K813zra
Senior Member
wait you use this to remove burr??
i've used my apron at times to do same thing
also, i recall ikarashi being my favorite for VG10 and other stainless.
Agreed. My Ikarashi makes a great stone for stainless in general.
Best stones for sharpening vg10
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Agreed. My Ikarashi makes a great stone for stainless in general.
Rough but effective, I like it!
Chef Doom
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You can't expect people to give up all of their magic tricks.
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Yes.
These 2 knives in particular is why I started this thread.
https://www.aframestokyo.com/yoshikane-sujihiki-tamamoku-210mm-vg10-21010.html
https://www.aframestokyo.com/yoshikane-sujihiki-10-12-inch-270mm-vg10-bl101227011.html
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Im no stranger to beautiful things which are also high maintenance 😎
Reviving a long dormant thread in mild frustration.
So, tonight, I spent over an hour with a "Yaxell YO-U 37-Layer VG-10 Damascus" santoku using the JKI 1k/6k combo. I did this hoping to end up with an edge that did not have stropped and burnished steel covering the apex, but had a properly deburred apex where the vanadium carbides were sheared clean by diamond like in that famous SEM shot.
How did it go?
I feel like I just made my chips smaller … the edge is still visibly rough under the microscope, though the craters are gone. The burr was huge and even with edge-leading light-pressure 6k finishing strokes I ended up with a microburr that shaves on one side of the knife and not on the other. In disgust I microbeveled at 20dps and mirrored the edge bevels at < 20dps on SG16k just to prove that I did have angle control. But I am expecting this knife to start reflecting light off the edge again soon.
Maybe I didn't get past the overheated steel, could take another half mm off to see if the VG10 magically improves farther in.
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So, you're wondering how to best sharpen a turd?
I am so glad you said that, I will take it as permission to buy something that is not VG10.
There's VG10 and VG10. Expect that Yaxell uses the Chinese VG10 variant. Most of the Faceybook knives do.
And as with most knives / makers, the maker trumps the steel. I don't like VG10 but there are makers that can get the best out of it. But at the low end I prefer AUS8 - at least you know what you're getting.
And as with most knives / makers, the maker trumps the steel. I don't like VG10 but there are makers that can get the best out of it. But at the low end I prefer AUS8 - at least you know what you're getting.
Had a very similar experience last week with my friend's Shuns that have gone to them for sharpening many times. One knife in particular that is clearly his favorite and has been sharpened a lot gave me a lot of trouble. Felt gummy and would easily create a burr on diamonds, but deburring was a nightmare. Almost threw it out in frustration. Spent way too long to sharpen it. Ended up creating a micro bevel too, since this was the only way I could deburr it to a reasonable state. I just don't know how long it will stay sharp, the steel is crap. I need to get him a better knife for my sake.
I find this article interesting, a conventional stone seems to cause less carbide damage on K390.
https://scienceofsharp.com/2021/09/14/carbides-in-k390/
We've discussed this article before a few times and it raises a few questions. For one diamond plates are used which are not the same as diamond stones since plates tend to cause more stress and deeper scratches.
VG10 is not one of these steels anyway so any regular synthetic stone should work. I also tried on 800 SiC stone and had similar results to the diamond stones. I ended up sharpening and thinning a little above the edge on the 800 SiC stone and micro beveling on 3000 diamond.
Shun by itself is probably OK, but since they have a lifetime sharpening service and my friend used it many times, I think at this point the edge is screwed up and the knife needs thinning. I did a little, but it needs more. Also probably needs more steel removal from the edge, which will require even more thinning.
Keith Sinclair
Senior Member
Reading this older thread like to address lateral stroke in Jon's old knife sharpening playlist. It didn't take me long at all to get it.
It's light pressure if you push too hard burr goes to other side if residual burr left one of two things not enough pressure, but much more often not even contact on the stone missing parts. Usually happens in tip area burr is not removed. Doesn't take long to master it of coarse adjust you stroke to match the geometry of knife you are sharpening. I call it one second burr removal. The sweep stroke across stone must be at same angle as your final bevel on the stone. With carbons can't feel a burr either side my trained home use knives. Couple I mean two to four sweeps on newspaper any residual burr. Not much pressure as on stone correct angle & light pressure same heel to tip.
It's light pressure if you push too hard burr goes to other side if residual burr left one of two things not enough pressure, but much more often not even contact on the stone missing parts. Usually happens in tip area burr is not removed. Doesn't take long to master it of coarse adjust you stroke to match the geometry of knife you are sharpening. I call it one second burr removal. The sweep stroke across stone must be at same angle as your final bevel on the stone. With carbons can't feel a burr either side my trained home use knives. Couple I mean two to four sweeps on newspaper any residual burr. Not much pressure as on stone correct angle & light pressure same heel to tip.
Drop down coarser. About 220-500 grit coarse.
I've sharpened a lot of VG10 on a Norton India and Soft Ark.
After over 6 years of freehand sharpening, I finally sharpened a VG10 knife last week. FWIW, it was a monosteel Macusta petty. I have no idea how it ranks in the hierarchy of VG10 heat treats.
It definitely formed a pretty tenacious burr.
I raised a burr on Chosera 1k. Then abraded the burr with gradually reducing pressure on the same stone. Then some feather-light edge leading strokes (I think around 8 per side), followed by a longitudinal stroke. There was still a bit of a burr but I felt as though this was as small as it was going to get on this stone.
On to Chosera 3k with very light pressure, then feather-light edge leading and a longitudinal deburring stroke.
Same treatment (as Chosera 3k) on Baby Chosera 5k and Nanaiwa 6k diamond. I definitely felt the diamonds gripping bits of burr in the first few strokes.
A gentle pull through a cork, then repeated the 5k and 6k stones. Much less of a grippy feeling on the diamonds second time around.
A last gentle pull through cork. Result was pretty sharp but it felt like a lot of work to get that burr under control.
Might use the Kippington deburring method next time.
It definitely formed a pretty tenacious burr.
I raised a burr on Chosera 1k. Then abraded the burr with gradually reducing pressure on the same stone. Then some feather-light edge leading strokes (I think around 8 per side), followed by a longitudinal stroke. There was still a bit of a burr but I felt as though this was as small as it was going to get on this stone.
On to Chosera 3k with very light pressure, then feather-light edge leading and a longitudinal deburring stroke.
Same treatment (as Chosera 3k) on Baby Chosera 5k and Nanaiwa 6k diamond. I definitely felt the diamonds gripping bits of burr in the first few strokes.
A gentle pull through a cork, then repeated the 5k and 6k stones. Much less of a grippy feeling on the diamonds second time around.
A last gentle pull through cork. Result was pretty sharp but it felt like a lot of work to get that burr under control.
Might use the Kippington deburring method next time.
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gc0220
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I use a 2k shapton pro. finish on either 5k or 12k shapton pro. strop on wood loaded with 1 micron mono diamond. Leather with half micron. Never had any issues.
Jville
I used to work in a Mexican restaurant
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Where is your vg10 from? It makes a difference, for example kurasaki’s very good.
