Shibazi Gets a Makeover

[Martyfish]

 

[Martyfish]

I picked up a Shibazi 208-2 (the 210mm version) a while ago to see if I like vegetable cleavers and felt it had enough potential that it was deserving of a makeover. In general the grind was pretty good out of the box, however the following points were things that I wanted to improve upon:

- The surface finish caused the blade to grip when cutting fibrous vegetables like leek and also felt grippy and uncomfortable during handling.
- The edges on the spine and choil were really sharp and uncomfortable.
- The blade developed a patina very quickly (not an issue), however somewhat unusual for a completely stainless balde. This was certainly not helped by the ultra coarse surface finish, which gave moisture a good place to accumulate and hide. It wouldn't surprise me if the blade would have developed rust in this condition if left on the board unattended.
- The grind was pretty good, but it was a bit thick directly behind the edge (0-10mm up from the edge).

The makeover comprised the following:

- A light thinning
- Rounding of the spine and choil
- Polishing the spine and choil to a near mirror finish
- Polishing the core steel to a near mirror finish
- Giving the lower section of the blade a kasumi finish
- Polishing the upper section of the blade to a fine satin finish

I think the blade looks great and it should cut much better, although I haven't tested it yet, because the new handle is still a work in progress and I haven't put a new edge on the blade yet.

 

[tostadas]

Killer job! I had the same initial assessment of mine. You addressed all of the issues, and went above and beyond. Can't wait to see the new handle but I have no doubt this is gonna be the best f208 out there.

 

[Martyfish]

Killer job! I had the same initial assessment of mine. You addressed all of the issues, and went above and beyond. Can't wait to see the new handle but I have no doubt this is gonna be the best f208 out there.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to getting it back on the board and seeing how it performs.

 

[blokey]

Great job, now it’s much more like a proper SangDao.

 

[Martyfish]

Great job, now it’s much more like a proper SangDao.

Thanks! Honestly that's the first time I've ever hear the term SangDao. Am I right in understanding that a SangDao is essentially a thinner CaiDao intended strictly for vegetable use?

 

[Jville]

Looks great! Agree with tostadas got to be the best shibazi out there.

 

[Martyfish]

Looks great! Agree with tostadas got to be the best shibazi out there.

Thanks! It was a pretty time intensive project, so I'm glad it turned out as well as it did.

 

[blokey]

Thanks! Honestly that's the first time I've ever hear the term SangDao. Am I right in understanding that a SangDao is essentially a thinner CaiDao intended strictly for vegetable use?

Sang Dao/桑刀 is a variation of Qie Pian Dao/切片刀 (slicer), they are usually thinner and less curvy, mostly used to thin slice dishes like Wen si tofu. F208 is sold as SangDao as you can see on the package but the grind is much thicker than an actual SangDao, CCK 1302 is also a Sang Dao.

 

[Martyfish]

Sang Dao/桑刀 is a variation of Qie Pian Dao/切片刀 (slicer), they are usually thinner and less curvy, mostly used to thin slice dishes like Wen si tofu. F208 is sold as SangDao as you can see on the package but the grind is much thicker than an actual SangDao, CCK 1302 is also a Sang Dao.

Thanks for the explanation. Most of my experience lies with Japanese knives, so it's good to learn some new terminology.

 

[Choppin]

nice job! I bought one of those recently, the grabby finish is annoying indeed.

up to what grit was the blade face sanded?

 

[Martyfish]

nice job! I bought one of those recently, the grabby finish is annoying indeed.

up to what grit was the blade face sanded?

Thanks! Yeah, the grabby finish sucks. I sanded the blade face up to P600 grit, the kasumi was applied using F360 grit silicon carbide powder and the core steel is finished up to P3000 grit.

Just a fair warning if you are thinking of refinishing your Shibazi, it took forever to get those deep vertical scratches out using sandpaper (6 ish hours) and the blade face had quite a few low spots, which would have to be completely removed if using stones or belts.

A quicker solution would be to apply a vertical scratch pattern with sandpaper in the direction of the existing deep scratches. You won't remove all the deep scratches, but they will blend into your scratch pattern a bit and should reduce the grabiness dramatically. If you do this, obviously dull the edge before starting and try to avoid the sandpaper catching on the edge.