Hamaguri technique help!

[Garner Harrison]

Hello guys, just me again asking for some help. On a previous thread I was enlightened on the ways of the Hamaguri sharpening technique and watched Jon's video from JKI and began my journey.

So this is my first attempt at it with my completely stainless knife, which I later regret...

This is what I was going for, since I didnt think I could do a stronger Hamaguri grind as I already had spent nearly 10 hours flattening the bevels before attempting this and thats why there is a extra bevel towards the blade edge. The tiny bevel on the edge is just a super light microbevel, a few swipes on my 6k stone and newspaper. Damned stainless steel!

Now, after I attempted that grind profile I chopped up various hard veg to see if I succeeded and now I ask you, judging off those pictures did my attempt work? Cause I can see the food releasing before hitting the shinogi line which I think means it worked.

 

[M1k3]

Looks like it to me. I test on soaked, cold potatoes. I can definitely tell if I screwed up on the left side. The potato will just suction on to the blade face. The right side if the potato doesn't stay put.

How does it feel now compared to before?

 

[Garner Harrison]

I tried chopping through some cold wet potatoes like you said you do, and when I sliced it up around 3-5mm thick it didn't stick at all to the blade. Attempting to slice thinner and it sticks but comes off the blade easily when pushed off.

The feeling of actually cutting through stuff is worlds apart from before, from when the bevel was flat compared to now. Before it felt like the blade was getting dragged through the food with lots of friction between the blade and veg. Now, feels like it flies through the veg without that dragging feeling.

The hamaguri bevel is on there I think, just need a bit more time getting a little more prominent on the blade.

Also thanks for the advice of thinking of these knives more like tools and not getting crazy attached to the aesthetic, made it much easier to give up out of laziness on flattening the bevels on this knife

 

[M1k3]

As long as you are getting some angling/curving of the blade face, it'll reduce the contact area on the food, reducing friction.

 

[M1k3]

Once you got it to just about where you want it, every time you sharpen, not just touch up, hit the sides about the same amount you hit the edge. It'll help maintain it without having to do long thinning sessions. Maintenance thinning.

 

[Garner Harrison]

Thanks for the help again, upon writing this I think I figured out my blade isn't straight with the handle so there's that problem to fix now

The easier sharpening maintenance is a big reason why I wanted to do this technique as heavy thinning doesn't sound like much fun free handing. Really happy hamaguri sharpening was brought up to me as I really enjoy its effect. A quick question on microbevels, is a few swipes enough? On a hard, high grit stone. Cause i'd really want to avoid chipping.

 

[refcast]

If the blade bends left or right from the handle you can bend it at the knife neck. . . rotation is a different issue

 

[Garner Harrison]

Its more like it tilts out of the handle at an angle, and its glued in not centred, more to the left. I think it comes down to buying it from a vendor who didn't really do a great handling job on it as when I received it, I had to scrap away excess glue. Might try re-handling it later, been meaning to make my own handles

 

[JDC]

I think testing on produces with different sizes and different textures may help to achieve an overall great grind. Based on my observations, a flat section starting from the spine + a long tapering bevel + a slightly steeper bevel from ~1cm before the edge will result in decent performances.

 

[Garner Harrison]

Yeah, the profile I was trying to achieve was inspired by a certain thread where I read about the "hook grind", I think its called that anyways.

 

[M1k3]

You only need 2-3 swipes to create a micro-bevel. The lighter and more even the pressure, the better.

 

[SeattleBen]

Think of a microbevel as not much more than a hair’s width.​

 

[M1k3]

@Garner Harrison you can also use this method