it in its saya and presentation box and left in a drawer because I didn't wanna play anymore.

Returned to it tonight after a couple months after testing a very aggressive natural stone and hit it on a king 300, deburred like I've never deburred before. Then King Hyper 1000 then the very aggressive natural. Deburring in multiple steps and methods on denim, newspaper and pine.

Hooooo boy. Well worth it and deeply satisfying beating the knife. Anybody else have that knife that had them beat? ImageUploadedByKitchen Knife Forum1502964237.690647.jpg
 
I had a similar experience with my Tanaka blue 2 kurouchi. I tried to sharpen it like the Toyama and just got an average result. A month later, I tried a new stone combo, thinned it then gave it a edge and it really sprang into life. It's one of my best edges just behind my Denka and Kato.
 
Badgertooth said:
Anyone got their white whale that they couldn't edge the way they wanted to?

I got a beautiful Tanaka ironwood gyuto that I had really looked forward to and took it to the stones when I got it and just couldn't get it to take an edge. Tried all the tricks and like a sullen child put it in its saya and presentation box and left in a drawer because I didn't wanna play anymore.

Returned to it tonight after a couple months after testing a very aggressive natural stone and hit it on a king 300, deburred like I've never deburred before. Then King Hyper 1000 then the very aggressive natural. Deburring in multiple steps and methods on denim, newspaper and pine.

Hooooo boy. Well worth it and deeply satisfying beating the knife. Anybody else have that knife that had them beat?View attachment 36601
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I've not been at this as long as you so I can say that I have had quite a few knives make me set them down and walk away. Until I nailed down the basics but I assume that is not what you mean. You want to know about that one knife that is just a pain in the but to get it as good as you want it. I recently got a Blazen and it and I are not getting along. I assume it is an issue due to a number of factors. I am not familiar with the core steel, I am trying to use naturals that might not be aggressive enough on a wear resistant steel and god knows what else.

At the moment, that is my whale.

I adore the stone in that picture, btw. It stands out and looks quite enjoyable to use as well. What is it?
 
osakajoe said:
I just use my sigmas on powder steel. No need to beat up the knife. Unless the knife you bought was sharpened pretty bad out of the box
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I guess that is one way to do it and likely why I will stick with carbon. I just don't prefer use synthetic stones, ever, if I can help it.
 
You do not try to 'beat' the knife, you are trying to understand it and make it work between the two of you. Does that sound familiar? ;)
 
Matus said:
You do not try to 'beat' the knife, you are trying to understand it and make it work between the two of you. Does that sound familiar? ;)
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Do not try and sharpen the knife, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no knife. Then you'll see that it is not the knife that cuts, it is only yourself.
 
Matus said:
You do not try to 'beat' the knife, you are trying to understand it and make it work between the two of you. Does that sound familiar? ;)
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Nope, sounds like sell the knife and buy some carbon. :rofl2: Now if only I thought that way about stones, I wouldn't have over 100 of them.
 
K813zra said:
Nope, sounds like sell the knife and buy some carbon. :rofl2: Now if only I thought that way about stones, I wouldn't have over 100 of them.
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I love carbons and sg2.
It is a fairly easy steel to sharpen,
Fine grained, benefits from touch ups, sharpens up to high grits.
Just remember how it was out of the box.
Spend some little time with it,
there are chances that you will love it
 
supersayan3 said:
I love carbons and sg2.
It is a fairly easy steel to sharpen,
Fine grained, benefits from touch ups, sharpens up to high grits.
Just remember how it was out of the box.
Spend some little time with it,
there are chances that you will love it
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I typically don't like stainless or PM steel in general. This was more because I was curious than anything. I was surprised, though, as I had heard this was a "difficult" steel to sharpen or rather abrade and my naturals don't seem to have an issue removing material.
 
Pensacola Tiger said:
Do not try and sharpen the knife, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...there is no knife. Then you'll see that it is not the knife that cuts, it is only yourself.
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👏👏👏👍👍
 
panda said:
in other words you learned that when faced with an annoying steel, get aggressive with it.
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It was partly the steel. I also realise now how obtuse the secondary bevel was and the very high angle was throwing out my technique a bit so I spent the necessary time knocking those shoulders off and blending into the mainbevel so that angle of approach on the stones was more what I'm used to. Leaving it and coming at it with a fresh mindset and better tools made the difference. And stones that eat metal.
 
Matus said:
You do not try to 'beat' the knife, you are trying to understand it and make it work between the two of you. Does that sound familiar? ;)
Click to expand...

I see married life is agreeing with you ;)
 
Otto, I remember a Mac parer that I spent all night on. Mrmnms gave me the similar advise. Don't fight it, sometime its just better to lay it down and have a drink.

kinda did the same thing, I was trying to take the steel too keen with my limited skills. I actually broke out a Global diamond rod just to get some gab on it. Sometimes it is about finding the right combination of abrasive material and unlocking the steel/knife profile.
 
I had a takeda from a bit more then a decade ago at this point that just never cut how i wanted it to. i didnt know anything about edge geometry etc just thought it should cut better then it did, i wound up taking sand paper to the kurouchi finish thinking it would help it go through food better dohhh and must have ground away at that thing for 4 years with little rhyme or reason to what i was doing,I eventually learned enough to realize the shoulders were also to big on it and thats why it was wedging etc. needless to say the day i got it where i wanted i was very very happy. now it sits on a rack as both a reminder of persistence and not to act to hastily and actually analyze what im doing instead of destroying finishes on knives for no reason haha :O
 
Wow, an exemplary example of R2 steel and you found it a challenge to sharpen and, not only, wisdom to raise a big burr? Usually the fresh factory edge is a little chippy and can remain so for a few sharpenings, but I would think it should still sharpen up nicely without having to plowing through on a course stone.

A new edge touches up very nicey on a 6K stone, especially when finishing by microbevelling with a few stropping strokes. Only after the edge has been beaten good on the board would I think you needed to take it to a course stone.
 
I managed to defeat a long standing enemy in a vg10 parer that had never quite taken or held an edge, especially compared to others in the same steel. I thinned it for an age to no avail, but in the end a deeper edge and microbevel on diamond, and a quick strop; and it was singing.
 
I am not going to call out any *cough* western knife makers by name. Lets just say the ability to make a good hunting or field knife does not translate well into making good kitchen cutlery.
 
Anton said:
Best things I've read in a while
This should be the forum' slogan
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More like a clear sign that knife forum members are taking full advantage of the wave of marijuana legalization laws across the country .
 
I've got two: a coworker's knife, embarrassingly, that never seems to hold an edge for more than a day. It's a Shun, it's VG-10, it gets abused by prep cooks, but still. I measured it and it doesn't need thinning, I've tried all sorts of edge configurations and grits, but I haven't given up: I'm about to have another go. The other is my CCK 1303, and I finally realized why -- it's not a Japanese knife or a Western knife, neither a Japanese nor German steel, so trying to sharpen it and use it like either might not work well (duh). It performs just fine when I remember to use it correctly but for some reason the edge never feels right.
 
GorillaGrunt said:
I've got two: a coworker's knife, embarrassingly, that never seems to hold an edge for more than a day. It's a Shun, it's VG-10, it gets abused by prep cooks, but still. I measured it and it doesn't need thinning, I've tried all sorts of edge configurations and grits, but I haven't given up: I'm about to have another go. The other is my CCK 1303, and I finally realized why -- it's not a Japanese knife or a Western knife, neither a Japanese nor German steel, so trying to sharpen it and use it like either might not work well (duh). It performs just fine when I remember to use it correctly but for some reason the edge never feels right.
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Makes me wonder what Chinese chefs use to sharpen their cleavers. I know that question has been asked somewhere but I can not recall what the answer was. Maybe someone can provide expertise on the matter.
 
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