Sharpening Japanese knives

[James Kennedy]

HI I am new to this forum and bought my Wicked Edge a couple weeks ago. I have sharpened pretty much every knife in my house including my Wusthof kitchen knives. So far every thing has gone quite well thanks to the product and the videos posted on this site. I have the precision sharpener plus the 800-1000 stones, the super fine ceramic stones and the Balsa with 5/3.5 micron diamond paste.

I have a couple of Shun Fuji knives that are still very sharp but wonder if I need anything different when I need to sharpen them. I will want a bit more experience and practice before I tackle these knives but want to think ahead. I saw on the video that Clay used the more expensive Chosera water stones on a nicer Japanese knife. I don’t want to waist money or buy a lot more stones if they are not needed but I sure don’t want to damage these knives.

Thanks for any help you can provide on these knives or if there is any thing missing in the stones and strops I have for my other knives.

[Josh]

Hey James! Welcome!

You don’t need to be concerned about damaging them w/ your current stones =) steel is steel, albeit some steel is harder than other steel (not sure what Kai heat treats their Shun’s to?). That being said I would try to not go lower than your 400 grit stones if you can help it to prevent any kind of chipping. The 1k edge w/ light stropping should be NIIICE =)

[Mark76]

Welcome James! Enjoy your WEPS!

I second Josh’s recommendations. I sharpen all my Japanese kitchen knives usually starting with the standard WEPS diamond stones, then ceramics and then stropping. (Sometimes I use Chosera or Shapton stones, too.) Japanese steel is usually a bit harder than that of standard Western knives and so may chip earlier. An advantage of this harder steel is that it can take steeper angles. I usually sharpen Western kitchen knives @ 20 – 22 degrees and Japanese ones @ 13-15 degrees. When I need a burr on my Japanese knives I nearly always start with the 100 grit stones.

That said, Shun VG10 is in terms of hardness probably between Western knives and more traditional Japanese knives. But some of the Shun knives are known to have a tendency to microchip. That’s chips you can sometimes only see with a loupe. Hence Josh’s recommendation to start with the 400 grit stones, I think. You could still try to get a burr with the 100 grits stones, but if you experience microchipping, use the 400 grit ones.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[James Kennedy]

Thanks for the help. That is what I was hoping to hear. As I get better I don’t mind picking up a few pieces but I don’t want to replace all the stones I have just started to figure out how to use.

I assumed that now that my knives are all pretty sharp that it would be best to touch them up them more frequently so I would not need to use the more course stones. I am sure how course I will need will very by knife but was thinking to start with 800 and up when I touch them up.

[tcmeyer]

Welcome to the forum James!

Not knowing how many knives you’ve sharpened with your WEPS so far, I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that your stones are probably not yet broken-in completely. I would stick to cheaper knives until you’ve determined that your stones are making smooth, uniform passes.

I would also second Josh’s recommendation to start with your 400 grit stones, especially on blades with shallow angles ( <18 dps ). A chip on a shallow angle bevel tends to be quite deep and will take a lot of work to remove with finer grits.

As you stones are broken-in, you'll notice that sharp has a whole new definition. Get yourself a good loupe or a handheld microscope.

[James Kennedy]

Thanks again, I have sharpened around 20 knives. I have a dozen small steak knives that I started with to break in the stones. I picked up a 10 times loop and so far all the knives look pretty good. The steak knives are at 22 and most of the Wusthof’s area at 20. I have two Wusthof Santoku knives that I put at 18. I plan on sharpening several more before I touch those Shun knives. The Shun’s are pretty new and what started me down this learning how to better sharpen knives slippery slope. I am sure we have all been here. Pick up some nice knives and then you need the best sharpener. After you get the best sharpener you want even nicer knives.

I am trying to figure out how sharp I need or want to keep these knives. I don’t mean any disrespect to the skill and time some spend on this but I think at some point the edge is for looks and to prove how sharp you can get a knife just because you can. I think I have already figured out how to keep them sharp enough for most any cook. The fun part might be how far do I want to take this.

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