Hi! A couple of weeks ago I started thinking that I should finally figure out how to sharpen my old Wüsthof, which had only ever seen a diamond-coated steel that I bought with the knife 10 years ago. I tumbled down the rabbit hole rather quickly, and last Tuesday I received my 210 mm Kaeru Kasumi Stainless Gyuto and a Naniwa Pro 800 stone.
Unfortunately I had a bit of a rough start: for some reason the Kaeru wasn't very sharp out of the box (couldn't really cut paper well, edge didn't really feel sharp to my fingers), so I immediately had to start learning how to sharpen it. I've been following the common advice of learning how to do everything (burr forming, deburring, stropping) on a medium grit stone before getting other tools. A few hours of practice later I managed to make it much sharper than it was when I got it, but there's probably still a lot of room for improvement. After my last sharpening session I could cut paper fairly well, although the area near the tip was a bit duller than the rest of the edge. I decided to try it on some actual vegetables that I was chopping for a stir fry.
The first thing I tried to cut was a medium-sized onion, and while it was perfectly doable, the knife didn't really feel sharper than the old Wüsthof. (I tried both knives. Although the Wüsthof is a bit sharper now than it used to be, because I sharpened it on the stone as my first attempt at sharpening, and although it didn't come out shaving sharp, it was still sharper than it had ever been.) The vertical cuts that I made with the tip particularly felt like they required a decent amount of force and it felt like some of the intermediate layers wobbled a little when the knife didn't just cleanly bite into them. Bell peppers and spring onions were fine, and maybe the Kaeru was better here. Garlic clove root ends and ginger offered some resistance. My cutting technique is probably not the best, although I used the same mediocre technique with both knives (pinch grip, push cuts or draw cuts).
Incidentally it's possible that my cutting board dulls the edge rather quickly; it's a composite board by Arcos that I sadly bought just before I decided to become a knife nut. But the onion was the first thing I cut (apart from some paper and the odd arm hair) after sharpening, so unless touching the board a couple of times was enough to kill the edge, the board probably isn't to blame here.
(Feel free to advise me on this if you know how bad the board is - I'd rather not buy another one if this one isn't a disaster, but I can get a better board if I need to.) The edge did feel duller after prepping than it did before that, although it could still cut print paper somewhat well. I guess it's also possible that I had a little wire edge or burr after sharpening?
One issue I have is that I've never had a really sharp knife before, gyuto or otherwise, so I don't know what cutting an onion (or anything else) is supposed to feel like. I know several people on this forum own or have owned a Kaeru and like it, so I was wondering if you could give me a realistic idea of what I can expect from this knife once it's properly sharpened and my cutting technique is passable. I don't mind if it takes a while, and practicing has been fun, but it would be nice to know what the goal should be regardless of how long it takes to get there. Any tips you might have are of course also welcome!
Incidentally I'm also getting a Takamura R2 - this is the knife I was looking at first, but it seemed out of stock everywhere in Europe, so I looked at other options and eventually bought the Kaeru. Now that the Takamura came back into stock I couldn't resist it, but I promise that's my last knife! Anyway it will give me another point of comparison, at least if I'm luckier with the factory edge this time.
Unfortunately I had a bit of a rough start: for some reason the Kaeru wasn't very sharp out of the box (couldn't really cut paper well, edge didn't really feel sharp to my fingers), so I immediately had to start learning how to sharpen it. I've been following the common advice of learning how to do everything (burr forming, deburring, stropping) on a medium grit stone before getting other tools. A few hours of practice later I managed to make it much sharper than it was when I got it, but there's probably still a lot of room for improvement. After my last sharpening session I could cut paper fairly well, although the area near the tip was a bit duller than the rest of the edge. I decided to try it on some actual vegetables that I was chopping for a stir fry.
The first thing I tried to cut was a medium-sized onion, and while it was perfectly doable, the knife didn't really feel sharper than the old Wüsthof. (I tried both knives. Although the Wüsthof is a bit sharper now than it used to be, because I sharpened it on the stone as my first attempt at sharpening, and although it didn't come out shaving sharp, it was still sharper than it had ever been.) The vertical cuts that I made with the tip particularly felt like they required a decent amount of force and it felt like some of the intermediate layers wobbled a little when the knife didn't just cleanly bite into them. Bell peppers and spring onions were fine, and maybe the Kaeru was better here. Garlic clove root ends and ginger offered some resistance. My cutting technique is probably not the best, although I used the same mediocre technique with both knives (pinch grip, push cuts or draw cuts).
Incidentally it's possible that my cutting board dulls the edge rather quickly; it's a composite board by Arcos that I sadly bought just before I decided to become a knife nut. But the onion was the first thing I cut (apart from some paper and the odd arm hair) after sharpening, so unless touching the board a couple of times was enough to kill the edge, the board probably isn't to blame here.
(Feel free to advise me on this if you know how bad the board is - I'd rather not buy another one if this one isn't a disaster, but I can get a better board if I need to.) The edge did feel duller after prepping than it did before that, although it could still cut print paper somewhat well. I guess it's also possible that I had a little wire edge or burr after sharpening?One issue I have is that I've never had a really sharp knife before, gyuto or otherwise, so I don't know what cutting an onion (or anything else) is supposed to feel like. I know several people on this forum own or have owned a Kaeru and like it, so I was wondering if you could give me a realistic idea of what I can expect from this knife once it's properly sharpened and my cutting technique is passable. I don't mind if it takes a while, and practicing has been fun, but it would be nice to know what the goal should be regardless of how long it takes to get there. Any tips you might have are of course also welcome!
Incidentally I'm also getting a Takamura R2 - this is the knife I was looking at first, but it seemed out of stock everywhere in Europe, so I looked at other options and eventually bought the Kaeru. Now that the Takamura came back into stock I couldn't resist it, but I promise that's my last knife!
Anyway it will give me another point of comparison, at least if I'm luckier with the factory edge this time.
)
