Sharpening a Glestain

I am having a terrible time keeping an edge on my Glestain 210 and 240. I have no problem keeping great edges on my Tojiro DP, Kikoichi, Missono UX10, or even my Henkels Pro. A progression of 800, 1200, 2000, 4000, 8000 puts a great edge on all them, but the glestain just loses it after 15 minutes of chopping on an Epicurean big block board whereas the others don't. Is there something special that need to be done with a Glestain or is this a persistent problem?

Glestains are special creatures - thick and soft

You have to make sure that your edge is absolutely 100% wire edge free or this will never end for you.

Also, you could use a softer board, those Epic boards are edge killers.

+1to what Dave said, also I've found that finishing on a lower grit helps with edge retention and usually finish on a bester 1.2k much the same way I would with softer German/ French blades. Another thing to note is the convex grind on the side with the kullens which is in part the reason glestain's cut the way they do and I feel trying to maintain that over the course of the life of the knife is imperitave.

I seem to get the best result from Shap Pros. I never go more than 3k.

Holy crap! Those boards are made from the scraps of quarterpipes?? That is nuts!

Get a new board...rubber, wood, whatever...go get a fence board and use that for a while, if you have to. That sounds like the worst idea for a cutting board material since leftover granite from your remodel.

I sharpen mine only on Belgian coticule (cream colored stuff). I haven't gone lower since it was sharpened a couple of years ago by memorael. It holds its edge a pretty long time this way.

In addition only, and not just about the Glestains: your progression of 800, 1200, 2000, 4000, 8000 is just asking for troubles. More stones equals more risks of error. Skip at least two stones, keep e.g. 800, 2000, 8000. Ever tried just 1200 and 4000? The last stone for very light edge trailing strokes only. Make sure to completely deburr before you go to the next one.

By the way: with your Henckels: 800, a few stropping strokes on the 2000 and STOP! The edge will last much longer.

Benuser said:

In addition only, and not just about the Glestains: your progression of 800, 1200, 2000, 4000, 8000 is just asking for troubles. More stones equals more risks of error. Skip at least two stones, keep e.g. 800, 2000, 8000. Ever tried just 1200 and 4000? The last stone for very light edge trailing strokes only. Make sure to completely deburr before you go to the next one.

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Yup. I used to use a fairly involved progression on my Glestain (and other blades). The edge is awesome for a few min but a somewhat toothier edge keeps me smiling a lot longer.

OK, I've tried these suggestions including getting a coticule and a belgian blue whetstone or regular stones and stopping at 200 grit. can get a great edge, but chop 4 mushrooms on an NSF plastic board and it is friggin' dull! it will crush a tomato before it bites into the skin. I love the handle and the balance, but this Acuto steel is horrible. Now what?!?

Sounds like a wire edge.

GlassEye said:

Sounds like a wire edge.

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+1

The acuto steel is pretty close to 440C iirc and heat treated to about 58. It's tough stuff and a B!tch to deburr. Making sure you don't have any clingons left after initial burr formation and before finishing on a finer stone is 100% critical with this knife. It's taken me awhile to get a grip on this blade and a lot of frustration but I've got it down and easily get almost a week out of a good sharpening with minimal maintenance. Something else to consider is you could simply have a lemon with a bum heat treat. While it's not likely it does occasionally happen.

If you do not already have,get a good quality eye loop,I have the Belomo 10X that I check out edges esp. when sharpening others knives.Like said cut down on your stones,you are not reprofiling so no need coarse.A good medium & maybe a one polishing stone.

Inspect your edge under mag.& you can see what's going on.Correct strop use can clean up wire edges