Knife getting dull very fast

[jai]

I wouldent be leaving a 10-12k edge on a shun anyway basicly anywhere between 5k and 8k is a good finish for gyutos, santokus and certain sujis and pettys if using for purely portioning fish or trimming boneless primals then maybe higher is viable but otherwise edge retention and toothyness drops off a bit faster. Try sharpening to 5k see if that helps

 

[Sherski]

So under what circumstances would we progress to the 8000 grit or 10,000grit level of stone use? :bliss:

 

[jai]

Single bevel knife such as yanagiba, usuba and deba. Knives used for off board work such as meat trimming with a petty. I personally find the only knives I like 10k+ for are my single bevels. Look at the end of the day its all personal preference but I use knives every day between 4 and 16 hours per day and this is just what I have gathered from personal experience ask any of the other pros. Dont quote me but I guarentee people like salty and theory dont take there gyutos past 6-8k .

 

[panda]

never, at least not in any practical sense. of course you can take it there, great many people do. highest i take my gyutos to is around 5k (only carbon, stainless stops at 2k).

 

[rick alen]

No it gets very sharp, but a relatively few passes through relatively soft stuff and the edge just folds, and I believe it has done this just by sitting for a while doing nothing. In all honesty it's is just like a super-thick burr. Though one pass on a regular steel (which I only used as an experiment) or a few stropping passes on a smooth surface and it just disappears, for a while. From my machining experience it behaves much like metal when you fly-cut or grind one side, and stresses in the metal cause warpage. Eventually after enough "stropping cycles" the edge settles down/goes away.

What it comes down to is this knife is a real pain to keep sharp, and if that is a burr it must be one real pain to remove. I will eventually try the removal method described here and see if that 'completely" rectifies things. If I have been inferring the wrong underlying principles then you all have my apologies for being "annoying." But if this is what it takes to maintain a shun knife then I'm sure you can understand why having just one of their knives is more than enough for me.


Rick

 

[snowbrother]

Do you cut a lot of onions or anything like that? Onion skin is horrible for dulling edges. It also depends on how much you use it. Working 12-16 hour shifts meant I would have to strop a few times a night to keep a sharp edge on some of my knives. If it is the burr, I think it was already mentioned, but try cutting through felt. I personally like to strop on kangaroo leather or my finishing stone (or even a wooden cutting board when I'm on the line), but I've had other chefs tell me that the felt is the easiest/fastest way to remove the burr. Has the knife been exposed to a lot of high heat? While not very likely, it is a possibility that the heat has weakened the steel and prevents it from holding a proper edge without rolling.

 

[Benuser]

No good idea to have the burr falling off with VG-10. It will leave a horribly damaged edge behind. It has to get abraded.

 

[rick alen]

Snow, the Shun replaces a vintage Deluxe Persona as a dedicated steak knife, so it never sees a board or anything warmer than a medium-rare steak, and of course no part of it touches the plate other than the very tip. So that is what is so mystifying about its performance. I like it in that it definitely gets sharper than the DP using the same stones. It isn't chippy either, I accidentally drove it into a stainless appliance with some force and the extremely pointy tip just deformed a very tiny bit, so it cleaned up easily. I'd say it is very likely under-tempered, at least at the tip. But I bought it, I foolishly paid $100 for it, I still like it better than the vintage DP, so God darn it I'm going to continue to use it. Benuser of course I'd agree with you on that one.

Rick

 

[SuperChef]

I usually work for 5-6 hours in cutting at work when i have the time for it...at first when is start cutting a tomato its ok but after 10 tomatos its allready dull and cant pass the skin of it...i use honing rod at work cause i dont have time to sharpen there.
At home i spend at list 1.5 hours at sharpening the knife but i still cant get a razor sharp edge...i cant figure up the angle approach i guess... i get a burr only if i sharp at a high angle...if i do at a low i dont get any burr at all...am i mising somthing? i watched lots of videos and did every thing they said but i still miss something.....
any tips and tricks that u guys know about those knives?
i am desperate

 

[Benuser]

If you only get a burr at a high angle, and not at a lower one, you should first thin it a lot, or have it done. It has become much too thick behind the edge.
After that a fresh new edge at a low angle may be created. And stop using that honing rod. It fatigues the steel and its debris form a wire edge.