Japanese Knife Sharpening

How To - Attaching a Sharpening Stone to a Base

2012-01-26T22:51:00.002-05:00

If you sharpen knives and have stones sooner or later you'll likely want to mount a stone to a base of some sort. You may have a favorite stone that you've worn down so thin that you're sure it'll crack the next time you use it, or you have a stone that has cracked or is known to be cracklicious, could be you simply prefer mounted stones for the added height and knuckle clearance afforded, or maybe you have a mounted stone that has come loose from it's base and needs attaching.

Whatever the case may be you will probably tackle the job pretty much the same way, you'll select your base substrate and get to gluing.

Below I put together a quick & dirty tutorial on a couple of things that I found to be helpful tips to success when attaching a sharpening stone to a base.

The first thing to consider is the base material to be used. I'm old school & prefer wood like cypress as this is traditional. While wood is OK for non-soaking stones you might be better served with something a bit more stable for stone requiring some extended stay in the pond before use. Maybe something like granite, marble, glass, tile (etc) would lend themselves to the task of long soaks better than wood.

In the below tutorial I'm showing a natural stone that has come loose from it's factory mounted base & needs to get some repair time on the bench. In this case we have an uneven natural stone bottom and hunks of epoxy to deal with.

I decided to use my disc grinder to clean up the stone & base because it makes things go real fast - real quick. You could use a wide belt grinder or even some sandpaper if you had too, although myself, I'd rather buy a new stone than use the sandpaper method.

Now you should have both base & stone reasonably flat. As you can see on this natural stone there are depressions remaining after cleaning it up and that's OK because the bottom only needs to be "flat enough", it doesn't need to be engineers dead ass flat for this to work. Plus, these little depressions will hold more epoxy which can't be a bad thing, right?

This part is important - selecting the correct epoxy. I can tell you from experience that water resistant does not equal water proof in the world of epoxy. I suggest going with a waterproof epoxy since you'll be using these stones in water....duh! I used System Three's T-88 because that's what I have the most of on hand but you don't need to special order such expensive epoxy just for this task, head on over to your hardware store and grab some Devcon 2-Ton - that's waterproof - and it's cheap and easily found.

I like a rough surface on both stone & base so I do nothing but clean the surfaces with alcohol prior to glue up. Make sure that both surfaces are completely dry before applying the epoxy.

Now it's done and after the required cure time the stone will be back in service.

Murray Carter Damascus Neck Knife is Copperized

2011-11-30T16:53:00.000-05:00

Here's a weird project that a friend tasked me to try. He sent me one of his Murray Carter damascus neck knives and requested that I etch it with copper. I gladly accepted the challenge because when else would I get to try this, not many people are willing to fork over such a pricey knife for an experiment.

Here's the results...

Pretty crazy, huh?

Monthly Payment Plan.

2011-10-22T16:14:00.001-04:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking about how tough times are and how hard it would be for me to buy one of my own knives if the roles were reversed and I was the customer. It seems that I would have to save up the money for many months before I could even place an order. This made me think about a way to help with this situation, something that could help the would be potential customers as well as myself the maker.

What I've come up with is something that I think might just be what fits the bill here pretty good. I'll now offer our pre-order knives to be purchased with a monthly payment plan. The plans will be set up in either 2, 4, or 6 month time frames with equal automatic monthly payments being made.

I believe that this will allow for some people to become a knife purchasing customer who might not otherwise be able to make such a purchase and for myself this will allow me to better plan and work more effectively while hopefully also taking more orders....all good.

My plan of attack from the knifemaking side would be to forecast my workload ahead of time to eventually be able to meet a finished knife with a final payment. Initially this may be a tough goal to measure up to but I feel strongly that having orders laid out with payment deadlines will allow me to adjust and meet customer goals in a much better fashion than I can currently offer.

I really think that this payment program has potential and I hope that you'll give it consideration. Please see Dave Martell Knives - Payment Program for details.

PS - I'm still more than happy to accept orders but as always those paid for in advance will have priority.

PSS - Knives will be made in the order to which initial payments were received. This means when you start paying you get in line on that day. The only way someone could get ahead of you is to make an early (full) payment. All work will be done as fairly as possible in order.

Using Synthetic Fingerstones

2011-10-14T15:56:00.003-04:00

*Note - Please excuse the crappy pictures. I took them while working in my stone room under fluorescent lighting.

Here's the stones I used. The top one shown is the size and shape of what we're selling (you would receive a qty of 4 when ordering). The bottom two stones show a worn down stone that's been snapped in half to make two little fingerpad sized stones. I like to have both sizes because the larger works great on flats while the smaller goes in and out of irregularities and easily conforms to curves.

Here's the knife I started with. It's one of the "practice yanagis" that we used to sell.

First I begin by flattening the blade road with a coarse stone to make it as even as possible. Once that's done I move onto the King 800x to make a matte finish and bring out contrast. Here's what it looks like after the King 800x is used.

Now I break out the synthetic fingerstones and test to see what I have. Here's the initial results.

Not bad but look at that bird's beak - we've got to do something with that. So I go back to my coarse stone, remove the bird's beak, and do all the above over again.

Following that I break out the polishing stones and do the edge bevel but I scuffed up my nice pretty blade road so I grab the synthetic fingerstones once again and hit the entire blade road and edge bevel. Here's the end results.

*Note - These pictures taken the next day outside in natural daylight.

So there you have it - Dave's secret weapon de-bunked and now available for sale. What you see is exactly what it does. Keep in mind that the knife used above is a $29 (retail) knife giving these results, imagine what a good knife would look like?

Synthetic Fingerstones available HERE

*Notes:
In the above pictures I used the King 800x as the base layer for using the fingerstones because I've found this to be the quickest way to decent results. The King 800x base leaves a slightly darkish look so if you prefer lighter you'd use something like the synthetic aoto, Suehiro Rika, Kitayama, Superstones, or whatever you want instead. You'll be surprised by how these fingerstones give results differently based on what stone was used directly before them.

On surface texture, this is also somewhat effected by the stone used before the fingerstones, however, the fingerstones themselves generally provide the perfect slippery surface texture that is looked for when using a yanagiba.

Western (Yo) to Eastern (Wa) Handle Conversion

2011-10-07T16:36:00.001-04:00

Besides our normal sharpening service and making custom knives we also do all sorts of upgrades & reconfiguration work as well. One such example is this Misono Swedish Steel (carbon) Dragon Sujihiki that we converted from a western handle to a wa handle.

The handle we installed is HI Cook Pine & streaked buffalo made by Stefan Keller of JapaneseHandles.com

BEFORE

AFTER

JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com

Martell Knives

2011-09-29T20:06:00.002-04:00

Here's the most recent knife out of the shop. It's a Martell 240mm gyuto (Japanese style chef's knife) with western handle in O-1 with ringed gidgee handle and black ash burl bolster. Liners are black G-10, stainless steel pins, and the tang is tapered.

Martell Knives

Martell Knives - Our Goal

2011-08-29T00:18:00.000-04:00

At Martell Knives our goal is simple.....

To be a leader in the High Performance kitchen knife market.

For seven years Dave Martell (that's me) has been sharpening knives at the highest level (see JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com), providing repairs & modifications to Japanese knives, and studying literally thousands of knives that passed through my hands in close detail. The knowledge & experience gained from all of this hard work is now being used to build my own line of kitchen knives.

One thing that you can count on with Martell Knives is that you'll receive
"The Sharpest Out-Of-The-Box Edge" - guaranteed!

Martell Knives - #1 is Done!

2011-07-19T14:41:00.001-04:00

This is the first knife I've ever made - #1

It's not perfect but it's the best I can do at this time. Hopefully the rest will only get better. :)

Martell Knives - Finally!!

2011-06-19T14:24:00.001-04:00

After a long wait to get started on this I'm finally underway with the first batch. Here's the No.1 knife showing the blade without handle finished to just about the level that will be provided.

The grind is modified flat/convex with triple bevel. The idea that I'm working with is to make a chef's knife (gyuto) that's very thin yet not too flexible as well as providing decent food release. I'm using everything I've learned to make these knives as perfect as can be. Now I just need to get going and make the rest. I'll be sure to post follow up pictures as this progresses.

To order please see Martell Knives

Premium Magnetic Knife Racks

2011-04-12T22:47:00.004-04:00

We've just got in a new product, Premium Magnetic Knife Racks, that we'll be stocking in different wood types.

These racks are really great, the maker has thought of everything and fixed the common problems normally associated with magnetic racks.

Key design features:

* Solid Wood (no veneers)

* Hand Worked

* Premium Finish

* Double Width - 4" width ensures good purchase

* Rare Earth Magnets Used

* Double Magnets (per row) - 24" model has 11 rows x 2 magnets = 22 total / 16" model has 7 rows x 2 magnets = 14 total > Double magnet placement allows for small knives to be held securely from either top or bottom positions.

* Perfect magnetic strength for all kitchen knives.

* Rounded Edges - Safer for use on very thin edged knives like the usuba or yangiba. Presents a soft touch for going on and off the rack.

* Double Mounting Holes (4 total)

* Purpose designed and built in the USA by a kitchen knifenut specifically for use by other kitchen knifenuts.

* Each rack is a one of a kind.

Custom lengths and wood types can be ordered. Please email requests.

See Premium Magnetic Knife Racks for details.

Kitchen Knife Forums is LIVE!

2011-02-28T14:05:00.003-05:00

Please come and visit with us at our dedicated discussion forum for kitchen knives.

KitchenKnifeForums.com

We hope to see you there! :)

Dave

Introducing Dave Martell Knives!

2011-02-22T15:07:00.004-05:00

Yes folks the time has come....hahahaha....no seriously..... I'm offcially announcing the start of my knifemaking adventure.

Here's some raw prototype patterns in cardboard. These were copied from drawings on paper so they're not exact to size or form but should represent the overall theme of each knife style and pattern that you can get a feel for what I'm doing first.

240mm gyuto - wa & western (western on top)
*Note - The gyutos have been redesigned since I made these templates.

300mm western sujihiki

300mm wa sujihiki

Let me know what you think.

Dave

The All U Need Strop Kit

2011-02-12T23:28:00.001-05:00

**Professional Grade Stropping System**

I've gone ahead and combined all of the best stropping gear that I've been able to find into one "All U Need" system (kit).

I am 100% certain that this kit will be all that you will ever want and/or need for de-burring and stropping your Japanese knives. It's the exact same kit that I use everyday in my work - not a thing is different.

The All U Need Strop Kit

We're on Facebook

2011-01-21T00:09:00.004-05:00

Please come visit us on Facebook

Ancient New Zealand Kauri

2011-01-09T15:32:00.000-05:00

Here are the last three knives I just got done re-handling. All three are done up in ancient New Zealand Kauri wood that dates between 30,000 - 50,000 yrs old!!

A Togiharu and a MAC all dressed up...

2010-12-11T21:40:00.002-05:00

Why get hung up?

2010-11-27T16:28:00.003-05:00

Why get hung up on microscopic images or level of polish on an edge?

When I was new to sharpening I was easily impressed by the results given by sharpening stones that provided a mirror polish with no scratches when inspected under the microscope. Over time I came to realize that some of these stones weren't as good as I thought and also that a mirror polish doesn't mean the knife cut better. I was hung up on chasing a flawed concept promoted by people who lacked working knowledge or who were selling goods. Once I let this notion go I was freed to chase a better cutting longer lasting edge. Yes a polished edge can correlate to a sharp edge but it doesn't mean the edge provided is the best for the task at hand and it certainly says nothing for longevity or strength.

Why get hung up on grit rating numbers?

When I was new to sharpening I would seek out the highest level grit available in honing compounds like diamond, cubic boron nitride, silicon carbides, etc. I was easily tricked by the marketing hype, and forum BS, that a higher grit number meant a higher quality cutting edge, this was wrong. I've learned that many of these compounds are valuable to us sharpeners however many make for shorter lived edges and even very poor edges. I've learned that shopping for the highest grit level is a flawed concept as the results have shown that I can, in many cases, get better longer lasting edges from lower grit rated compounds. In fact you must consider each type of compound at each grit rating level as a potential for being better or worse than one another as it's not always a safe bet or wise purchase to go with the finest grit available as you'll likely be buying a lesser edge for your knives.

In my time as a professional knife sharpener I've taken great lengths to ensure that I have the very best combination of abrasive products at my disposal and this had led to extensive edge testing. In doing so I've found many items and combination of items to not work nearly as well as I would have thought they would. I've learned some expensive lessons over time and with this knowledge I bring to you the suggestion to not get too hung up on these things.

ATOMA Diamond Plates

2010-11-17T13:49:00.002-05:00

We've just got in the best diamond plates that I've ever had the pleasure of using. To be truthful I haven't used them on knives as I don't much like to do that anymore but for stone flattening duty these things can't be beat. Fast cutting with fine finishes and they don't stick to most stones while lapping which is a unique feature indeed.

The full plate consists of a thin diamond replacement pad that is adhered to an aluminum backing plate. The replacement pads are also available for purchase.

We're currently stocking the #140x model for stone flattening but other finer models are available for special order upon request.

Yes these diamond plates are expensive but compared to what else is out there to choose from they're a bargain.

ATOMA Diamond Plate 140x

ATOMA Replacement Diamond Pad

Hiromoto Gyuto - The JapaneseKnifeSharpening Way

2010-10-30T12:40:00.001-04:00

Here is a recent project knife. It's a Hiromoto Aogami Super Steel gyuto - 240mm where we replaced it's stock handle scales with black ash and also etched the blade.

Lots of Rehandle Work Lately

2010-08-08T01:02:00.001-04:00

Here's some of the rehandle work that I've been busy with....

1st Hiromoto AS Rehandle

2010-07-21T14:13:00.000-04:00

This is the first rehandled Hiromoto Tenmi-Jyuraku Aogami Super Steel Gyutos from our group buy. In case you hadn't heard about the group buy you can read about it HERE and follow along with the results HERE.

Blazen Rehandle

2010-07-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

Here is a knife that I just rehandled, it's a Blazen Mirioshi deba. The new wood is redwood lace burl.

The knife was also sharpened and had it's spine and choil rounded for comfort (gratis) as part of our current rehandle service bonus program.

Dave Martell @ Ashokan Knife Seminar 2010

2010-07-08T11:26:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited, but much more honored, to have been asked to do a lecture and demonstration at this years Ashokan Knife Seminar. For those of you who never heard of this before, Ashokan is one of America's oldest and most prestigious hammer-ins. Some of the very best bladesmiths and knifemakers from around the world attend each year. I would have been excited about simply attending but being asked to do a presentation, well that's beyond words for me to describe how I feel.

I'll have more details on this later.....I just had to post this now. :)

Rehandle + Sharpen + Spine Rounding Offer

2010-06-30T12:40:00.001-04:00

To get the ball rolling on our western style Japanese knife re-handing service we're offering (for a limited time) a free sharpening as well as spine/choil rounding service to be included with the re-handle cost.

This is a pretty big savings that will hopefully help you to justify the expense of re-handling your favorite knife.

*Note - Some exclusions will apply. Edge repairs and anything beyond simple sharpening service is not included in this offer. If you have a question regarding your specific knife please inquire.

Out of the Box Sharpening Service

2010-06-27T20:52:00.000-04:00

As many of you may already know Japanese knives do not come out of the box (new) in a sharp condition and are not always ready to go to work.

They do often come somewhat sharp and may impress you with their thin cross section however they all can be improved upon when new.

It's a well known fact that the true potential of a new Japanese knife will only be realized after 1-2 sharpening sessions have occurred.

It's also well known that this initial out of the box sharpening is the most difficult to accomplish (beyond edge repairs) simply because the bevels are often very obtuse, wavy, or in some cases not even ground in yet at all. This is true for both double bevel and single bevel knives alike.

We, at JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com, have been providing initial sharpening service for Japanese knives for many years at no additional cost beyond our standard sharpening fees. With only a very limited exception (example - Aritsugu/Moritaka), we still offer this same service at no additional cost to our normal sharpening service. This means to you that you can purchase a new Japanese knife, have it shipped directly to us, and we will then bring out the full potential (and repair any small defects with the maker's bevel grinds) at no additional costs. You will then receive your knife knowing that it is now ready to use at the highest level that can be obtained while also having the peace of mind to understand that the knife is ready for you to either strop or touch-up sharpen when the times comes to do so. You won't have to worry about purchasing a complete set of sharpening stones and going through the learning curve right at the start of your Japanese knife ownership experience. When the knife begins to not feel sharp you can then choose to just strop or maybe touch-up sharpen on a polishing stone and have this work effectively for a very long time. In many cases a home user could go years with this type of maintenance regimen in place and be very satisfied.

If you have questions as to whether or not your new Japanese knife could benefit from initial sharpening you can always ask us about this as we'd be more than happy to answer your questions or concerns. I will say that all knives will benefit from initial sharpening although I will never say that all knives need it. The benefit of having initial sharpening done to your knife can be great but not always necessary. Again, if you have questions about this issue please feel free to ask, we welcome your inquiries.

For pricing and mailing instructions for our sharpening service please see http://www.japaneseknifesharpening....

We Got Wood!

2010-06-27T20:26:00.003-04:00

Here's a sampling of some of the wood that we will be using to re-handle knives with....

Redwood Lace Burl

English Walnut

Blue Spalted Maple Burl

Brown Curly Maple

Crosscut Spalted Maple

Purple Maple Burl

These are just a few examples of what we can replace your old ugly worn stock factory handles with. There are so many more types than we could show here and we can get you wood that's mild to wild so please inquire with your wishes.

Western Style Japanese Knife Re-Handle Service Available

2010-06-25T15:59:00.003-04:00

We have a new service to announce, we're re-handling western style Japanese knives.

Here you can see a Hiromoto gyuto that's been re-handled with Silver/Blue Curly Maple. It's held in place with nickel silver Corby bolts and accented with a decorative brass/nickel silver mosaic pin.

If you're interested in having similar work done to your knives please contact us at JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com to discuss details.

Leather Bench Hone

2010-06-10T21:12:00.005-04:00

Phoenix Knife House Bench Hone/Strop - Lacewood base - 10"x3"

Provided is a very beautiful Lacewood platform/base that comes with rubber feet for sure grip, magnetic material attached for pad interchangeability, and a metal backed textured leather pad.

The leather has a very strong draw (or pull) to it that I like especially for western style double bevel Japanese knives. It will work fine as is but works flat out incredible with a couple of coatings of our Dupont diamond honing spray applied.

A great key feature to using this textured type of leather is how you can read it and see what you have happening at the edge microscopically, it'll show burrs or edge nicks as lines in the surface of the leather and is easily seen. You strop until the surface becomes smooth - takes the guess work out of the process.

This leather pad is very thin and not easily deformed through depression which means it is very difficult to round edges while using it and it's just resilient enough to where it's resistant to being easily cut.

The base is made of Lacewood and I think the pictures speak for themselves here. I could see this as being the first bench hone that is allowed to sit out on the counter at home (wife friendly).

Base is topped with magnetic material. Pads are backed with steel. Pads can be replaced as needed.

Felt deburring pads are available with steel backing in this 10"x3' size. Replacement leather pads are also available.

**Please also note that this product is made from natural materials and as such will not necessarily all look alike, will have slight variations in shade/texture, and may not exactly resemble the picture shown in the listing. We can not pick a specific base or leather pad for you.

This is a really nice set up that Phoenix Knife House has come up with, you won't be disappointed with this one.

Lacewood Leather Bench Hone

A New Way - Dupont Polycrystalline Diamond Honing Spray

2010-06-10T21:00:00.007-04:00

Dupont Premium Polycrystalline Honing Spray - 0.25 Micron

Professional chef testers are reporting that our new diamond honing spray to be the best that they've ever used. It's said that it refines and creates such a sharp keen edge that they don't feel the need to use as many sharpening stones or even sharpen as often. Many sighted edge retention was increased dramatically to decrease the need for waterstone sharpening.

In my own testing, with over 30+ diamond spray types reviewed, I can say without hesitation that this diamond spray is the very best that has ever passed through my hands or has been sold by us to be used on Japanese kitchen knives.

Expensive Dupont polycystalline white diamond particles are held in a water based suspension that comes packaged in a convenient spray pump bottle. Unlike diamond slurries, the diamond particles in this solution are held in permanent suspension through the use of a binding agent.

Unlike less expensive monocrystalline diamond particles, polycrystalline diamond has self-sharpening properties which continually release worn and dull surface monocrystallites to expose fresh sharp new cutting edges below. This occurs even moreso with this particular diamond spray because of a special Dupont process that micro-fractures each particle to crack under stress. For this reason, Dupont Polycrystalline diamond spray will hone and polish faster than any other diamond spray.

This is the finest quality diamond spray that we've used to date. This product has been tested and approved by us particularly for use on Japanese knives.

Best suited: For use on the textured leather bench hone that we sell. Not suited for all leather types - may cause drying. Use caution when used with felt as it will bubble felt up if too much is applied. Use VERY sparingly on felt honing pads.

Directions: Apply a coating to leather pad/strop or felt honing pad but take care not to soak as damage to pads may occur. I suggest using a layering approach much like you would use while spray painting. Apply several light coats versus one heavy coat.

Concentration: Heavy

Randy Barrett, Lead Instructor - Le Cordon Bleu Cambridge, MA said (of the Dupont Polycrystalline Diamond Honing Spray):
"Edge retention is phenomenal. Beat it up for a week now and it's holding to about 85-90% of its edge fresh off the stones. If it starts to lose anything at all 5 or 6 passes on the pad will bring it right back. I use the pad every morning before I start and that's all it needs; it will hold all day until the next morning. Chock full o' bite it sure has."

Sent to us in an email:

"Hi Dave,

Just a note to tell you how much I like the new .25 micron Diamond Honing Spray.

I have gotten so many fine sharpening products from you in the past I just had to try it.
I made up a leather honing pad with several light applications of the spray. Couldn't really feel anything being added to the leather, but I knew Dave Martell doesn't sell "snake oil" so last night I tried it out on a few of my knives.

I have never obtained this level of sharpness with even the Cromium Oxide compound.
I absolutely love this Diamond Spray! It really works! Easy to use too.

This takes sharpening to a whole new level of "Fun".

Thanks for another great product!

DT "

Dupont Premium Diamond 0.25 micron honing spray

Some Changes @ JKS

2010-05-16T11:40:00.003-04:00

We've recently decided against carrying on with our retail sales the way we've been doing. Retail sales have become tough on myself as it's taken time away from things that I prefer to do but more than anything I hate the aspect of becoming a salesman.

Yes selling can be very profitable and sales work even when you don't but I was never looking to be a salesman in the strict sense of the word. I prefer to craft things and to work with my hands and even though it doesn't always pay as good I feel a sense of accomplishment that a salesman will never know. Plus, to be a successful salesman you need to work with a lower moral character than I'm willing to concede to employing. I left the traditional 9-5 work culture for these same reasons and I'm not about to become one of these people just to make a buck, it's just not going to happen.

Currently, we're focusing more on new services and special projects. We'll still offer many of the same products off and on as we score deals here and there so that we can continue to supply our great products at even better pricing than before. We just won't be stocking quantities of products the way we have done in the past.

To those of you who have been customers and purchased products from us in the past I want to say "Thank-You" as you've been the reason to why we've been able to stay in business so long and you are greatly appreciated by us.

Regards,
Dave Martell

Guided Sharpening Devices - Why?

2010-04-04T09:55:00.009-04:00

Here I am on Easter morning in my shop typing this when I should be inside the house with my family. I know, I know, but I just had to share this....

Last night I was sharpening, or rather repairing and sharpening, two chisels that belong to my father-in-law and while doing so I was struck with the notion of how easy this was going for me. I believe this hit me so strong because of my previous battles in years past with these chisels and how hard of a time I've had sharpening these tools and now here I was breezing through the task. The thing that was/is so striking to me is that in the past I had used sharpening aides in the form of guided clamps and even specialized machinery to work on these tools yet here I am now doing it all free hand on water stones and making better results in a fraction of the time.

I sat back and asked myself why is this? I think it can be easily attributed to all of the time that I've spent free handing on water stones and machines like a belt sander and flat hone. I've developed my senses in such a way that I can now work without the help of guides and jigs to produce superior results to what I used to get from the best that these devices can offer.

The really striking revelation, however, is that if I had never tried free handing and had stuck with the guides then I would only be as good as what they allowed me to be. I would be stuck using them forever, stuck buying their proprietary abrasives, and denied the ability to learn how to actually sharpen. I would never have learned how to actually sharpen a tool on a simple sharpening stone. This is crazy!

Now I'm not damning guided devices or those who use them because I can understand the whys and hows but it has to be said that these devices exist not to provide better results (as their manufacturers would have you believe) but are here to soothe our insecurities. Somehow man has lost the ability to see a problem and conquer it. Today we go for the easy way, take the short cuts, no matter what the cost. We'd rather spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars and get what we think is an answer to our fears than to spend $20 for a simple stone and get to work with it. I wonder why we've evolved into this pattern?

Yes I know all about this behavior, I've owned just about every guided sharpening device for knives, scissors, and woodworking tools including some serious machinery. I know why I bought these items and what I was hoping to get from them but what I got in reality was nothing more than wasted money, wasted time, and road blocks in my learning curve. I guess I needed to try them and see what I needed to see but looking back I sort of wish I had never bothered.

My point in all this babbling is to say that if you're someone who's on the fence between going with a guided sharpening system or trying free handing I would strongly advise you to take the road less traveled. If you have a suspicion that free handing is something you might like then you already know the answer, you already know where you're going to go, you just have to listen to yourself and take the first step, the rest is just some hard work and practice and you'll be sharpening great in no time at all. Remember the best things come from hard work, nothing worth having is given to you or bought easily.

Hey, did you ever wonder why sharpening tools on stones with you bare hands is called "free handing"? I believe it's because you're freed from the boundaries inherently built into jigged/guided systems and free to do your best work.

So give it some thought, maybe you have it in you to try..... I say go for it!

Happy sharpening! :)

Dave

FREE Shipping at Japanese Knife Sharpening Store!

2010-03-18T17:23:00.004-04:00

We tried this in the past and had some problems and some success, basically mixed results really. We thought that we'd give it a go again and see what happens so currently we're offering FREE Shipping in the USA on orders of $99 and above.

You can see more about this at Japanese Knife Sharpening Store

2010-03-16T10:53:00.004-04:00

Applying Chromium Oxide to Felt Pads

2010-02-27T16:22:00.000-05:00

Here's how I apply dry chromium oxide powder to felt pads. The idea is to use alcohol as the vehicle to safely transport the chromium to the felt (evenly) without the worry of clumping the felt's surface. The alcohol deposits the chromium on the felt and then dissipates quickly before soaking in. Here's the steps to success...

1. Gather a felt stropping/deburring pad, bottle of alcohol (preferably 90%+) small atomizer pump spray bottle, 0.3 micron dry chromium oxide powder and some cardboard or newspaper.

2. Fill the spray bottle about 1/4 full with chromium oxide.

3. Fill the remaining 3/4 of the spray bottle with alcohol, return cap/pump, and shake until well mixed.

4. Place felt pad on cardboard (or newspaper).

5. First prime the sprayer by pumping trigger and test by spraying another piece of cardboard (or newspaper) to make sure that it works and comes out as desired. This is important so that you don't get globs come out onto your felt pad.

6. Hold the spray bottle about 12" away from the felt pad and pump to evenly spray the felt's surface. Don't worry about making it dark green - just do it evenly as you can reapply with following coats.

*Note - I did it a bit too heavy for a single coat just so that you can see the green in the picture. This much coverage on the initial coating isn't required or advisable.

I'm sorry that the picture quality isn't all that great. I have no place to shoot good pictures anymore, the lighting here sucks. I hope the concept came across non-the-less though.

Felt Pads & Chromium Oxide

In case you're wondering if CrO works with felt the answer is yes, it works very well and a lot better if evenly distributed in the described fashion above. I have one felt pad loaded with both CrO and our Blue Diamond spray which I really like a lot so please feel free to try that as well....LOL. :D

Suehiro Rika 5000x

2010-02-12T21:03:00.003-05:00

The Suehiro Rika 5000x waterstone is a unique stone for many reasons. This stone has a low price point but it's performance level is anything but cheap. This 5000x stone offers up one of the best levels of feedback that I've ever experienced from any stone of any price, it's a pure joy to use. At first take it appears to be only giving up a 3000x edge because the bevel provided isn't very shiny at all, however use this edge and you'll quickly see that it's a 5000x edge that this stone is yielding.

I've found the Suehiro Rika 5000x to be the perfect bridge between 1000x and 8000x stones. In fact, at the moment, my favorite go to stone line up for double bevel Japanese knives like the gyuto, santoku, or nakiri is...

Beston 500x

Bester 1200x

Suehiro Rika 5000x

Takenoko 8000x

These stones, used in this combination, are giving me great edges on double bevel Japanese knives. The results are as good or better than what I get from stones costing three times as much.

I'm very pleased to have such great stones at my disposal and to bring them to market to share with you.

Microscopic Edge Pictures

2010-02-12T01:06:00.000-05:00

I had a request to post some microscopic edge images that I shot a few years ago using a QX5 USB scope that my friend Curtis gifted me. Thanks Curtis!

The pictures are meant to show what actually happens at the edge from using waterstones. They are a visual reference for what happens at the microscopic level to which we can't see with eyes alone.

1000x

5000x

8000x

10000x

I hope that these pictures serve to provide you with a better idea of what you're achieving at the edge while sharpening. I think it helps to be able to refer to this while you're working away.

*Please note - What particular stones used are not important here - it's about what happens (in general) at each grit level that's of relevance.

Some Store Changes

2010-02-09T22:37:00.002-05:00

Recently it's been clear that we needed to add some features to our store. I decided to tackle them today and I figured that I'd give it a facelift while I was at it.

I added in an "Email me when Back-In-Stock" button which will be seen on the product page when an item goes out of stock. You can type in your email address and we'll send you notification when the item becomes available again. This should help keep people in the loop without having to try to "get on the waiting list" always.

After some time I was able to finally figure out how to allow customer reviews to show which I feel is a feature that I personally love when shopping. If anyone wants to do a product review I'd love to have them.

On the facelift side of things I removed the tabs on the top of the page and went with a left side column list which I think cleaned it up a little and then a small format color change as well. Looks like the same site that's been sort of freshened up. If you're interested in seeing what I've done please see JapaneseKnifeSharpeningStore

Another Refurb...

2010-01-25T20:15:00.003-05:00

This past week I got a chance to do a "complete overhaul" on a yanagiba. I was thrilled by this one because I was given the opportunity to regrind the hollow (ura) side of the knife, something I had not previously attempted. The knife had been through a few hands but the wear was put on the knife by the initial owner through some overzealous sharpening. The second owner had done some pretty major repair work to both front and back to get it into working shape. I was tasked with taking it one more level and giving it the "full spa" treatment.

The hollow back side had been worked nearly flat across greatly reducing the remaining life of the knife. The front side bevel (kiriba or blade road) had been overground in spots, the tip had been nearly rounded away, the shinogi line was wavy, and it appears that the knife had been shrunk in both length and height.

I started out on the back side (see the before picture to the right) figuring that this is what will make or break the refurb, might as well get this part out of the way. I reground the hollow removing previous sins and then I cut in new zero ground bevels along the edge and spine. I had to go back and forth between belt grinder and waterstones until everything was just right. Needless to say I took my time on this part. I need to give a big thank you to Butch Harner for his tips on how to do this procedure - invaluable and spot on as always - Thanks Butch!

I then moved onto territory that I'm much more familiar with (see the before picture to the left) and started on the stones and the blade road. I quickly found that stones alone were not going to cut it this time. The blade road was uneven, shinogi line screwed up, and approaching the curve/tip was very thick. I needed to fix all issues before I could hit the stones so I went back to the belt grinder. I flattened the blade road and spent a lot of time thinning and blending the curve and tip to match up with the thinner part of the bevel.

At this point I had to make a decision about the shinogi line, I had to either leave it as is, raise it to make it even (while taking a HUGE chance on messing with the edge and blade road), or lower it from above to straighten it up - I chose the third option. I ground the flat section (where the kanji is stamped) just until the shinogi line became straight again. I was very lucky on this part in that I was able to stop just short of erasing the kanji away - whew!

After all of the major work was done I was off to the stones to make it functional for use. As I often do I took it a few steps past that point. I etched the blade (3 times actually) to bring out the damascus appearance (which was important to the customer) and then I hand rubbed the surface with stone dust and finger stones to achieve a "smoked" look on the back and to bring the appearance of the damascus into the forefront while also creating a slick surface texture.

Following the blade work I moved onto installing a custom made Stefan Keller olive wood handle to which I believe suits this knife perfectly in both looks and size/shape.

Here's some before and after pictures...

BEFORE...

AFTER...

BEFORE...

AFTER...

I'm very pleased to have been given the chance to work on this knife, being given the correct amount of time to not only bring it back to life but to possibly make it better than it may have been when it was new. Thanks Steve W.!

This is very satisfying work - I really love it!

2010-01-05T11:01:00.004-05:00

2009-11-30T13:13:00.003-05:00

Sharpening For Less

2009-11-20T12:12:00.003-05:00

I'm often asked to give referrals on sharpening stones for both beginners and seasoned sharpeners who are looking for upgrades. There are many variables that I have to factor in when considering my response, one of those being the cost of the stones to purchase (customer's budget). Most times the customer is looking to stay below a specific dollar amount yet knows that they want the best that they can get so that they don't have to upgrade later on down the road.

Since starting to sell stones one of my main goals has been to bring to market stones that I believe in, use, and are affordable to purchase. We've carried some stones that don't always fall in line with all of those categories though, the biggest culprit being price tags, though this is something we're looking to correct for the future.

Just recently we dropped the Naniwa Chosera series of stones simply because the cost of these stones is too high for most people. Too many of our customers expressed their interest in obtaining the complete set yet the most desired stones (the 5k & 10k) they couldn't afford. I believe in these stones as being some of the very best available however I know that the results achieved on them can be obtained from other stones for far less money.

With this in mind I've decided to only sell stones that are value based, stones that give great results for less cost. I have rededicated myself to finding these rare treasures and bringing them to our customers. We still have our old standbys like the Beston 500x, Bester 1200x and the Synthetic Aoto but will soon offer many new stones that will work great with these core stones. These new stones will only add to what we already offer allowing our customers to choose from stones that produce superb results but don't cost a small fortune to obtain. We believe that everyone should be able to get good sharpening results even when they don't have a lot to spend.

A Couple of Restorations

2009-11-05T14:16:00.001-05:00

These two knives were sent in to be reconditioned back to a serviceable state. The owner's mother left them to her and they had been stored for many years and been taken over by rust. The owners' Mom was Japanese and an avid cook.

On the resto, I first began by removing the damaged handle from the deba, then I soaked both knives in molasses/water mixture for about 3 days to loosen and remove the rust. My goal in doing it this way was to remove the active rust yet leave in tact the patina which had formed in use. This would leave character on the knife that was put there by the owner's Mom. In keeping with this theme I decided to not sand or buff out any pits or marks and to leave everything but the bevels as I found them. The thinking again would be that these marks were put on the knife through years of cooking meals for the family, they're like little peices of family history. I then hand rubbed off the remaining rust using oil, a rag, and a fingernail.

The Results...

I was able to leave the usuba handle in place as it's in good condition. I was very happy for this because the buffalo ferrule has a slight hourglass shape to it indicating (again) wear through use - more family history.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

The deba received a used (but in good condition) ho wood handle with buffalo ferrule donated by handlemeister Stefan Kellar that he had taken from a previous rehandle job that he had done.

Both knives were challenges to sharpen. Shinogi lines were broke through in spots and slightly uneven sharpening had been done for many years. The deba was the worst though, it was very bad in many areas and needed regrinding of the entire blade road and also needed edge damage and tip repair too.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I believe in the end that they came out functional peices of history that the owner can bring back into service making more meals for the family while being able to recall their Mom and what she's done for them over the years. I'm very happy to have been given the chance to work on these knives, this is what I love to do the most. :)

JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com

Class Pictures

2009-11-03T11:10:00.000-05:00

Here's some pictures taken by one of the students of a recent sharpening class held here at our shop in Fleetwood, PA.

JKS Class - Sept. 19th, 2009

You can see the sharpening station set ups that we put together for each student and even I got one to use too. :)

Thanks for the pictures David!

2009-10-22T19:06:00.003-04:00

2009-10-11T10:46:00.005-04:00

Felt Deburring Block - Macro Shots

2009-10-10T11:54:00.003-04:00

A very nice customer sent me some macro shots of our hard felt deburring block. I thought they were really cool and worthy of sharing.

Thanks Andy!

Hard Felt Deburring Block

Another Sharpening Class - November

2009-10-07T20:12:00.000-04:00

Due to popular demand we're going to hold another sharpening class here at our shop scheduled for Nov. 7, 2009.

Please see JapaneseKnifeSharpening Class Nov. '09 for details!

Chat is going to a new night this week

2009-10-07T18:25:00.000-04:00

After receiving many requests for us to host our chat session on a Sunday or Monday we've decided to go for it on this upcoming Sunday night.

This week I plan on doing some hands on demonstrations so it'll be a bit more interesting and hopefully informative than the usual format has been.

I hope to see you all this Sunday - 10/11/2009 - 2100 hrs (9:00 pm - EDT USA) @ JapaneseKnifeSharpening Video Chat

Talk to you then! :)

Got Burrs?

2009-09-30T19:05:00.004-04:00

Let's face it, if you sharpen a steel tool you're going to get a burr at the edge. You know, that little peice of steel that's been abraded away from it's home and is hanging on for dear life.

In all the sharpening I've done it's become clear to me a couple of things....

1. The worst knives to deburr are those constructed from real expensive super steels and those made from super market steels.

2. Stainless, especially forged by the Japanese, will always be tougher to deal with.

3. All Japanese knives are harder to deburr than almost all other knives on the planet.

4. If you think that you can make an edge by "sneaking up on the burr" and not actually creating one then you're either fooling yourself or you're just a fool with your head stuck in the sand because it just can't happen.

The hardest thing for me in doing professional Japanese knife sharpening has been dealing with the issue of burr removal and later the dreaded wire edge. I view burrs as the loose metal that can be drawn off the edge while the wire edge would be the thinnest cross section of steel found just below the burrs but above the true edge. The burrs need to be pulled off and the wire edge needs to be reduced through abrasion/polishing. You don't see what I'm talking about on non-Japanese knives.

In my estimation more than 90% of Japanese knife users are cutting on a weak wire edge. This is an OK thing for a knife like a yanagiba to which will only cut raw protein but what about a gyuto which could see a multitude of cutting tasks and is used hard against a cutting board? Ever hear a self sharpening chef exclaim that his fresh edge died 15 mins into his shift? I have, many times over, and the culprit was always the wire edge that had not been reduced away properly.

I've worked on this problem for many years now, trying to come up with a wire edge reduction procedure that I could pass along to people to use themselves to make stronger, sharper, longer lasting edges. I couldn't tell you how many things I've tried but I never got as close as I've now recently been able to do.

What's the big breakthrough? Well it's pretty simple actually, it's a two part solution, the first being a series of steps to follow and the second being our new ULTRA-Rock Hard Felt Deburring Pad and Hard Felt Deburring Block.

I suggest the following...

1. Grind in a bevel (on a coarse stone) until burr is achieved along the entire blade length - both sides.

2. Slice into felt block, then strop on felt pad, then slice into felt block again.

3. Use your next stones (whatever they may be) and follow each stone with step #2.

If followed correctly this method of deburring will provide you with a near perfect edge at the end of your sharpening session. This simple procedure and felt set has changed my ability to produce better edges and to do so much quicker than ever before.

If you're interested in checking out these new felts please see Japanese Knife Sharpening DeBurring Felts

Just in case you're thinking that you can run down to Joann's Fabric store and grab yourself some felt to try out I'll save you the trip and tell you that this felt we sell is an industrial felt imported from India that was selected by us after three months of testing of multiple sources. It was selected because it was the only one that worked effectively on hard to deburr Japanese knives. There's no other that we know of like it.

Live Chat Tonight!

2009-09-30T18:24:00.002-04:00

Come join us at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/japaneseknifesharpening for live chat tonight, Sept. 30th, 2009

See you there!

JKS Chat Tonight

2009-09-16T19:00:00.000-04:00

We're hosting a chat tonight - 9:00pm (2100 hrs) EDT
Come check it out at Japanese Knife Sharpening LIVE!

Looking for a good StoneHolder....who isn't?

2009-09-16T09:02:00.009-04:00

If you've ever used stones to sharpen tools then you can relate to needing something to hold the stones in place and in the case of the knife sharpener, elevate the stone to allow for some knuckle clearance.

I suppose that I've tried just about all of the different stone holder models available or at least I've handled them and decided not to bother with them.

A commonly seen holder is the flimsy plastic (resin) style (made by Naniwa). I could go on about this one but I think that I've said enough already.

There's a three piece (loose sectioned) holder called "The Rabu" (made by Naniwa) that uses an adjustable length of chain to hold the stones. This is a clumsy option to actually work with since you find yourself fiddling with the chain and when moving the holder the pieces swing about unwieldy. It does seem to hold some sized stones (stones that are the same size as the cut outs in the rubber end caps) pretty good once you get through with all the fumbling about.

Then there's the spring loaded version. Two rubber ends that are spread apart and held apart by the insertion of the stone into the holder. Longer/larger stones are somewhat difficult (if not impossible) to get into the holder as you have to overcome the spring tension and the stone length may be a factor in getting the stone into the holder at all. This holder does very effectively hold the stones in place though.

A unique, although somewhat useless, stone holder is a twin rail holder that grabs the stone on it's sides. This might be a decent option if there was enough lip supplied to actually grab onto the stone effectively.

Up next is likely the most common of all stone holders, it's the dual post triple (or double) rubber model. These are sold just about everywhere that waterstones are found and they're inexpensive which likely accounts for why they seem to be the most popular version used. They're not all that bad really except that they're kind of light and the rubber composition doesn't really grab and hold the holder/stone in place as one would expect it to (allows for slipping about). Models are available with upgraded chrome plated rods as well as there are longer versions seen here and there. All are too short to use on larger/longer stones or stones with bases though.

Then there's my #1 choice, the Suehiro Deluxe stone holder. This is the Big Daddy of them all. Without a doubt this is the best waterstone holder on the market. It's large size provides a wider footprint, it contains tackier rubber, and more weight than standard sized stone holders. This, in turn, provides a rock steady platform from which to sharpen from. You put this where you want it and it stays there.

This model has only one rod/screw to deal with yet I've found that when switching stones it's completely unnecessary to even bother with the screw/nut because the rubber holds the stone in place simply from snugging the holder ends up under the stone - what a great time saver!

A bonus feature of the Suehiro Deluxe is that it will hold all stones - even those with bases up to 250mm in length. For those of you who have been shying away from buying stones that have bases (like the Naniwa stones) you won't need to shy away anymore, your stone buying options will now be wide open. *See the attached image for how this works.

I've been using this stone holder for some time now and I won't ever go back to the lesser models. If you've been searching for the ultimate stone holder then your search is over - the Suehiro Deluxe is what you've been looking for.

The Misunderstood Kitayama

2009-09-11T12:35:00.006-04:00

If there's ever been a stone that's been misused, misread, misdiagnosed, and mislabeled then it's got to be this one - The Kitayama 8000x.

I could go into great detail about all of this but I'll spare you my thoughts and instead provide a few things I feel to be facts that will hopefully explain why this stone is so misunderstood and often, as a result, mislabeled and misused.

Besides being labeled as an 8k stone it has little more that this in common with other stones in this grit range. Typically an 8k stone will sort of pull along a 4-6k grit edge to a mirror polish very quickly while at the same time will provide an even crisper "bitier" (yeah I know it's not a real word) edge but this isn't something that the Kitayama does. If used as an "8k stone" it will fail in comparison to others as it does not appear to refine lesser edges easily.

Over the years I've had an off and on relationship with this stone. I've tried many times to stop using it simply because I wanted to reduce the number of stones I was using on each knife and I wondered if this stone was doing any good at all. One thing that's become evident to me in all this time is that it's role seems to be that of an edge finisher much more so than a typical 8k stone. I've found it's best used following great polishing stones such as a Naniwa Chosera or SuperStone 10k or the like. It seems to take what these stones do and make it better. This is why I tend to think of it as a "finishing stone". I also have some theories on it providing increased edge retention but this isn't anything that I could prove so I won't go into that here.

For the surface finish (or appearance) that this stone imparts it's often been labeled as a stone that provides a cloudy hazy appearance and to this I used to agree with, however, since I've stopped using this as a stand alone 8k and now follow other polishing stones with it, I get deep mirror luster instead. The finish it provides me often imparts a depth of color which transforms bright shiny edges to a deep darker 3D appearing sort of a look. I'll often see extremely fine wispy lines within the reflections. I'm assuming that the wispy lines come from the natural stone particles contained within the stone's matrix but I have no way to know if this is true or not.

For me the Kitayama is a stone that I just can't seem to live without.

JKS Chat Update

2009-09-11T11:55:00.000-04:00

We're going to move the day of the chat from Friday to Wednesday and see how that works out. We had a great showing on our first broadcast but we're looking to get even more people to join in.

The next video chat is scheduled for Wednesday Sept. 16, 2009.

Also worth mentioning is that we're going to try a different venue called Stickam. This will give us (hopefully) less delay as well the ability to receive some viewer webcam streams during the broadcast. Should be fun!

JKS Video Chat Update

2009-09-04T14:21:00.001-04:00

We're going live tonight Sept. 4, 2009 at 2000hrs (8:00 pm EST) with our first video chat session. If you're interested please come on over to JapaneseKnifeSharpening Chat and join in the fun. I believe that all you'll have to do is to create a screen name and then you'll be chatting to my video feed. I hope to see you there!

Carbon Knives - Patina or Rust?

2009-09-04T09:26:00.001-04:00

When I first started getting into Japanese kitchen knives I was very interested in carbon knives and how they did or didn't react to specific foods. I didn't want to taste steel on fresh fruit, know what I mean? Yuck!

Over time it's become clear to me that carbon knives (once "seasoned") are very safe to use on anything that's going to be cooked (like onions for example) but still may not be the best choice for fresh fruit where I would select a knife with at least stainless steel cladding over a carbon core if not full stainless. Carbon knives appear best used for proteins, both raw and cooked, as they seem to impart no flavor to the food. Anyone notice what steels are predominatly used for sushi knives? Yup - carbon!

So even though we know that we can use them for some tasks safely there's still an issue of maintenance that's going to be greater than that of their stainless cousins. Use and care of a carbon knife is somewhat like that of using and caring for a cast iron pan - they need some TLC in the way of seasoning to keep them in top form and to keep the red stuff (aka- rust) at bay.

I often get asked what's the best way to deal with seasoning (or forming a patina) on a carbon knife. My personal method is to use, wipe, use, wipe, wash when done (with soap and water), and then oil for storage. I choose to use Camellia Oil for this simply because it's made for the task and also washes off easily. Once the surface of the knife begins to oxidize across it's entire length (that is forms a patina) then the need for oiling is greatly reduced. I will use the oil until the knife crosses over from brown patina to blue, purple, black(ish) as this is often an indication of a nice strong seasoning layer having been formed. I would strongly advise, however, that if you are living in an extremely humid environment (such as Hawaii) that you always coat your carbon knives with oil before storing away.

Remember,....patina = good....rust = bad!
There's a fine line between the two and you're the one who controls it.

Japanese Knife Sharpening Chat is Here!

2009-08-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

"JKS (Japanese Knife Sharpening) Chat" is coming your way!

I decided to give group chat a try. I'm going to start doing a weekly online chat that'll likely be held on Friday nights for 2 hrs.

I'm thinking that with all of the phone calls, emails, and PM's I get that have to do with sharpening questions that there's bound to be a whole lot more questions not being asked so I figured this might be a fun venue to explore. It'll give people a chance to ask me questions and discuss sharpening with others at the same time - in real time.
I'm thinking about kicking it off this upcoming Friday night (Sept 4th) say 8-10 EST USA. More details to follow...

Nagura - what's it really for?

2009-08-30T13:12:00.005-04:00

Nagura stones are often seen packaged with synthetic polishing stones. They can be useful tools if you understand what, and what not, to use them for.

The unfortunate thing is that they're often sold under the idea that they should be used to create mud/slurry (combo of stone particles & water) on the stone's surface. I believe the idea of doing this would be to create a finer breakdown of stone particles thus making the polishing stone more effective. The reality is that this isn't what happens at all, and in fact what does happen is that you'll make a slurry of mud that mostly contains the grit particles from the nagura stone rather than the polishing stone. Since many of these nagura stones are rated in the 600x range this would then have the effect of sharpening on a 600x polishing stone which of course makes no sense at all.

I believe that the use of nagura stones to create a slurry comes from using natural waterstones (versus synthetics) which would be OK if a natural nagura was used as well where the two were picked and paired up specifically to work in this manner with one another. This is a whole other subject though as there are many natural naguras available which vary greatly in quality much like full size natural stones do and picking from this vast (expensive) selection is just a bit out of reach for most of us. See a small selection of natural nagura stones pictured.

So back to the world of synthetic naguras and what they're actually used for...

A common use for a nagura is stone cleaning where you would de-glaze or refresh the surface of a polishing stone as it becomes dirty. Personally I don't bother with this myself because I've found that by the time a stone is dirty enough to warrant cleaning it often warrants flattening as well. I prefer the kill two birds with one stone approach here and go straight for the flattening plate.

I find that their best use is to refinish (or smooth) the surface texture of a polishing stone after it's been flattened by a coarser means such as a DMT D8XX (120x) diamond plate. Smoothing the surface down brings more contact area of the stone to the blade making the polishing stone work more effectively. My 1-2 punch for stone flattening is to use the ATOMA 140x Diamond Plate followed by our 6000x Synthetic Nagura stone If you already have a diamond plate and a nagura then try it out for yourself as you might find, like myself, that this is a good way to deal with the chore of stone flattening.

Chad Ward's "An Edge In The Kitchen"

2009-08-29T10:46:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite people that I've hung out with and had the pleasure of getting to know is Chad Ward, author of "An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives" (a great book for the kitchen knife minded individual). To see what Chad's up to check him out at http://www.chadwrites.com/

Conditioning a New Sharpening Stone

2009-08-28T14:22:00.000-04:00

So many people I talk to are shocked to find out that new stones aren't flat out of the box. I know this sucks but it's the truth, you need to flatten all of your stones before using them.

New stones can come with stickers on the surface (which when removed leave glue behind) or maybe just ink imbedded into the surface due to fancy markings, often come uneven, all come with high edges/corners, and some will even have a sort of surface crust on them that needs removing before the stone actually works correctly.

My advice is to soak (if your stone requires soaking) the stone first and then follow with rounding the edges and ends, then flatten, then round the edges and ends (again). The order that you do this procedure is the same that you do for flattening a stone each and everytime although it's much more important to do the edge rounding at the pre-flattening stage when the stone is new because these high edges won't allow for you to flatten the stone correctly because the flattening stone/plate will be lifted off of the stone's surface. Sounds crazy I know - but trust me this is key to getting your new stone(s) really flat.

The Underrated Synthetic Aoto!

2009-08-28T13:20:00.003-04:00

Have you ever had the feeling that you're talking to yourself?

Well I have and when it comes to the preaching I do about this stone it definitely feels this way. Sometimes I just want to reach out through the computer and grab people and shake them to get this message across. I want to get on my roof and scream it out loud! :)

OK, so I often get a bit too excited about having sharpening work to do (yeah I that's from me a professional knife sharpener), especially single bevel knives, in great part because I get a chance to use the synthetic aoto we sell. I just love this stone for so many reasons and I love to use it - it's almost like playing with a toy.

The thing is that it's soft - VERY soft - and this often puts people off. I understand this as I was one of those people too. I've since learned that this characteristic is something very valuable to a sharpener as it can teach you correct angle control since even the slightest wobble will lead to a gouged stone. I know, you hate to gouge your stones, but wouldn't it be nice to never gouge stones again because of what you learned from this stone?

The biggest reason why I love this stone is what it does for the edge. It transforms a coarse edge through the medium stages up into pre-polish. It does this because it contains a mix of synthetic abrasives rated between 1-3k and is bound with natural clay binders. The surface being soft and quite friable immediately begins to let loose abrasive which instantly turns to mud and then begins to break down into finer and finer particles which then explains the high polish this stone provides. It's as if you get the best of all worlds - you get fast cut and polishing at the same time. Plus, it sure doesn't hurt that it just feels great to sharpen on this stone, a great pleasure indeed.

We offer two sizes -
Large Size Synthetic Aoto
X-Large Size Synthetic Aoto

The large is very large while the XL is H_U_G_E!
I prefer the XL for single bevel knives.

ZBlog - A must see Blog!

2009-08-28T01:10:00.000-04:00

ZBlog - The blog of Zknives.com

You've just got to check out all the cool stuff that my friend Zvi (aka Gator) has put up over there. Don't forget to check out his Zknives site too!

Japanese Knife Sharpening Services....

2009-08-28T00:53:00.002-04:00

It's a fact, that one bad sharpening job will turn your expensive Japanese knife into a butter knife or worse. We've seen a great number of damaged Japanese knives that were sharpened on grinding machines or by inexperienced hands left ruined as a result.

Don't make the mistake of allowing a sharpener to work on your Japanese knives unless they confirm that the work is done by hand on waterstones - not a belt grinder or any other grinding machine. You need to find a service that will sharpen by hand using Japanese waterstones.

Also, ask questions about how long they've been in business and don't be afraid to ask for recommendations. If it's a simple job on an inexpensive double bevel knife then maybe this is overkill but for high dollar high end single bevel traditional Japanese knives having major repair work you need to make sure that the person you're trusting has the knowledge and experience to back up they're talk.
Most professional knife sharpeners are charging a premium for sharpening these knives. Why? It's simple - because they can. They know that these knives are expensive, and have a certain "aire" attached to them. They know that it takes more time and skill to sharpen them and they know that the user understands this so they take advantage of the situation. You pay the premium price while getting the basic service. I'm not trying to badmouth the professional knife sharpening industry but after hearing of hundreds of horror stories I just have to believe that where's there's smoke - there's fire.

We, at JapaneseKnifeSharpening.com do charge more for sharpening these knives than some but less than others and we like to think that we offer a great deal in return. We use a highly refined "hand" sharpening procedure that utilizes between 6 - 10 different waterstones. The resultant edge is strong, highly polished/refined, and is nothing short of "High Performance". It's the best possible edge that can be attained through any sharpening method. It is the edge that your fine Japanese knives deserve.

We do major repair work as well, often times working on family heirlooms and high end knives made by famous makers.

One of my favorite repair jobs that I'm quite proud of is the refurbishment of this 330mm Shigefusa (KIYA) yanagiba owned by Harrleson Stanley (from Shapton USA). This knife was gifted to Harrelson personally by the owner of Shigefusa after having survived a hurricane. The knife was found under sea water as seen in the before picture. I worked on this knife to bring it back to what I believe to be close to what Shigefusa would do themselves.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

As you can likely imagine none of this work was done by machine, it was 100% hand work done on waterstones. There's only probably a few pro sharpeners doing this level of work in this county and maybe even the world for that matter so remember - ask for credentials!

Well I really didn't want this post to be a rant but it kind of is non-the-less I guess. My point in all this is for you to beaware of who your handing over you're expensive and very special Japanese knives too.

2009-08-28T00:21:00.002-04:00

Sharpening Classes

2009-08-27T23:59:00.001-04:00

We've got two sharpening classes being held here at our location in Fleetwood, PA

Dates: Sept. 14th & 19th, 2009

For additonal details please see Knife Sharpening Classes @ JapaneseKnifeSharpening

FREE SHIPPING!

2009-08-27T23:49:00.001-04:00

Yes that's right, we're now offering free shipping on orders over $99 to our USA customers and yes we have included Alaska and Hawaii!

JapaneseKnifeSharpeningStore.com

Don't Just Buy Your Sharpening Stones From Anyone....

2009-08-27T23:40:00.007-04:00

Taking the first steps towards sharpening your own Japanese knives can be downright daunting, not to mention a whole lot confusing. There's so many stone choices on the market today but what do you choose?

Do you pick what you hear is popular on the online discussion forums?

Do you buy based on what people tell you that you need?

Do you spend the big $$ and get the best of the best just so that you can be sure you've got your bases covered?

Do you know what the best of the best even is?

Do you really know what you need not just for today but for the future as well?

Do you like the idea of buying sets of stones twice or even three times like most people do?

Do you need to flatten your stones right away?

What do you use on which stones for flattening?

Do your new stones need soaking? Will they benefit from it or will it hurt them?

Are you sure that the man or woman selling you your new stones understands what you need?

Does your salesman know the answer to these questions....and more importantly....is he a knife sharpener himself?

Yes I know, it's a lot of things to consider, but that's just it - you should be considering all of these things!

Don't get too panicked though - there's hope, JapaneseKnifeSharpeningStore.com is here for you and we want you to know that you not only can, but should contact us to help you make the best purchase that suits your individual needs and tastes. What works for one person doesn't always work the best for everyone. People have many variables to consider and often this means discussion with a knowledgeable salesman. Well, we're not really salesman by trade, we're professional Japanese Knife Sharpeners who are passionate about what we do and have spent years working with these stones and know a great deal about them. We can easily help you on your way to getting what you need without any worries as to whether or not you're getting what suits you the best. This is what we like to consider as our best value added service. We may not always have the best pricing (although we do try our best) but we always have the knowledge to help you get what you need.

Our selection of stones and sharpening equipment is what we use everyday, products that we believe in, and have hand picked from the hundreds available out there. We've taken the time to weed through and test everything that we can get our hands on so we know what works and what doesn't. We'll obviously want to share our knowledge with you through a sale but we will also not hesitate to point you in whatever direction may suit your needs the best, even if it means the loss of a sale and that's because we strongly believe in people getting what they need to make their knife sharpening experience the best it can be.

If you should have any questions at all please give us a call or shoot us an email, all inquires will be welcome.

Regards,
Dave

OK,,,,,,,,here we go! :)

2009-08-27T23:21:00.000-04:00

The reason why I'm now finally getting into "Blogging" is that I keep getting asked to create a Blog, well rather I keep getting suggestions to do so, and now here I am doing it. Never underestimate the power of suggestion folks :)

I'll be trying to keep up with this new avenue and will look to post some of my thoughts and techniques for Japanese Knife Sharpening as well as keep you updated on what's new and upcoming with our company and at our online store.

Hopefully you'll find some things of interest to you and you'll see your way back here to check in every once in awhile. Hope to see you around.

Dave