When I first got into J knives and sharpening, I headed to White No1 and very high grit finishes, sometimes created with lapping film over 50K. These edges would cut with barely any cut feel, only the feel of the drag of the blade. It was kind of cool to see knives drop through things with only their own weight and no back and forth movement.
Over time this changed to a preference for steels like AS, Blue No2 and 52100 with grits drooping to 16K, then 8K, then 6K, 4K, 2K, and finally settling out at 3K to 4K. I'm pretty grass is greener so I'm always trying things, hybrid edges, new stones etc, but at the end of the day, I keep coming back to the 3K 4K range.
Have any of you guys had similar experiences? Where you ended up dropping down in finish levels?
For me it was about cut feel. Much below 2K and it feels like a saw. As I go above 4K the tactile feel keep reducing to a point where there is no noticeable cut feel and the feel becomes dominated by the blade finish. I'm definitely finding 3K to 4K to be the sweet spot. There is also the aspect of mouth feel of things cut with different grits as well, and in that, I tend to prefer a little higher, in the 6K to 8K range, but 3K is still pretty nice so.....
Then there is the blade finish and feel.
For me 600 to 800 Rhynowet is where its at. I know that's not very Japanese and not very Kasumi but its feels lively in the cut and sexy af in finger feel. Kind of warm, soft and creamy. Really plays well with the feel of the 3K 4K edge.
Speaking of Kasumi. Done well, it looks pretty cool but I'm not a fan of how it feels. To use an audio term, it feels like how I would imagine white noise to feel. Between that and its feel in the cut, draggy below 3K, bland after, and I just don't find it adds in a positive way to the cutting experience. Looks on some knives? Definitely. Feel, nope.
What's your preferences?
Then of course there is blade geometry, steels, cladding vs mono, cladding materials, balance, weight, but that's for another day
Over time this changed to a preference for steels like AS, Blue No2 and 52100 with grits drooping to 16K, then 8K, then 6K, 4K, 2K, and finally settling out at 3K to 4K. I'm pretty grass is greener so I'm always trying things, hybrid edges, new stones etc, but at the end of the day, I keep coming back to the 3K 4K range.
Have any of you guys had similar experiences? Where you ended up dropping down in finish levels?
For me it was about cut feel. Much below 2K and it feels like a saw. As I go above 4K the tactile feel keep reducing to a point where there is no noticeable cut feel and the feel becomes dominated by the blade finish. I'm definitely finding 3K to 4K to be the sweet spot. There is also the aspect of mouth feel of things cut with different grits as well, and in that, I tend to prefer a little higher, in the 6K to 8K range, but 3K is still pretty nice so.....
Then there is the blade finish and feel.
For me 600 to 800 Rhynowet is where its at. I know that's not very Japanese and not very Kasumi but its feels lively in the cut and sexy af in finger feel. Kind of warm, soft and creamy. Really plays well with the feel of the 3K 4K edge.
Speaking of Kasumi. Done well, it looks pretty cool but I'm not a fan of how it feels. To use an audio term, it feels like how I would imagine white noise to feel. Between that and its feel in the cut, draggy below 3K, bland after, and I just don't find it adds in a positive way to the cutting experience. Looks on some knives? Definitely. Feel, nope.
What's your preferences?
Then of course there is blade geometry, steels, cladding vs mono, cladding materials, balance, weight, but that's for another day
