- Joined
- Jul 4, 2012
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Welcome to my personal hell. Or I guess you could call it just my latest project.
Yes, it's a honesuki, my least-favorite shape of Japanese knife. If I'm taking apart a chicken, I want a flexible boning knife. I accept the possibility that I've never learned what I would need to learn to prefer a honesuki for that task.
This knife was abused, in that it was sharpened by someone who was incompetent at understanding single-bevel knives. He gave up and put a bevel on the flat side, ruining the flatness. That incompetent person was me, 20 years ago.
It's not a bad make, but it's not exactly an artisan heirloom. It's a stainless Misono UX10. A sensible person might have thrown it away. But I cannot bear to do anything but restore it to what it should have been. That means I have a lot of flattening to do.
I've already done a lot of flattening. I got the back "flat" with a monstrously coarse SC stone (Baronyx Manticore), but what you see is when I took it from that 60-grit stone to a Shapton Glass 220 that I've been flattening with a diamond plate after every 200 passes. I think I'm up to 800 so far. Still a lot of work to do. I'm surprised by how shiny the SG220 got the middle. I'm also surprised that the work on the flat raises a burr on the bevel side, despite appearances.
Any tips or advice for this rehabilitation? My plan is to keep plugging away with the SG220 for another 1000 passes or so, flattening every 200 passes, but any shortcuts will be welcome.
Yes, it's a honesuki, my least-favorite shape of Japanese knife. If I'm taking apart a chicken, I want a flexible boning knife. I accept the possibility that I've never learned what I would need to learn to prefer a honesuki for that task.
This knife was abused, in that it was sharpened by someone who was incompetent at understanding single-bevel knives. He gave up and put a bevel on the flat side, ruining the flatness. That incompetent person was me, 20 years ago.
It's not a bad make, but it's not exactly an artisan heirloom. It's a stainless Misono UX10. A sensible person might have thrown it away. But I cannot bear to do anything but restore it to what it should have been. That means I have a lot of flattening to do.
I've already done a lot of flattening. I got the back "flat" with a monstrously coarse SC stone (Baronyx Manticore), but what you see is when I took it from that 60-grit stone to a Shapton Glass 220 that I've been flattening with a diamond plate after every 200 passes. I think I'm up to 800 so far. Still a lot of work to do. I'm surprised by how shiny the SG220 got the middle. I'm also surprised that the work on the flat raises a burr on the bevel side, despite appearances.
Any tips or advice for this rehabilitation? My plan is to keep plugging away with the SG220 for another 1000 passes or so, flattening every 200 passes, but any shortcuts will be welcome.