Just Another Dam Project - Pass HHT on your kitchen knife

[Doug]

Bess edge yet. Thought I’d give this a try since I’ve only achieved hair whittling edges. Was able to get a hair popping edge. Jki permasoaked 2000, 6000, coticule and stropped on kangaroo leather.

 

[stringer]

So I used my "scary little cleaver", as my wife has dubbed it, for all dinner prep since I sharpened it. Including splitting chicken carcasses and chopping hard squash and butchering pork loins. The edge is still pretty good. Starting to get a little hesitant on the push cut. Definitely past the point where I would normally do some sort of strop or touchup. It has been fun but I'm ready to put it to a rest for awhile and go back to my gyutos.

Two last videos for fun.

Pineapple salsa and cabbage slaw

 

[Blank Blades.]

So I used my "scary little cleaver", as my wife has dubbed it, for all dinner prep since I sharpened it. Including splitting chicken carcasses and chopping hard squash and butchering pork loins. The edge is still pretty good. Starting to get a little hesitant on the push cut. Definitely past the point where I would normally do some sort of strop or touchup. It has been fun but I'm ready to put it to a rest for awhile and go back to my gyutos.

Two last videos for fun.

Pineapple salsa and cabbage slaw

These were so satisfying to watch for some reason.

Edit: I like a bit more onion in my pico de gallo. Especially if I'm doing mango, or pineapple pico to balance it. to each there own though.

 

[cotedupy]

So earlier this evening my wife picked up our Blenheim Forge Nakiri and started hacking into a piece of frozen beef... "This one's alright to use for this, yeah?"

Luckily I shouted quickly and loudly enough that no actual damage was done, in fact it was still reasonably sharp (I'd sharpened it on a slate a couple of days previously). So I thought I'd give a go on my posh Maruoyama to tidy it up. Seemed pretty good after a couple of mins, so I thought I'd try the hair thing... And it worked! Afraid I only have pictorial rather than video evidence:

 

[big_adventure]

So earlier this evening my wife picked up our Blenheim Forge Nakiri and started hacking into a piece of frozen beef... "This one's alright to use for this, yeah?"

Luckily I shouted quickly and loudly enough that no actual damage was done, in fact it was still reasonably sharp (I'd sharpened it on a slate a couple of days previously). So I thought I'd give a go on my posh Maruoyama to tidy it up. Seemed pretty good after a couple of mins, so I thought I'd try the hair thing... And it worked! Afraid I only have pictorial rather than video evidence:

View attachment 116881

Nice work on both the save and the sharpen! Quel succès !

 

[cotedupy]

Nice work on both the save and the sharpen! Quel succès !

Merci!

 

[Blank Blades.]

I've been getting quite good results lately, and I feel I can thank this thread for it. One thing I will add though. Is I did this with stropping with green compound following all of these stones.

HHT following the dmt coarse (about 325 grit)

HHT following the dmt fine (if I had to guess about 600 grit)

And just now after the green brick if joy. It was violining after the stone, and would split, and cut hairs after stropping

 

[Kawa]

February the 151th: finally succeeded

I was close with my own knives for a while. My chesthair catched into the edge and when i pulled or dragged a bit, the hair would split or cut in half. So not really a hht.

Today I sharpenend my newest knife for the first time, Yoshikane bunka in shirogami2 steel. Bester 1200 -> Kitayama 8000 -> stropped on firm leather with 0,5 micron spray. My chesthair popped easily when hitting the edge. I borrowed some hair of the couch from my wife (much thinner then my own chesthair) and these do also cut when I hit the edge with a little tap.


I've been focussing much more on proper deburring lately. It took me a while to stop ruining edges when doing an edge leading stroke from heel to tip in one complete motion (I sharpen in sections like most of us do, not in a complete motion). Using a flashlight (put the light on the spine, aimed towards the edge) to shine on the edge showed me the edge wasnt always clean, even though I couldnt feel burr anymore. You can easily see burr remnants this way, much easier then feeling.

 

[captaincaed]

That's a clever trick, I'm going to give that a try

 

[Kawa]

That's a clever trick, I'm going to give that a try

I've read it around here somewhere, but only once. Most of the tips/suggestions you see more often in muliple threads, but not this one?

Because the light is flat on the side of the knife, the remaining burr will light up like you hit a wall.
It's nice to see that you can have a clean part for like a few cm, then you have a few cm of burr on that side and the rest is clean again. Very much noticable!

 

[Delat]

OMG finally achieved this feat! I was just refreshing the edge on this little petty on an SG4k and figured what the hell (I’d long since given up). Sharpened at my usual 15 dps and stropped on leather with green compound.

 

[cotedupy]

After seeing this thread again this evening I thought I'd give it another go for fun. On the few previous occasions it's worked for me it wasn't top level - I kinda had to drag the hair along the edge a bit til it caught and then cut, not just resting it on and falling apart. So I was trying for that...

No dice.

I concentrated more, and stropped as best I could; a fresh piece of newspaper, hot off the press and flat as a pancake. I was bringing my A-game...

Nada.

I gave up and reverted to stropping how I usually do - on my sleeve...

Bingo! Popping hairs happily. How peculiar.

Is this particular brand of cotton jersey the Holy Grail of edge refinement? Or am I just incredibly bad at regular stropping? Who knows. But cold, hard, objective, empiricism leads me to believe that I am indeed wearing a magic jumper.

 

[captaincaed]

I tried stropping razors on only flat leather for a while, both clean, loaded with 1m diamond and green compound. Nada. Throw a linen strop in first? Magic. I think a little texture helps quite a bit. Feel like I'm reinventing what B&B had known all along. Derp.

 

[Blank Blades.]

I can say this thread really did a lot for my sharpening game. Thanks to this thread, I'm able to pretty reliably get a hair splitting (not popping but still) edge on my dmt fine (about 600 grit) followed by stropping with compound, and semi reliably using clean leather. With compound I've even been able to whittle hair after my dmt coarse, or fine india. Not to mention my king 1200, or other stones in the range (followed by stropping).

I know this thread was intended to get us to straight up pop hairs with a mid grit stone, but I'm pretty content with the hair whittling results I'm getting. If I really want to pop a hair I'll go up to my 4,5, or 8k followed by 1, then .5 micron diamond spray.

 

[cotedupy]

I can say this thread really did a lot for my sharpening game. Thanks to this thread, I'm able to pretty reliably get a hair splitting (not popping but still) edge on my dmt fine (about 600 grit) followed by stropping with compound, and semi reliably using clean leather. With compound I've even been able to whittle hair after my dmt coarse, or fine india. Not to mention my king 1200, or other stones in the range (followed by stropping).

I know this thread was intended to get us to straight up pop hairs with a mid grit stone, but I'm pretty content with the hair whittling results I'm getting. If I really want to pop a hair I'll go up to my 4,5, or 8k followed by 1, then .5 micron diamond spray.

Definitely - leaving aside whether such an edge is actually useful - just the act of trying to get there has certainly given me a greater understanding of geometry, deburring and how stone progressions work .

 

[Desert Rat]

I don't have much in the way of mid grit stones. I keep thinking I will get a synthetic water stone and I find another natural instead.
Going to try a hindostan to washita progression. Probably won't get there but I'm going to try....

 

[cotedupy]

I don't have much in the way of mid grit stones. I keep thinking I will get a synthetic water stone and I find another natural instead.
Going to try a hindostan to washita progression. Probably won't get there but I'm going to try....

I've been using my large Hindostan a bit recently - really nice stone and surprisingly fine - I'd guess around 4k.

I imagine that a harder Washita that's a bit worn in / burnished might work. Mine's a bit softer I think and I tend to keep the surface relatively fresh, but might have to try sometime if you have success. (If you don't then I'm pretty certain there'd be zero hope for my abilities!)

 

[captaincaed]

I can say this thread really did a lot for my sharpening game. Thanks to this thread, I'm able to pretty reliably get a hair splitting (not popping but still) edge on my dmt fine (about 600 grit) followed by stropping with compound, and semi reliably using clean leather. With compound I've even been able to whittle hair after my dmt coarse, or fine india. Not to mention my king 1200, or other stones in the range (followed by stropping).

I know this thread was intended to get us to straight up pop hairs with a mid grit stone, but I'm pretty content with the hair whittling results I'm getting. If I really want to pop a hair I'll go up to my 4,5, or 8k followed by 1, then .5 micron diamond spray.

Amen. This was a little "kick my own butt to improve" project, I'm super happy it's been motivating for you as well.

 

[captaincaed]

Speaking of nattys, I'm going shale hunting in the back woods this weekend. Have no idea what I'm looking for, but I hope to find at least one interesting thing to try.

 

[Desert Rat]

I've been using my large Hindostan a bit recently - really nice stone and surprisingly fine - I'd guess around 4k.

I imagine that a harder Washita that's a bit worn in / burnished might work. Mine's a bit softer I think and I tend to keep the surface relatively fresh, but might have to try sometime if you have success. (If you don't then I'm pretty certain there'd be zero hope for my abilities!)

I tried with three different pocket knifes and didn't get close. I have taken razors to the lower end of a HHT off of a Washita before though so I think it can be done.
You do more knife sharpening than I do so I suspect your better at then me, give it a go.

 

[Blank Blades.]

I don't have much in the way of mid grit stones. I keep thinking I will get a synthetic water stone and I find another natural instead.
Going to try a hindostan to washita progression. Probably won't get there but I'm going to try....

I can say that mid grit, and low grit naturals just don't touch the speed of synthetics. I love my aoto and hard ark, they're great to finish on. I just would hate to have to do any real work with those though.

 

[cotedupy]

I tried with three different pocket knifes and didn't get close. I have taken razors to the lower end of a HHT off of a Washita before though so I think it can be done.
You do more knife sharpening than I do so I suspect your better at then me, give it a go.

Yes, perhaps greater quantity, though I wouldn't guarantee quality . And I certainly don't have as much experience with Washitas! Though it'll be fun to try, will update if I get anywhere...

 

[cotedupy]

I tried with three different pocket knifes and didn't get close. I have taken razors to the lower end of a HHT off of a Washita before though so I think it can be done.
You do more knife sharpening than I do so I suspect your better at then me, give it a go.

My Washita is still out on loan atm, but I did it off a Turkish last night, which finishes pretty similarly.

It felt a bit like cheating though... I was using the same knife as in the picture above, which I had thinned extensively. It was too thin / fine really, so I sharpened a more pronounced secondary/micro bevel into it on a King 1200 and then the Turkish. The issue, which I imagine will be the same with a Washita, is that they leave seemingly quite aggressive edges for something relatively fine, so it took a lot of jumper stropping to get the knife to the stage where it'd cut a hair being pulled across it (not popping immediately anymore). Still I think I probably now have a sturdier edge that will hold up properly in use.

 

[stringer]

My Washita is still out on loan atm, but I did it off a Turkish last night, which finishes pretty similarly.

It felt a bit like cheating though... I was using the same knife as in the picture above, which I had thinned extensively. It was too thin / fine really, so I sharpened a more pronounced secondary/micro bevel into it on a King 1200 and then the Turkish. The issue, which I imagine will be the same with a Washita, is that they leave seemingly quite aggressive edges for something relatively fine, so it took a lot of jumper stropping to get the knife to the stage where it'd cut a hair being pulled across it (not popping immediately anymore). Still I think I probably now have a sturdier edge that will hold up properly in use.

View attachment 136867

I tried my Turkish with some knives. I had really only tried it with razors in the past. And while I wasn't able to split any hairs, I'm much more impressed with the knife edges it creates than the razor edges I remember.

 

[cotedupy]

I tried my Turkish with some knives. I had really only tried it with razors in the past. And while I wasn't able to split any hairs, I'm much more impressed with the knife edges it creates than the razor edges I remember.

View attachment 137140

Ah I remember you saying a while back you didn't think much of it, which surprised me, but makes more sense now. Mine leaves pretty much my favourite edge for a knife of all the things I have. But it'd be much too grabby for a razor. I have another which is a bit slower and finer, but I still wouldn't use for razors I don't think.

(Also strong recommend for using with oil rather than water.)

 

[Desert Rat]

How does the currently mined Turkish compare to the vintage? Anyone have both?

 

[cotedupy]

How does the currently mined Turkish compare to the vintage? Anyone have both?

I do (as of a few days ago). I'm going to do post with a proper in-depth comparison in the next day or two. Want to wait for that, or have a spoiler now...?

 

[Desert Rat]

I do (as of a few days ago). I'm going to do post with a proper in-depth comparison in the next day or two. Want to wait for that, or have a spoiler now...?

I have the patience to wait, never in a hurry for anything these days.

 

[Blank Blades.]

I was just thinking about this thread last night.

I wanted to bring it back up (sorry if people dont want an old thread revived lol). This thread i think helped me push my sharpening more than anything else. And i really thought it could be good for anyone new to take a wack at it. Its a bit maddening at first if you have never tried doing a hht passing edge especially on low to mid grit stones. But its doable.

 

[Desert Rat]

I was just thinking about this thread last night.

I wanted to bring it back up (sorry if people dont want an old thread revived lol). This thread i think helped me push my sharpening more than anything else. And i really thought it could be good for anyone new to take a wack at it. Its a bit maddening at first if you have never tried doing a hht passing edge especially on low to mid grit stones. But its doable.

I'm in for round two. Different stone progressions, different knives.

I'm just now headed out the door going to my daughters for games and drinks. I will get my son in law liquored up and steal some of his hair to use. My wife's hair is just brutal it's so fine, a blonde that is now probably half grey and dyes her hair.