I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
set and keep the edge?

On 12 Mrz., 00:28, " Nartker" > wrote:
> I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. *What is the proper way to
> set and keep the edge?

The best way is to admire it only! Please, show it to Your friends,
look at it with pride, but (for Gods sake) don´t use it! So it stays
brittle sharp forewer!

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:28:51 -0500, " Nartker" >
wrote:

>I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
>set and keep the edge?
>

If is is a single bevel with a hollow back, i.e. a traditional design,
the best way to sharpen it would be with a set of waterstones. That
will take some investment and some practice, but it will take
advantage of the design and produce an excellent edge.

--BS

Yes, I agree with the waterstones.

With care, you may find a sharpening service which is familiar with
the techniques of using waterstones. Chances are, though, they'll
simply lay your knives on a rather coarse grindstone and hand them
back to you with their invoice.

Simply put, sharpening Kapanese knives is a bit of an art. It's
possible to learn how to do it (and it's a most satisfying
accomplishment) but it does require some skill and practice.

One begins by using a coarse (1000-grit) waterstone to shape the edge
and to remove all those little nicks and gouges. Then the edge is
honed to a very fine edge on a 6000-grit stone (it feels almost as
smooth as a piece of marble.)

In general, a knife made with good steel (or layered steel as in
Japanese knives) can be sharpened to a razor edge with two
waterstones. In fact, after finish polishing (on the fine stone) the
ground edge should be as smooth and as bright as a mirror. Often, I'll
follow the fine stone honing with polishing strokes on a scrap of
leather that's been rubbed with jeweler's rouge (iron oxide.) That
edge will be razor sharp.

As a cabinetmaker, I discovered Japanese Waterstones about 20 years
ago after decades of using Arkansas stones and machine oil diluted
with kerosene. The differences are remarkable. The waterstones
generally cut faster and produce a very highly-polished edge. My
kitchen knives (like my woodworking chisels and plane irons) are
routinely so sharp as to shave the hair on my forearm easily.

A funny: My wife could always tell when I had spent some time
sharpening my tools from my shaved-off forearm!

Pixmaker




On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:28:51 -0500, " Nartker" >
wrote:

>I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
>set and keep the edge?
>

An excellent video is available
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/martell.htm

Nartker wrote:
> I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
> set and keep the edge?
>
>

--
Steve Bottorff
www.sharpeningmadeeasy.com
Remove REMOVE from address when replying

On Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:43:33 -0400, Peter A >
wrote:

>In article >,
says...
>
>> An excellent video is available
>> http://users.ameritech.net/knives/martell.htm
>>
>>
>
>Two DVD's - that's at least 4 hours of video - for $45 to show how to
>sharpen knives!?!?
>
>Give me a break.


I've been using a couple of single bevel Japanese knives for almost
forty years. I use a ceramic stick sharpener. It's the kind that has
two sticks mounted in a wood block and for conventional knives you
hold the knife edge plumb and alternate between the two sticks. For
the single bevel I just use one stick and move the knife over it at an
angle that matches the blade. If you don't let the knife get real dull
in the first place this works fine. The knives are in good shape and
razor sharp.

Peter A wrote:

> Two DVD's - that's at least 4 hours of video - for $45 to show how to
> sharpen knives!?!?
>
> Give me a break.
>

Dave Martell is one of the best non-Asian sharpeners out there, perhaps
second only to Murray "$6 an inch" Carter.

Steve
--
Steve Bottorff
www.sharpeningmadeeasy.com
Remove REMOVE from address when replying

" Nartker" > wrote in message
news
>I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way
>to set and keep the edge?

Well as someone who uses Japanese knives both single and double bevel
exclusively I can tell you that it is easy with the proper equipment. If you
wish to do it yourself then here is how
http://knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/772696/ You will need to
make an investment in the correct grit waterstones. Now you can get it done
fairly inexpensively by Dave at http://www.japaneseknifesharpening.com/ Now
I suggest you send him an email with the length of the knife asking for his
price. You will have to ship it to Pennsylvania to him and he will sharpen
it and return it probably within a 5 day span. He has done a few problem
knives for me such as convex edges on cleavers and hunting knives. His work
is excellent, inexpensive compared to many others, service is fantastic as
well as just a plain nice guy.

He also posts regularly to knifeforums.com Kitchen forum.

Joe Cilinceon

"Steve B." > wrote in message
...
> Peter A wrote:
>
>> Two DVD's - that's at least 4 hours of video - for $45 to show how to
>> sharpen knives!?!? Give me a break.
>>
>
> Dave Martell is one of the best non-Asian sharpeners out there, perhaps
> second only to Murray "$6 an inch" Carter.
>
> Steve
> --
> Steve Bottorff
> www.sharpeningmadeeasy.com
> Remove REMOVE from address when replying

Dave Martell is the best period http://www.japaneseknifesharpening.com/. His
DVD is good too and hope he does some more. He also sells Hand America
products from his site.

Joe Cilinceon

On this general subject, has anyone tried the Chef's Choice model 316 sharpener
for Asian knives? It supposedly has a 15 degree fixed angle.

I have one on the way to play with, so I'll see for myself within a week, I
suppose. Thanks.

-- Larry

"pltrgyst" > wrote in message
news
> On this general subject, has anyone tried the Chef's Choice model 316
> sharpener
> for Asian knives? It supposedly has a 15 degree fixed angle.
>
> I have one on the way to play with, so I'll see for myself within a week,
> I
> suppose. Thanks.
>
> -- Larry

Personally I would not use one at all as they will grind a knife the wrong
way. Most Japanese knives have asymmetrical bevels such as 30/70, 20/80,
90/10 etc. A 50/50 bevel at 15* will probably cover a Shun or Global and
even Shun uses a 16* per side bevel. I have other Japanese knives that use
about a 5* per side bevel so it would be useless and really the only way to
properly sharpen is waterstones or a slow speed belt sander if you know what
you are doing. I highly recommend if you have Japanese knives you should
take the time to learn how to sharpen or find someone to do it for you. It
really isn't that hard and a 1K/6K King stone is about $30, never mind it is
a good skill to have.

Joe Cilinceon