How about a complimentary thread to go with @HumbleHomeCook 's knife thread...
What have you whetted recently? What stones did you use?
What have you whetted recently? What stones did you use?
Daily Sharpening Pics
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Pics from today, before some maintenance thinning and sharpening on some of the knives my wife uses most; Pallares Solsona, and 3 x Blenheim Forge:
SG 500 for thinning. And then a stone I should use more, because it's very good - a quite light coloured Idwal / Grecian a bit over 5x2"
SG 500 for thinning. And then a stone I should use more, because it's very good - a quite light coloured Idwal / Grecian a bit over 5x2"
VICTOR J CREAZZI
Senior Member
Touched up my gyuto on a washita today, but no pictures.
The Shapton Glass 2k doing some routine maintenance on some oft used knives.
Suncraft Senzo Black - VG10
Masakane - SK (15 maybe?)
MAC Pro - I believe widely accepted as AUS-8
Suncraft Senzo Black - VG10
Masakane - SK (15 maybe?)
MAC Pro - I believe widely accepted as AUS-8
The Shapton Glass 2k doing some routine maintenance on some oft used knives.
Suncraft Senzo Black - VG10
Masakane - SK (15 maybe?)
MAC Pro - I believe widely accepted as AUS-8
I've never used it, but I imagine that's a pretty good stone for that!
I do quite quite a lot of maintenance / repair of our knives, as my wife can chip Japanese steel just by thinking about dinner. Though her very rough and draggy rock-chopping doesn't help matters, nor does it when she decides one of our smartest AS knives is the best thing for hacking through incredibly hard pork crackling.
That was the Blenheim Forge on the left of this pic a couple of days ago. You can't really see it in the picture but there's chipping all the way allong the edge. Restored with a Washita and a mystery (probably German or UK) slate:
Then noticed this evening that the Mazaki gyuto used last night now also needs some attention. This one was probably my fault too though - I'd thinned it a bit and probably should have re-built the edge slightly thicker, knowing it was going to be somewhat bashed about. And I clearly hadn't completely deburred it properly either, as there was a couple of cm that feel like it's folded.
Going again on a Washita, this time an old Pike Lily White:
Going again on a Washita, this time an old Pike Lily White:
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The SG2k was my first water stone and I love it. I skipped right over the 1k and now have a 500, 2k, and 4k. All excellent but the 2k really is my go-to kitchen finisher for most of my knives.
Does polishing count as sharpening? I mean, I guess I did touch up the edge in the process..
Quick patina removal and working kasumi on soft Hideriyama with hard suita slurry. I suspect not much suita made it into the mud, mostly soft base stone. As such the resulting edge was decent, good bite remains but could stand to be keener. These softer stones make touch ups pretty satisfying, refreshes the toothiness nicely and fun to use.
Quick patina removal and working kasumi on soft Hideriyama with hard suita slurry. I suspect not much suita made it into the mud, mostly soft base stone. As such the resulting edge was decent, good bite remains but could stand to be keener. These softer stones make touch ups pretty satisfying, refreshes the toothiness nicely and fun to use.
Tsunehisa Ginsan nakiri getting some Shapton Glass 4000 love.
Tonight’s lineup and victim - yellow monosteel higo vs low grade amakusa, binsui, mystery medium asagi, and mystery iromono vintage razor stone as a finisher. Gonna try that “deep gouges under kasumi” finish a la mazaki
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Some if my sharpening in the last couple of days...
Two SRs on a little old Norton translucent, that I steamed the label off so I could have one side burnished and the other rough:
And doing some coarser work on a knife I made myself, plus sharpening a sloyd knife and meuchi spike which I use for woodworking. Turkish Oilstone, dunno but it's stupidly hard and fine, Medium India, Shapton Pro 12k:
That was the first time I'd used that particular India stone in earnest, and feck me is it good! Seems faster than comparable level SiC stones, while finishing finer. I used it for thinning, bevel set, and sharpening, and got here in about 5 mins. Really superb stone:
Two SRs on a little old Norton translucent, that I steamed the label off so I could have one side burnished and the other rough:
And doing some coarser work on a knife I made myself, plus sharpening a sloyd knife and meuchi spike which I use for woodworking. Turkish Oilstone, dunno but it's stupidly hard and fine, Medium India, Shapton Pro 12k:
That was the first time I'd used that particular India stone in earnest, and feck me is it good! Seems faster than comparable level SiC stones, while finishing finer. I used it for thinning, bevel set, and sharpening, and got here in about 5 mins. Really superb stone:
Update - f this bs, NP400. Man my coarse jnat selection is 
Thanks! Only the last 2 are worth anything, truth be told. The asagi is around 7-9k finish depending on the prep? It’s deceptively fine for the feel, and the edges are on the crispy side for a less than hard stone.
Also you have an incredible variety of stones. And things to sharpen.
@refcast yeah! It’s dental plaster, works pretty good.
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Interesting! I also have a 'mystery Asagi' though it might be a little finer/harder than yours; it's a bit too hard for nice polishing on cladding, I use it as a razor finisher to good effect. Your description of yours acting finer than it feels is similar though; it's quite a nice silken-feeling stone for something quite hard and fine
And cheers! Yes, I do have quite a lot of stones... 'too many' according to my wife. Though I justify it, at least to myself, because it's part of what I do for work - not all of the knives in my pics above are mine.
I do like to collect and try out quite a wide variety of stones. Good jnats are very nice, especially for polishing, but there are quite a few other things out there are markedly better for sharpening (imo), and seem to get no attention here at all. In particular; old Washitas and Turkish are exceptional stones, which I use all the time, at least as much as synthetics.
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You've inspired me though to crack out my own cheap Binsui for a bit of bevel and polishing work on a couple of things later. On the left here, along with a natural Coticule/BBW combo (both surprsingly good for polishing) , and an old jnat from Iyo. Knives are a Mazaki petty, and a small-ish yanagi that I restored:
And if it doesn't work out - I'll probably follow your lead and go back down to a SG500!
Forgive a shoddy nighttime picture but Belgian Blue Whetstone is rapidly becoming my favourite mid-grit polishing stone:
The one used for that is quite a coarse BBW, so the core steel isn't all that bright - I'll use another stone after. But the cladding is just lovely, even, and with a very light scratch pattern.
The one used for that is quite a coarse BBW, so the core steel isn't all that bright - I'll use another stone after. But the cladding is just lovely, even, and with a very light scratch pattern.
Interesting! I also have a 'mystery Asagi' though it might be a little finer/harder than yours; it's a bit too hard for nice polishing on cladding, I use it as a razor finisher to good effect. Your description of yours acting finer than it feels is similar though; it's quite a nice silken-feeling stone for something quite hard and fine
View attachment 148436
And cheers! Yes, I do have quite a lot of stones... 'too many' according to my wife. Though I justify it, at least to myself, because it's part of what I do for work - not all of the knives in my pics above are mine.
I do like to collect and try out quite a wide variety of stones. Good jnats are very nice, especially for polishing, but there are quite a few other things out there are markedly better for sharpening (imo), and seem to get no attention here at all. In particular; old Washitas and Turkish are exceptional stones, which I use all the time, at least as much as synthetics.
---
You've inspired me though to crack out my own cheap Binsui for a bit of bevel and polishing work on a couple of things later. On the left here, along with a natural Coticule/BBW combo (both surprsingly good for polishing) , and an old jnat from Iyo. Knives are a Mazaki petty, and a small-ish yanagi that I restored:
View attachment 148437
And if it doesn't work out - I'll probably follow your lead and go back down to a SG500!
That asagi was my gateway jnat, an eye opener in terms of how they behave vs synthetics. Comparatively much trickier for polishing, but versatile and intriguing on edges. I do like the feedback from natural stones overall. I’d love to expand my collection, but my main downfall is not spending enough time with each stone learning the nuances. I will live vicariously through those such as yourself for the time being
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The jnat progression didn’t even get off the ground, the amakusa barely fogged up the steel - just didn’t have the cutting power. Great learning point in that I’ve never actually experienced how different steels behave on the same stone. Iron cladding feels like mush compared to SK monosteel. Ended up going Naniwa synthetic from 400 to 12000 going for mirror finish. Another interesting thing is how hugely difficult perfect mirror polish is.
Better luck next time
.Edge work coming up next.
edit: my apologies for being so wildly off topic. Please let me know if I’m clogging up the thread with my ramblings!
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That asagi was my gateway jnat, an eye opener in terms of how they behave vs synthetics. Comparatively much trickier for polishing, but versatile and intriguing on edges. I do like the feedback from natural stones overall. I’d love to expand my collection, but my main downfall is not spending enough time with each stone learning the nuances. I will live vicariously through those such as yourself for the time being
View attachment 148534
The jnat progression didn’t even get off the ground, the amakusa barely fogged up the steel - just didn’t have the cutting power. Great learning point in that I’ve never actually experienced how different steels behave on the same stone. Iron cladding feels like mush compared to SK monosteel. Ended up going Naniwa synthetic from 400 to 12000 going for mirror finish. Another interesting thing is how hugely difficult perfect mirror polish is. View attachment 148536
Better luck next time
Edge work coming up next.
edit: my apologies for being so wildly off topic. Please let me know if I’m clogging up the thread with my ramblings!
Not at all - I think you're entirely on topic! My Asagi also has something about the feel, that's a bit tricky to describe but just distinctly jnat-y...
When I got it originally ($25 Aus off ebay) I had no idea what it was. A jnat wasn't even on my radar, as I thought it so vanishingly unlikely for a cheap ebay stone, which someone had picked up from and old bloke who'd had it since he was a carpenter in the 50s. When wet it's more green-blue-grey the pic above, and I was thinking perhaps some kind of very light coloured Idwal.
But as soon as I tried it out it out I realised it had to be Japanese. The next thing I immediately realised that the thin white layer I'd lapped off the bottom wasn't old glue - it was sealing it. So I had to re-do that. Duh! Still... a very welcome, and somewhat improbable find
.Decided to finish the polish of the little yanagiba from yesterday using just BBWs. The larger one on the right is another one naturally bonded to a BBW, which is a bit too hard and abrasive for a nice finish (though is an excellent sharpening stone). The smaller is probably the softest and slowest of the three:
That was the final stone I used in my all-BBW kasumi progression, and I'm pretty happy with it tbh. It's not quite mirror on the core, but there's some nice contrast I think, and the scratch pattern is almost invisible.
That was the final stone I used in my all-BBW kasumi progression, and I'm pretty happy with it tbh. It's not quite mirror on the core, but there's some nice contrast I think, and the scratch pattern is almost invisible.
Another episode of Fixing Knives My Wife Has Been Using...
This time involving my very, very thin new-stone-testing-knife. Which is absolutely fine to be used for most food, but what it is *not* is a crusty-sourdough-breadknife. Particularly the kind that gets left wet on the draining board after:
Did it up on the stone in the middle here. Which is one I made from a piece of local slate I found. It polishes rather nicely too I think.
This time involving my very, very thin new-stone-testing-knife. Which is absolutely fine to be used for most food, but what it is *not* is a crusty-sourdough-breadknife. Particularly the kind that gets left wet on the draining board after:
Did it up on the stone in the middle here. Which is one I made from a piece of local slate I found. It polishes rather nicely too I think.
Touching up a Kono MM
Tonight’s load.
That's a lotta finger guards!
What stones do you use for this kind of knife?
It varies. Today, I used Chosera 400 and 800.
I also started on the 2x72: ground down all finger guards that needed attention, fixed a couple tips, and did a few passes on a 120 grit belt on knives that looked like the edges were chipped or too thick. No more wailing on super coarse stones for this kind of work.
Only did the ones on the kitchen towel tonight. My wife apparently wanted my company, so the other knives must wait.
BillHanna
Gotta get ready for ARM
Two Mercers are in the mail.
I keep getting out my Shibata Tinker Tank and CCK 2204 when doing other knives, and then putting them off because they're both fearsomely difficult to sharpen.
But we have friends over for BBQ tomorrow, so I will get round to it this afternoon. As a 'Pom' I have learnt it is imperative to both impress, and instill fear, in the locals at such an occasion. Otherwise there will be extensive grumblings about how it's "not a sausage sizzle". It also allows them to make their favourite Crocodile Dundee joke ad nauseum, which seems to placate them somewhat.
TT only needs a touch up and will go on the Pike Lily White at the bottom. CCK on the Medium India* at the top, then maybe the coarse Washita in the middle after.
* One of the world's great sharpening stones. Was part of a job lot and I only started using it recently - a spectacularly good stone, at 240 JIS I believe.
But we have friends over for BBQ tomorrow, so I will get round to it this afternoon. As a 'Pom' I have learnt it is imperative to both impress, and instill fear, in the locals at such an occasion. Otherwise there will be extensive grumblings about how it's "not a sausage sizzle". It also allows them to make their favourite Crocodile Dundee joke ad nauseum, which seems to placate them somewhat.
TT only needs a touch up and will go on the Pike Lily White at the bottom. CCK on the Medium India* at the top, then maybe the coarse Washita in the middle after.
* One of the world's great sharpening stones. Was part of a job lot and I only started using it recently - a spectacularly good stone, at 240 JIS I believe.
