Shibata chipping / bad technique? / first sharpen?

[fourmations]

Hi all

Only have my Shibata R2 a few weeks and after a busy few days use over Christmas I felt it had lost a bit of its OOTB edge, a newspaper test showed up a few snaggy spots so I inspected as best I could on my phone and there are plenty of microchips !! ( see attached) the bevel / edge on the knife is tiny and the chips are invisible to the naked eye... is this indictive of bad technique? I use a wooden board that is not bamboo but I don't know what wood it is, it's also edge grain, I've had it for about 15yrs plus, it doesn't seem very hard, aggressive bread knife use will leave cuts in it, I may have been guilty of a little light torquing, old habits die hard! Is this chipping normal use or bad technique? It's still performing well, is it time to sharpen, Im quite anxious about taking this to a stone, it's my first J knife and not cheap in my world and I'm a novice sharpener but I've got good results in my practice on lesser knives! I have a shapton pro 1k only (and a ceramic rod) but have been assured on other threads that the shapton will get me an edge, is the Shibata and R2 treated like any other knife, raise a burr both sides, de burr and that's it? I've no problem really taking my time on this, it's not like im removing a kidney but I'm as nervous!! Thanks

 

[Cliff]

I think that's totally normal. Should come out with a sharpening. R2 takes longer to sharpen than simple carbon, but his is no different in that regard. If anything, the incredible thinness of the blade makes it easier to sharpen. The process is the same as for your other knives. Hard to say if the chipping is the initial edge or technique. Your board sounds fine.

 

[yummycrackers]

Factory edges can often be quite fragile. The edge on my Shibata effectively folded after a few uses. Easily resolved by a first sharpening. As Cliff mentioned, it will take a bit longer than carbon steel, and since you're only using one stone, make sure to pay attention to deburring. Other than that, you should be fine.

 

[Heckel7302]

Very normal. Mine was the same way. They are just very thin and hard. After a sharpening or two the microchips will calm down. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry too much about them. The knife is used to cut food, not paper towel. I didn’t really notice the microchips when using the knife on food.

 

[plantgainz]

It's not a shibata related problem, the extreme thinness of the knife paired with aggressive ootb edge make things fragile. Torquing doesn't help either anyway these like for example Kobayashi knives are so thin you will get a burr instantly at the first sharpening session, even on a high grit stone.

 

[Mr Kooby Shemayrew]

Very normal. Mine was the same way. They are just very thin and hard. After a sharpening or two the microchips will calm down. Honestly, I would worry too much about them. The knife is used to cut food, not paper towel. I didn’t really notice the microchips when using the knife on food.

Some small microchips actually make the knife faster through food. Tomatoes are a good example.

 

[Benuser]

Perfectly common, indeed. A lot of knives come with an edge that's a kind of service to the customer, so he can put his own edge on it with only a few strokes, but far to fine for real use. You will need a finer stone than the Shapton Pro 1k, which corresponds to some 700 JIS. Perfectly fine for quickly setting new bevels and removing those microchips. Make sure to deburr as much as possible with this first stone. Deburring with the first stone will by far take the most time. You don't want to take the burr to the next stone. I would add a Shapton Glass 4k.

 

[The Forest Ninja]

As your knife ages with use and sharpening it's teeth will fall out and the gums will be smooth.

 

[Nemo]

...is the Shibata and R2 treated like any other knife, raise a burr both sides, de burr and that's it?

Yes, it's the same as every knife.

But from the way in which you mention it, I do wonder whether your idea of deburring doesn't appreciate how much this process will dominate your sharpening.

Once you have raised a burr on the coarsest stone you will use (probably a 1kish JIS stone for your first sharpening), you will need to reduce the burr with gradually reducing pressure on the same stone. I typically do this in 4 pressure levels a la @Sailor in his knifeplanet.net sharpening school (video #3 IIRC). I then remove the burr with feather light edge leading strokes (3 to 5 per side with R2) then a longitudinal stroke along the edge (on the side opposite your last edge leading stroke). The edge leading strokes are optional. The longitudinal stroke is very commonly practiced. Many people also gently drag the edge through cork or a similar self-healing material to help drag off any burr remnants.

If you want to use a finer stone (arguments abound about the necessity of this and I'd recommend being able to make a consistently sharp and well deburred edge on 1k before you do), use only very light pressure and remove the burr again.

There are higher perks in the deburring skill tree but this would be a solid start for you.

 

[Nemo]

You will need a finer stone than the Shapton Pro 1k, which corresponds to some 700 JIS. Perfectly fine for quickly setting new bevels and removing those microchips. Make sure to deburr as much as possible with this first stone. Deburring with the first stone will by far take the most time. You don't want to take the burr to the next stone. I would add a Shapton Glass 4k.

Benuser's advice is, as ever, good.

SP1k is a bit coarser than 1kJIS and you my well see benefit from a slightly finer medium stone, or from adding a fine stone to your progression.