Johpe

[Johpe]

wickededge wrote:

I’ve been testing it but so far have been underwhelmed. We’ll keep working with the manufacturers to see if they can come up with a formulation that will work. So far it’s been a bit like using electrical tape – it compresses and gets gooey and slippery.

Thanks for the info. So I guess that the nano grip wasn’t deemed really necessary to securely clamp knives in the new jaws (since they’re available to buy right now)?

 

[Johpe]

This is the post I’m referring to:

Nano grip

 

[Johpe]

I was more or less in the same situation as you a few years ago; home chef needing to get my knives sharp again. I started my research for a sharpening setup and ended up buying the Pro-Pack 2. It’s great! Then after a while a little bit of OCD kicked so I ended up getting the Chosera wet stones for the wicked edge as well. Now everything around the house that can hold an edge is super sharp.

The only issue with chefs knives (at least for me) is that as soon as they’re over 20cm long I need to sharpen them in sections since I can’t complete a full forward/upward motion along the whole edge. The only downside is that it will take a little longer to complete a knife this way.

//Johannes

[Johpe]

Yeah I know, I’m a software engineer myself but mostly for embedded systems so I try to avoid UIs.

If you have any ideas on how it should look and behave I could probably help out, preferably in Qt or some other cross platform UI kit.

[Johpe]

Great stuff…!! I’m still interested in the app! 😉

[Johpe]

I would think that the simplification mentioned in (2) would definitely be good enough!

I would use a program like that for initial placement of a new knife and then 0.5 degree accuracy if probably better than any one would be able to notice or set by them selves without computer aide.

For the WEPS I think it would be a great help if the program for example could output info with regards to the already existing depth alignment guide (which we all already use(!?)).

Now, I’ve already manually “dialed in” most of my knives so for me a program like that would serve as a double-check that I’ve done right to begin with. But for new users it could probably help a lot to get started with knife placement in the vise.

[Johpe]

Hi there

Impressive work indeed! After looking at the case study couldn’t that be more or less used as the base of a computer program to give the optimal placement of each knife in the vise?

Something in the lines of:
1) the user is asked to select the shape of his blade
2) the user is asked for the length of the blade
3) the user is asked about the height (or two or three height meassurements).

Then the program calculates the optimal placement and gives is to the user.

Seems like you already have the math and everything worked out?

BR, Johannes

[Johpe]

Now I’m thinking about getting my next kitchen knife in hap40 steel, people on other forums claim it should be unbelievably great for sharpness and edge retention. Anyone here that has any experience with it?

[Johpe]

Mike, I have a balsa strop that’s loaded with 1 mu diamond compound. I use it every time before cooking.

That’s sufficient. But for fun I quite often give it the Chosera 10K treatment on the WEPS 🙂 .

Aah that makes sense I’m sure the petty I have in AEB-L would hold up perfectly if I stropped it every time before use. But I prefer m390 in that case, it also get freakishly sharp, but it also maintains the edge quite well.

[Johpe]

@Jack it actually holds up quite well, the tomato test I did now was not with the knife freshly sharpened. It is almost 2 months since I sharpened it and it has been used for various kitchen duties since then.

@Mark I’ve got the Artifex petty in AEB-L, as you say it gets very sharp, but I’m actually a bit disappointed in it since it loses its edge quite quickly for me. My petty is at 15 degrees and sees only light kitchen use (basically vegetables and fruit) but it still dulls quickly and has actually rolled the edge in a few places for me.

[Johpe]

Btw, just tested the tomato on cutboard shaving from the video with my Artifex in m390 at 13 degrees per side… No problem at all, I could basically push cut paper thin slices without holding the tomato.

[Johpe]

Some of the knives in the video seems to be from the 7000MC line.

The steel would then be what Henckels calls MC66 which should be an alias for the Hitachi ZDP-189 PM steel. MC stands for Micro Carbide and 66 is the target hardness on the Rockwell scale.

I have no hands on experience with the Miyabi knives but I definitely do like ZDP-189 so I guess that steel in kitchen knives wold work very well.

[Johpe]

Thanks Daug, What I really ment to ask is, do the chosera stones make your edges sharper? I get the desire to make the edge shine once in a while (mostly for showing off 😛 ). The chosera stones would have to make a discernable difference in sharpness to justify the expense for me. B)

As you know from the thread that I posted (Link) I’m a very happy new Chosera owner, and my stand point now is: if you’re considering them – get them! They are that good (but pricey).

They make a great difference in getting a really sharp knife, I do however think that you can probably get equally sharp with ceramics and strops but you will need to put in a lot more work with that setup and your risk rounding the edge since you will have to strop a lot. With the Choseras you get a super refined and perfect V-shaped sharp edge every time and the progression is really quick. I still do recommend custom fitting the stones on the handles so the next grit can soak while you work with the current grit.

To get back on topic; I would say get angle cube, pp2 upgrade and then finer stones and strops before the really coarse stones. I’ve only missed the coarse stones once on all the knives I had time to sharpen.

[Johpe]

I like the m390 steel a lot for its edge retention and sharpness and I got the Artifex in m390 since I have the Benchmade Barrage in m390 and liked it a lot.

Reprofiling the Artifex to 13 degrees was a serious amount of work, I had previously reprofiled the Barrage without much issues, but the Artifex seemed much harder (even though they should be more or less the same Rockwell hardness).

Now with the Choseras I took it all the way up to 10k and then 0.25 um CBN on roo strop. It got sharp enough to fall through a tomato if I just hold it flat in my open hand and move it forwards or backwards just a little, so whatever little teeth there might be (or not be) works very well with the 13 degree edge. Maybe if I left it more toothy it would pierce the skin of a tomato without any slicing motion at all, I haven’t tried that. As for longevity I previously (b.c. (before chosera)) had it at 13 degrees with a micro fine ceramic finish and that held up really well.

I also got the Artifex petty knife in AEB-L which is a smaller knife which I use for more delicate tasks but even so that one has rolled on me a few times while the m390 has held up fine through more use and a steeper angle. If it’s worth reprofiling, it I don’t know, it was a lot of work for me (the coarsest stone I have is the 100 diamond).

The camera is actually just from my mobile phone a Nexus 4 (I should have gotten my real camera but it was 1.30 in the morning so I just took what was around me).

[Johpe]

@Eamon: yes I’m already bothering family to ‘lend’ me their knives.

@knives2survive: I know what you mean, I got the pp2 first and now in the end I gave in a got the Chosera stones as well, they cost too much but what I wanted to say with this thread is that if you’re considering them – get them, they live up to the expectations!

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