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I'm having the devil's own time working on this knife; talk about being defeated by a knife, but this one needs its own thread.
So I got a Hakata bocho in Blue 2 from S___e Knives To Go. (First mistake) It looked really wicked! It sounded really good! It seemed pretty sharp right out of the box! I gave it a very cursory inspection and started using it straight away (second mistake). I can't remember if I gave it a full sharpening before or after this incident, but an unnoticed dull, recurved section (discovered after the fact while inspecting it like I should have in the first place) bounced off a bread crust and cut my finger pretty nastily in the middle of the Saturday rush. It looked like something that could be fixed with a full sharpening from coarse on up, so I did that, tried to profile it out, thinned, and now I find myself chasing my tail. By the time I realized it was a problem more advanced than my current knowledge and ability I had done enough grinding to make returning it probably impossible as it would be difficult to prove that it was defective in the first place rather than wrecked by my modification. (Third mistake)
Here's where I'm at: every time I try to profile, thin, and sharpen, I end up with one of two things -- either the edge has a hole in it, the same recurve in the same place with a low spot about a quarter inch tipward of the heel and a high spot in front of that, or it sits perfectly flat on the board for the handleward 3 inches or so like a nakiri, which is not what I want. It should have a smooth curve, something like the profile of a CCK 1303 - flattish but not clunk-stop-flat - through that portion. It sounded like an overgrind, but I've flattened the bevels completely and it doesn't look like there's a hollow spot unless it's right behind the edge and I'm just not seeing it. I've now done this enough times that I've lost significant height and figured out that I should have stopped and asked for directions a few cycles ago (fourth mistake).
I've profiled out all kinds of chips and recurves on a few dozen knives and not had this problem; I've tried every trick in *my* book, using the narrow side of the stone, grinding at 45* angle to set the profile, breadknifing on a diamond plate, I'm out of ideas. I thought about sending it to someone like Jon or Dave but a) I don't want to spend any more money on this one and b) I'd rather use it to learn something. It seems like a belt grinder might be the best tool for the job but I don't have one. This might be relevant: at least once it's looked like I had the profile right after coarse grinding but then after bevel setting and sharpening it's back to either flat or recurved. At this point it's almost certainly something I'm doing.
Anyone with more tricks and a better book have some ideas, other than don't buy a knife nobody else sells from a smith nobody seems to know anything about from that b_____d even if it looks cool and sounds cool at a seemingly good price and it ships fast, like everyone on the forum has always said from the beginning?
/vent
Thanks
So I got a Hakata bocho in Blue 2 from S___e Knives To Go. (First mistake) It looked really wicked! It sounded really good! It seemed pretty sharp right out of the box! I gave it a very cursory inspection and started using it straight away (second mistake). I can't remember if I gave it a full sharpening before or after this incident, but an unnoticed dull, recurved section (discovered after the fact while inspecting it like I should have in the first place) bounced off a bread crust and cut my finger pretty nastily in the middle of the Saturday rush. It looked like something that could be fixed with a full sharpening from coarse on up, so I did that, tried to profile it out, thinned, and now I find myself chasing my tail. By the time I realized it was a problem more advanced than my current knowledge and ability I had done enough grinding to make returning it probably impossible as it would be difficult to prove that it was defective in the first place rather than wrecked by my modification. (Third mistake)
Here's where I'm at: every time I try to profile, thin, and sharpen, I end up with one of two things -- either the edge has a hole in it, the same recurve in the same place with a low spot about a quarter inch tipward of the heel and a high spot in front of that, or it sits perfectly flat on the board for the handleward 3 inches or so like a nakiri, which is not what I want. It should have a smooth curve, something like the profile of a CCK 1303 - flattish but not clunk-stop-flat - through that portion. It sounded like an overgrind, but I've flattened the bevels completely and it doesn't look like there's a hollow spot unless it's right behind the edge and I'm just not seeing it. I've now done this enough times that I've lost significant height and figured out that I should have stopped and asked for directions a few cycles ago (fourth mistake).
I've profiled out all kinds of chips and recurves on a few dozen knives and not had this problem; I've tried every trick in *my* book, using the narrow side of the stone, grinding at 45* angle to set the profile, breadknifing on a diamond plate, I'm out of ideas. I thought about sending it to someone like Jon or Dave but a) I don't want to spend any more money on this one and b) I'd rather use it to learn something. It seems like a belt grinder might be the best tool for the job but I don't have one. This might be relevant: at least once it's looked like I had the profile right after coarse grinding but then after bevel setting and sharpening it's back to either flat or recurved. At this point it's almost certainly something I'm doing.
Anyone with more tricks and a better book have some ideas, other than don't buy a knife nobody else sells from a smith nobody seems to know anything about from that b_____d even if it looks cool and sounds cool at a seemingly good price and it ships fast, like everyone on the forum has always said from the beginning?
/vent
Thanks