New Knife Types in Works

[Marko Tsourkan]

I got a suggestion to do a flat profile and a single bevel/hollow back on honesuki/petty for ease of sharpening and use.

How critical is a curved profile for a honesuki/garasuki knives?

M

[Chefdog]

I got a suggestion to do a flat profile and a single bevel/hollow back on honesuki/petty for ease of sharpening and use.

How critical is a curved profile for a honesuki/garasuki knives?

M

I've used honesuki for quite a while for lots of animals, birds of all sizes, smaller (1-3#) fish and meat ranging from cleaning lamb racks and legs to trimming silverskin from strip loins. IME, just the slightest curve is necessary, and actually I think too much would take away from the great utility of the shape. That wierd triangular shape just works for its intended purpose, and more.
As far as the grind is concerned, the ones I have and use are just flat on the back and not concave. It works for me, and I usually grind the smallest little bevel on the back, although for some reason I feel like the shape probably wouldn't benefit from being 50:50.

Hope this is worth something to you.

[ecchef]

I've got my honesuke set up with flat back, wide convex face bevel, micro back bevel. Perfect for me.

[heirkb]

Yea, I don't really see how a hollow ground back would be any easier to sharpen than the flat back. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it could be 165mm or so, but I wouldn't want it to be particularly long having used my 150mm.

[KeiOkay]

Yea, I don't really see how a hollow ground back would be any easier to sharpen than the flat back. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it could be 165mm or so, but I wouldn't want it to be particularly long having used my 150mm.

It's easier because you're only wearing down the outside few mm of the back instead of the entire back surface area. This saves time and your stone. For a numeric comparison, lets say that we have a knife that's 6.5 in (165 mm) x 1 in (25.4 mm) = 6.5 sq inches for the entire back.

For uraoshi, lets assume that it leaves a 3 mm border around the whole of the back knife and I'm going to generously calculate the back side as if it were a square. So, if 3 mm = 0.118110236 inches then, the surface area for uraoshi sharpening is 6.5*2*0.118110236 + 1*0.118110236*2=1.77165354

So to do the flat back requires the removal of about 3.6 times the metal of a similar knife that is hollow ground.

[ecchef]

It's easier because you're only wearing down the outside few mm of the back instead of the entire back surface area. This saves time and your stone. For a numeric comparison, lets say that we have a knife that's 6.5 in (165 mm) x 1 in (25.4 mm) = 6.5 sq inches for the entire back.

For uraoshi, lets assume that it leaves a 3 mm border around the whole of the back knife and I'm going to generously calculate the back side as if it were a square. So, if 3 mm = 0.118110236 inches then, the surface area for uraoshi sharpening is 6.5*2*0.118110236 + 1*0.118110236*2=1.77165354

So to do the flat back requires the removal of about 3.6 times the metal of a similar knife that is hollow ground.

Perhaps so, but in the real world nobody grinds away the entire backside.

[Marko Tsourkan]

You guys gave me some good ideas, thank you.

I think I am going to hollow-grind the back on the first prototype, and do the flat on the second.

If you smell more pass-arounds in the air, you are probably correct.

M

[Chefdog]

Perhaps so, but in the real world nobody grinds away the entire backside.

Agreed, I also just put a very slight micro bevel on the back of the blade. Mainly to assure removal of the burr and it only takes a minute.

[KeiOkay]

Perhaps so, but in the real world nobody grinds away the entire backside.

Right, I shouldn't have implied that people are grinding away at it, but polishing to take off that burr to rezero their knife still seems easier to do on a concave back.

[Marko Tsourkan]

So, I took all suggestions I received from folks in this thread and ground a 150mm honesuki. I have encountered some issues, as expected and was able to work them out, and I could say that the knife is a success. It is still a prototype and I will need to get some feedback as well as grind a couple more to nail down the process, but I got to tell you, I feel encouraged. Pics tomorrow.

My next project is 275mm yanagi.

M