Picked up a zakuri 210 gyuto in b#1 to practice wide bevel thinning, sharpening, and refinishing. As I posted the other day, the knife came with a decent grind for practicing on. The bevels were pronounced and easy to work with. Pretty much just had to lay the bevel flat on the stone. Used a 140 atoma get things started, then dropped down to a 120 shapton synthetic, then 220 -> 1K -> 3K -> 8K -> 10K, just to see what would happen.
My results are some seriously beat up fingers and a knife that feels almost atomically thin at the very edge, but which still wedges pretty badly. My work was quite uneven as well. I need to go back and thin the right bevel significantly more to reduce wedging. Have not really worked on refinishing yet as need finger stones.
I can also tell that when I get the geometry reset to where I want it, i need to but a more pronounced microbevel at the very edge -- the steel took an insanely keen edge but it is microchipping out a bit while doing some harder chopping (stress test). The chips are extremely small but they are there.
1. Stock Grind
As you can see here, there are bevels that are pretty easy to follow. However the knife is relatively thick overall. Pretty loud cracking noise while splitting carrots.
2. Uneven grind
Starting by laying the bevels flat on the atoma. You can see that the grind is quite uneven, with high and low spots. This took a while to fix.
3. Evening the grind
Getting a much more even grind. This is after dropping down to a 120 and then up to a 220 stone.
4. Choil after thinning
The right bevel has been raised quite a bit by following the natural grind up the blade road. It looks particularly asymmetrical here because of some rough filing work that I did to chamfer the choil on the right side. The way it is reflecting light is screwing with the pic a bit. There is much work to be one on the left side. The amount of work on the right side makes that bevel look almost convex by comparison.
5. Comparison shot
In this comparison shot I have eliminated the effect of the light reflecting off of the choil to give a better portrayal of the work done to each side. You can see that the knife definitely has been thinned on both sides, with the bevels worked up the blade road. The right bevel has been raised significantly higher and the knife is thinner on that side. But you can see that the left bevel has been thinned too. But more work to do!
And when my fingers heal in a week or two (ouch!) i'll get back to it
Then to get some finger stones . . .
PS: I am quite surprised that more steel has been removed on the right side of the blade, as it feels to me like I am able to apply greater pressure and remove more from the left side while thinning. As a right-hander who doesn't switch hands while sharpening/thinning, that is how it has always felt. Just an interesting point to note in the learning curve. Very glad I got an inexpensive knife off rakuten for these learning projects.
My results are some seriously beat up fingers and a knife that feels almost atomically thin at the very edge, but which still wedges pretty badly. My work was quite uneven as well. I need to go back and thin the right bevel significantly more to reduce wedging. Have not really worked on refinishing yet as need finger stones.
I can also tell that when I get the geometry reset to where I want it, i need to but a more pronounced microbevel at the very edge -- the steel took an insanely keen edge but it is microchipping out a bit while doing some harder chopping (stress test). The chips are extremely small but they are there.
1. Stock Grind
As you can see here, there are bevels that are pretty easy to follow. However the knife is relatively thick overall. Pretty loud cracking noise while splitting carrots.
2. Uneven grind
Starting by laying the bevels flat on the atoma. You can see that the grind is quite uneven, with high and low spots. This took a while to fix.
3. Evening the grind
Getting a much more even grind. This is after dropping down to a 120 and then up to a 220 stone.
4. Choil after thinning
The right bevel has been raised quite a bit by following the natural grind up the blade road. It looks particularly asymmetrical here because of some rough filing work that I did to chamfer the choil on the right side. The way it is reflecting light is screwing with the pic a bit. There is much work to be one on the left side. The amount of work on the right side makes that bevel look almost convex by comparison.
5. Comparison shot
In this comparison shot I have eliminated the effect of the light reflecting off of the choil to give a better portrayal of the work done to each side. You can see that the knife definitely has been thinned on both sides, with the bevels worked up the blade road. The right bevel has been raised significantly higher and the knife is thinner on that side. But you can see that the left bevel has been thinned too. But more work to do!
And when my fingers heal in a week or two (ouch!) i'll get back to it
Then to get some finger stones . . .
PS: I am quite surprised that more steel has been removed on the right side of the blade, as it feels to me like I am able to apply greater pressure and remove more from the left side while thinning. As a right-hander who doesn't switch hands while sharpening/thinning, that is how it has always felt. Just an interesting point to note in the learning curve. Very glad I got an inexpensive knife off rakuten for these learning projects.
