OK, so I've been practicing on some old Ikea and Chicago Cutlery knives using a Naniwa 1000/6000 combo stone, getting my instruction on sharpening primarily online (watching too many vids to recount). In the last couple of days, I worked my way through Murray Carters 2+ hour sharpening basics video and was intrigued by his secondary/primary edge sharpening technique. So I got out my practice knives again, this time along with a Zhen 3-layer VG-10 gyuto.
In the Carter video, it seemed as if he was putting the knife flat on the stone when he was "thinning" the secondary edge. He didn't really put any angle on the knife against the stone until he was sharpening the primary edge.
After doing what I understood as thinning and sharpening these knives (according to my interpretation of his instructions) I was able to slice a tomato's skin with the weight of the knife only (for the most part). However, due I'm sure to an unrefined technique, the blades showed a significant amount of surface that showed the removal of the material. A cosmetic issue not a functional one. Nevertheless, I soldiered on and took my new Kiya virgin carbon petty knife and decided to give it a go for the first time. First time sharpening a carbon steel knife. Wow, what a difference. I was able to get the same level of sharpness with very little effort (and without the cosmetic damage). So I need some feedback on a couple of things...
1. I know that stainless is supposed to be harder to sharpen than carbon, but is the scratching here just a matter of crappy technique?
2. I have a Wakui Tesshu White II Steel Nashiji gyuto on the way. It has a stainless cladding. Would the secondary edge of a knife like this be under the cladding hamon line or would part of the cladding be considered the secondary edge?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks,
Pics below post-sharpening. I think that my technique was pretty close to the same for each knife, but the post sharpening markings look completely different.
In the Carter video, it seemed as if he was putting the knife flat on the stone when he was "thinning" the secondary edge. He didn't really put any angle on the knife against the stone until he was sharpening the primary edge.
After doing what I understood as thinning and sharpening these knives (according to my interpretation of his instructions) I was able to slice a tomato's skin with the weight of the knife only (for the most part). However, due I'm sure to an unrefined technique, the blades showed a significant amount of surface that showed the removal of the material. A cosmetic issue not a functional one. Nevertheless, I soldiered on and took my new Kiya virgin carbon petty knife and decided to give it a go for the first time. First time sharpening a carbon steel knife. Wow, what a difference. I was able to get the same level of sharpness with very little effort (and without the cosmetic damage). So I need some feedback on a couple of things...
1. I know that stainless is supposed to be harder to sharpen than carbon, but is the scratching here just a matter of crappy technique?
2. I have a Wakui Tesshu White II Steel Nashiji gyuto on the way. It has a stainless cladding. Would the secondary edge of a knife like this be under the cladding hamon line or would part of the cladding be considered the secondary edge?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks,
Pics below post-sharpening. I think that my technique was pretty close to the same for each knife, but the post sharpening markings look completely different.