I posted additional comments from Chris on the “v“, I.e. potato top grind below for academics & record keeping.
I like the explanations except the comments on Kato grind toward the heel being accidental, at least I haven’t seen any evidence to support such statement. In addition, Japanese master using a Sen to accidentally over shave the heel manually is much less likely to happen as compared to western belt sander method.
In my effort trying to re-create the potato top grind, I had to intentionally grind the heel thinner, even with dedicate effort, I almost lost it during finishing.
It’s known that pull cut is easier than push cut as pull cut moves toward the thinner front after landing. By the same token, by grinding the heel section thinner, it’ll give the same easier cutting feeling when push cut.
In short, the potato top grind might just be the ideal grind for push/pull cutters, ultimate performance comes when you land the blade at the potato top location, leverage the weight & momentum of the knife to break the skin, after that, both push & pull cut will be easier, giving the gliding through food feeling as it’s moving towards thinner on either direction.
I like the explanations except the comments on Kato grind toward the heel being accidental, at least I haven’t seen any evidence to support such statement. In addition, Japanese master using a Sen to accidentally over shave the heel manually is much less likely to happen as compared to western belt sander method.
In my effort trying to re-create the potato top grind, I had to intentionally grind the heel thinner, even with dedicate effort, I almost lost it during finishing.
It’s known that pull cut is easier than push cut as pull cut moves toward the thinner front after landing. By the same token, by grinding the heel section thinner, it’ll give the same easier cutting feeling when push cut.
In short, the potato top grind might just be the ideal grind for push/pull cutters, ultimate performance comes when you land the blade at the potato top location, leverage the weight & momentum of the knife to break the skin, after that, both push & pull cut will be easier, giving the gliding through food feeling as it’s moving towards thinner on either direction.
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