SIngle Bevel Conondrum

[Readheads]

I just got a gift from my son after a trip to Japan. It is a single bevel Deba Aritsugu. Not sure of exact steel but somewhat sure it is White #1 (ie. it will rust) but also allow extra sharpness (not sure on retention). Anyway, I wanted to put a fresh WEPS edge on it but after mounting it and doing some angle checks, the single bevel is around 15 DPS in the middle, 17 DPS at the heel and 14 DPS near the tip (due to hand sharpening on a rotating stone I suppose). Obviously, this means I would have to do ALOT of reprofiling to maintain a true single bevel on the WEPS.

Does anyone have suggestions to save time and IF I chose to spend the hours needed to do a 5/8″ single bevel reprofile will I wear out my diamond handles ?

 

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[Marc H]

Redheads, I’m guessing the Deba is uneven beveled maybe 90/10, then besides the 90 degree bevel side, you said ,the bevel angle changes steeper as you progress from heel to tip. Is the bevel convexed any from the shoulder to the apex, also?  I don’t own a large and broad “Deba” style knife like yours, made for cutting fish, fish heads and bones.  I do have a “Honesuki” style VG10 Tojiro DP which is more narrow, steep and tapered to a smaller narrower tip  because it’s intended to bone poultry.  It still is a 90/10 uneven bevel.

I really believe a knife like your “Deba” is a work-of-art and you would do it an injustice if it were sharpened any other way then on a flat stone, free hand.  I believe the sharpness to this style lies in the angle relationship between the uneven beveled sides, (90/10) more than the angle of the bevel (14 to 17 degrees) along the broad beveled side.  If the apex of the edge is maintained clean and crispy, due to the bulk and thickness of the steel the knife will continue to cut well for a long time.  That you can do with a leather hand strop.  I don’t think the wide bellied thick profile of your knife lends itself to be sharpened by a fixed angle sharpening system.  I wonder if the knife is too thick to even fit within the vice jaws.  My Western Deba I have to almost force it into my jaws and it’s considerably smaller and thinner than your Deba.

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

[cjb80202]

I have no advice, but wow that’s a beautiful knife!

[tcmeyer]

I have an Aritsugu gifted to me by my sister last year, after her trip to Japan.  I’ve only used it a few times for very soft materials (tomatoes, mostly) so haven’t had to sharpen it.  I was quite concerned about sharpening it, as it looks as though the edge is sharpened to about 6 dps, 12 inclusive.  It’s not a Deba, but a Wagokoro.

My sister, however, was less concerned and used hers (a twin to mine) quite a bit, and recently brought it to me for sharpening.  I don’t have a waterstone and will not buy one, as I know I can do better with my WEPS.  I clamped hers in my LAA and was able to get down to 7.8 – 7.9 dps, which really is pretty good.  It sharpened up nicely.  I think I’ve got a micro-video of it somewhere.

Redheads, I would recommend that you use the knife until it needs sharpening.  Besides extending the life of the knife, you’ll get a feel for how the maker intended the knife to be used.  In my experience, this was an eye-opener and I would not want to have missed out on it.

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Marc H

[Mark76]

Readheads wrote:

Does anyone have suggestions to save time and IF I chose to spend the hours needed to do a 5/8″ single bevel reprofile will I wear out my diamond handles ? 

The 50/80 stones? A word of warning: these are very aggressive stones that will cause deep scratches on your knife. From experience I know that such hand-made knives are quite often ground rather inconsistently. If you suddenly put on a new bevel of one, very consistent, angle, this may look rather odd. So you may want to put in some extra work just for the looks of it. As Tom put it:

Redheads, I would recommend that you use the knife until it needs sharpening.  Besides extending the life of the knife, you’ll get a feel for how the maker intended the knife to be used.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

1 user thanked author for this post.

Marc H

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