Any special considerations I should heed to when sharpening a Shun on my WE? I’ve watched a couple of videos that talk about going all the way to 3000-grit paper which I don’t have, I can go as far as 1600 ceramic. 17 DPS seems to be the preferred bevel but some talk about a microbevel on top of that, is that true? Don’t want to take someone’s knife and destroy it.
17 degrees per side will be fine. You don’t need to go all the way to 3000 grit. I’d doubt that the factory edge is much more than 800 grit. A well applied 1600 grit edge at 17 dps will make be a very good edge.
Thanks so much Organic, any idea about a microbevel? The video that Clay made a few years back is where I heard mention of it.
Every Shun I’ve owned, sharpened and everything I’ve read about Shuns, when researching them, says the factory bevel is 16 dps. They do not have a micro-bevel from factory. The edges though are very thin at the tip portion and the bevels although at 16 degrees appear very small, almost tiny, resembling some micro-bevels, they’re that small.
It takes very light pressure sharpening them to avoid removing too much steel while enlarging the bevel width. While widening the shoulders…that is removing too much edge steel, lowers the knife edge down to a position where the knife steel is thicker.
Well, I’ll Sharpie it and check the angle before lightly plowing into it. Thanks guys!
I agree with MarcH…16 DPS.
This is from the C&M website for the Shun Hiro…“64° Rockwell Hardness; hand-sharpened Japanese double-bevel blade angle 16° (each side)”
And for the Shun Classic: Rockwell Hardness: 60-61; hand-sharpened Japanese double-bevel blade angle 16° (each side)
Welcome to the forum James!
I’ve been using the 1500 diamond for my SG2 steak knives and been happy with the performance. I wouldn’t recommend ceramic for steel that hard though.
For steel that hard and brittle, I prefer to sharpen with Whetstones. I use Shaptons Whetstones.
Thank you!
My Shun Premier set that I bought off Ebay was probably a return and were dulled by whoever had used them before me. Even though the seller represented the set as “new in box”! This type of thing happens on Amazon too. So for their first sharpening I wanted to see the OEM edge that Shun puts on them. They have lifetime sharpening from Shun for a $5 return shipping fee. They returned them to me super sharp. These should last me now 6 months and then I might Wicki them myself. I should have taken pics of their edge for the hell of it just to see if I could do a better edge. I might send them to Shun one more time anyway as they do put on a super sharp factory edge.
Shun was recommended here to me by Organic one of our experienced (and he’s extremely helpful to all of us members here, thanks Organic). When I posted a thread here asking which brand I should look into for premium steel Japanese kitchen knives . . . He suggested Shun and a few other brands that produced V10 at a reasonable cost (and I got their Damascus steel too, simply stunning) .
Interesting that the parent company Kai, also owns other famous knife brands (see pic). Check out Shun’s link as they have a really nice website: https://shun.kaiusaltd.com/#