Greetings from Sydney!

[Hoppy]

Hey Guys,

hello from Sydney, Australia.

Been a long time lurker here but finally joined properly.

Been into Japanese knives for about 2 years and recently started really focussing on my sharpening too.

Looking forward to posting shortly!

Cheers,

 

[Matus]

Welcome to the forums

 

[Nemo]

Welcome to the forums, Hop.

Is your name a reference to kangaroos?

Which knives do you have so far? Any stones yet?

 

[Luftmensch]

Hi there @Hoppy,

Welcome! There are quite a few Aussies here - and some from NSW.

Tell us a little about your knives and sharpening?

 

[kevpenbanc]

There's a few here from Sydney too.
Welcome mate.

 

[Hoppy]

Hey guys and thank you. Yeah I guessed a few Aussie would be on here too.

I’m not a chef by trade but just a big foodie.

So far my knife collection consists of :

Takeda Sasanoha 210mm AS
Takeda Gyuto 270mm AS
Takeda Nikiri 180mm AS
CCK BBQ Chopper 235mm
An old Wustof Santoku 180mm

And the new addition to the family last week...a new Mazaki 150mm Petty in White #2

On the stones side I’ve got :

Chosera 400, 1000, 3000, 5000
Superstone: 10,000

Will probably fill the obvious knife gap with a 240mm Mazaki too eventually and then maybe a Suji.

I’m just sharpening my own knives and that of family and friends as a hobby. I find it very therapeutic and helpful. I’m really looking to improve in this area.

I’m a leftie and yet to reach shaving sharp level.

out of interest... how many posts do I need before I can post on the main forums?

Thanks for being so welcoming too.

 

[crocca86]

Welcome mate!!

 

[Nemo]

You've got a bit of a Takeda library there, Hops.

You should now be able to post in any forum except BST. To do that, you will need 50 on topic, relevent posts.

 

[rob]

Welcome Hops.

 

[Luftmensch]

out of interest... how many posts do I need before I can post on the main forums?

Mmmmm.... hhhmmm.... hhhrrrmmm.... mmmm.... Listen to @Nemo you must. And post you shall....

(ok... pretty lame in text - thought I'd try anyway)


You have a pretty good collection of knives and stones there! Nice! I am a chosera fan - they'll get you to shaving sharp. You'll manage that soon enough! How long have you been at it?

Out of curiosity, just how much of a lefty are you? Are you relatively ambidextrous?

 

[Marek07]

G'day and welcome.

Personally, I think the Choseras can get you to very good edges. Just need a bit of practice. Shouldn't be too hard find some time for sharpening during the lockdown.

 

[Qapla']

Welcome.

I’m a leftie and yet to reach shaving sharp level.

Japanese makers/vendors often right-bias the entire blade. Have you considered any Aussie-made knives?

 

[Hoppy]

Hi and thanks

I’ve sharpening and looked through many YouTube clips over the past year trying to learn from as many as possible. Sharpening about 20 months.

Im a leftie but also play golf and cricket right handed. Snooker/pool I play left handed. I’m on the cusp of almost true ambidextrous like many lefties I guess. Leftie preferred lol.

I think where I differ is my sharpening is mainly done left handed with edge leading and then flipped over and left handed edge trailing. Is this normal or substandard? I’m working on using various pressure levels too through the sharpening stages. Edge leading feels more natural to me.

I also struggle to see or feel a burr. Not sure if this is poor technique, lack of patience or my AS steel. Regardless I can get my knives 7.5/10 sharp but not as sharp as I’d like to. No stropping done at present.

Interestingly I was reading an article where Peter Nowlan had his Takeda’s virtually flat on the stone due to no bevel. Not tried this yet but will try it.

issues I’m working on is struggling where the spot of the profile of the knife moves up towards the tip ( the bend) and I can’t quite hit that spot on the Knife profile. Also resharpening dull tips is a real struggle.

my fave stones are the Chosera 400,1000 and 3000.

Also looking at a 220 grit stone for the collection (Prob Shapton glass\pro) and selling the super stone.

Friends knives sharpen I get I would find unusable due to bluntness. These are not Japanese high carbon knives. Most likely Globals or Henckels.

Any obvious tips/failings? Thanks.

 

[Nemo]

I mainly use Choras and I like them. Good feedback and reasonably fast. Some people have had prolems with cracking. I never have. I'm not sure whether it's because I sealed them.

For Western stainless, I get good results on the 400, using the 1000 only for deburring. This steel is too coarsely grained to sustain a more polished edge.

 

[J.C]

Welcome mate

Pretty good line up you have there

I am using choseras as my go-to sharpening stone, they are fast and reliable.
For carbon knives, i go two step further, 6k and polishing stone (aiwatani or uchi)
I would recommend you to get a leather stropper, you can get one from chefsarmoury for aud $80 and that can last you for years (and the size of the strop is XXL which is nice for longer/ wider knives)

 

[Luftmensch]

Im a leftie but also play golf and cricket right handed. Snooker/pool I play left handed. I’m on the cusp of almost true ambidextrous like many lefties I guess. Leftie preferred lol.

Interesting! I think lefties tend to be more ambidextrous than their rightie-oppressors. After all... it is a right handed world...

I think where I differ is my sharpening is mainly done left handed with edge leading and then flipped over and left handed edge trailing. Is this normal or substandard? I’m working on using various pressure levels too through the sharpening stages. Edge leading feels more natural to me.

I mix it up. I do both edge leading and edge trailing - but always symmetric (same for the left side as the right). It depends on the grip and pressure I choose. I would say that I predominantly do edge leading except for the last stage on a higher grit stone where I am essentially stropping (edge trailing). If I am thinning it is edge trailing.

'Normal' isnt absolute. You can get to a sharp edge lots of different ways! So long as you are able to get the results you want, you are doing fine. Consistency is key! If your method allows you to be repeatable, keep at it. If it is variable, consider a different approach.

I also struggle to see or feel a burr. Not sure if this is poor technique, lack of patience or my AS steel. Regardless I can get my knives 7.5/10 sharp but not as sharp as I’d like to.

AS is wear resistant. It may be a little tougher than other steels to raise a bur but you should be able to get there. Have you used the permanent marker trick? That can be a good method for debugging your strokes. If you are happy with your technique and control, try increase the pressure on the lower grits.

No stropping done at present.

You can see if stropping would help your edges. You can try on newspaper first to see if it is something that would help. If it does and you enjoy it, you can think about investing in a strop. I don't feel stropping is necessary for cooking knives (sometimes I do a mild version on a dish towel just to clean the edge). But each to their own!

 

[Hoppy]

Thanks. Looking to sell my 10,000 Super stone and get a Snow White. I have a strong preference for my coarse stone the 400 and considering a 220 stone... prob Shapton pro/glass.
I see a lot of nano cloth and kangaroo strop out in Aus. Don’t want to go down the never ending path of micro pastes etc. would prefer to fill my 240mm gap.

who would be a decent supplier at this size? Need something with a bit of grunt so was reading about the Mazaki which is where my head is right now. Thoughts?

 

[Marek07]

Selling the 10k SS could be a good idea. Getting a Naniwa Junpaku (Snow White) would not be a good idea IMO. There are many better stones out there - Kitayama 8k and Arashiyama 6k come to mind.

If you're really set on the Junpaku, I could lend you mine. Might just dissuade you from getting one.

 

[Qapla']

From what I read here, you might also sell the Chosera 5000.

 

[Hoppy]

Thanks I hadn’t looked at the Kitayama but will def do so.

yeah there is def a bit of overlap there I agree but I just checked my SS and it’s a 12k after all not a 10k.

It was purchased very early when I thought I needed a stone that high to get super polished that were also sharp edges and as I thought a 3000 to 12000 jump was too big so I bought the 5000. (Not that I always went that high).

 

[Qapla']

Thanks I hadn’t looked at the Kitayama but will def do so.

yeah there is def a bit of overlap there I agree but I just checked my SS and it’s a 12k after all not a 10k.

It was purchased very early when I thought I needed a stone that high to get super sharp edges and as I thought a 3000 to 12000 jump was too big so I bought the 5000. (Not that I always went that high).

The matter with the Chosera 5000 isn't that it's too high a grit, but that it's considered one of the weakest choices in that line and therefore an expensive and poor value. I can't tell you directly since I never had one, though.

 

[Hoppy]

Yeah I would say the feel of the 5000 is definitely different to the other Choseras. It feels very very hard to me and doesn’t give me much feedback.

The 3000 I absolutely love though but the 3000 and 5000 are like polar opposites.

which stones are considered the best at 5000?

 

[rob]

From what I have used I would suggest Suehiro Rika 5000 and follow up with Kiayama 8000.

 

[Qapla']

which stones are considered the best at 5000?

There are many possible answers to this question. I'll leave it to the forum to answer further.

Since you're considering buying an 8k stone, then you can also consider not answering that question at all, and simply going from your 3k to your 8k of choice (that's what I do, but I'm no expert on this matter). It really depends on what you're sharpening and how you want to set up your progression.

 

[Nemo]

You don't need anything finer than the Chosera 3k for kitchen use. This produces a circa 4K JIS edge which is at the upper end of what most people here would recommend.

If you really want to go finer, the jump from Chosera 3k to Kitayama 8k is not in any way "too large", at least in a kitchen knife.

 

[Luftmensch]

Yeah I would say the feel of the 5000 is definitely different to the other Choseras. It feels very very hard to me and doesn’t give me much feedback.

I have never used the 5K but it sounds similar to the 8k snow white (SW) from your description. The SW is a hard and slick stone - not the most pleasant feedback. I think it feels a bit gummy as it loads up. I don't quite recall, I barely use it anymore! I certainly remember it doesnt feel like the 3K (nor should it, it is not part of the Chosera line)! It isn't a bad stone. I doubt the 5K is either. You just might be able to find a hardness and feedback that better suit your tastes.

If you didn't have the 5k and 12k I might recommend the SW for deburring and making micro-bevels. I think it could work quite nicely in that space - it certainly leaves a nice bright polish if that is what you are chasing!

As a side note, this community judges stones by their suitability for kitchen knives (for obvious reason!). These abrasives companies manufacture stones for different purposes. I think the snow white was developed for tool use (not kitchen knives): it is very hard and cuts quickly.

 

[Hoppy]

Thanks for that. Had no idea they were made for tools. I knew there were different feels, wear rates and materials etc.

I think I’m gonna need a bigger storage tub for my stones. I gather that’s a common issue on here!

I did a shave today with my feather Kamisori. Started checking out the Iwasakis online afterwards. They really are a piece of stunning workmanship too.

 

[Luftmensch]

Started checking out the Iwasakis online afterwards. They really are a piece of stunning workmanship too.

Beautiful things. I am sure you have stumbled upon the dedicated shaving forums already? There are a few posts in KKF. There is an (infrequently) active one here.

I learned to sharpen straight razors before kitchen knives. From that, I have a set of naniwa superstones for the razors. They are very soft stones. You could easily gouge them with a kitchen knife and bad stroke. You get a nice highly polished edge in a small number of strokes, without much pressure. This is great for hard razor steel where you only need to remove a small surface area of metal. The downside is they do load up and dish quite quickly. The choseras are harder but they appear to release abrasives more quickly. This allows them to cut a little longer without needing refreshing. This is more useful for kitchen knives where you need to work on a larger surface area of metal (in small parts). They also form more slurry and produce a kasumi/hazy finish. Again, they will dish over time. The snow white is a different beast. It is like a very hard super stone - it polishes quickly and leaves a bright finish. Because it is hard, it dishes very slowly. That makes it good for plane blades where you need to remove a large surface area of metal and want the stone to be as flat as possible!

I am sure Naniwa did design these stones with different target markets in mind. But at the end of the day, they are all just abrasives in a binder. You can use any of them for any sharpening application! You may just find that one combination of hardness, grit release and speed suit your preferences/application better!