Single Bevel Japanese Knife with Chef's Choice 100

[Forest Gleaner]

I have a reletively cheap ($20) Japanese sushi knife with a single bevel (right side of blade as held). I also have a Chef's Choice 100 sharpener that I have not used yet on this knife because I'm not sure the sushi knife is ground at the same angle as the Chef's Choice uses. Anyone have any expert opinion on this?

jm

[slkinsey]

What you have is a japanese-style "chisel" edge with a single bevel. To the best of my knowledge, the he Chef's Choice 100 (which would date to around 1985), sharpens to a double-beveled V-edge. You would not want to put your japanese chisel-edge knife in this machine, as it will completely change the edge.

For reference, here is a graphic I produced for Chad's excellent Knife Maintenance and Sharpening eGCI Class:

[Octaveman]

These type of sharpeners (electric) are not made for single-beveled knives. These are made for symmetrical ground knives like a chef's knife.

[Forest Gleaner]

OK, the Chef's Choice is out - my only other option, short of buying something new, is to use a general purpose sharpening stone - I'm guessing that's OK? My only remaining question then is, once the single side is sharpened, how does one go about working with a steel? Do you ever use the steel on the unsharpened side? Seems to me if you don't, you may leave an edge toward that side - right?

Thanks guys - appreciate your input.

john

[Octaveman]

Steels aren't used on single-beveled knives either. Your posts are begging the question...what are you using your yanagiba for?

[Forest Gleaner]

Perhaps I'm not being clear re this knife - I know next to nothing about it, and I am trying to learn something. I have only used it a few times for cutting fish, but I think it should be sharper than it is, because instead of making a fine straight cut as a really sharp knife would, it tends to turn as it is cutting. I was hoping to get some practical advice re the proper way to sharpen it before I used some improper way and ruined the knife.

What I'm missing here is that in my experience sharpening knives with a bevel on two sides, the goal is to progressively hone the edge from each side until the edge is so thin that it easily bends to one side or another - thus the use of a steel. If I'm wrong about this, please correct me. What's confusing to me is that if, with a single bevel knife, you only sharpen one side, how do you avoid, without using a steel, bending the fine edge away from the sharpened side?

In short, how do you sharpen a one sided bevel knife? I appreciate your indulgence with a novice who is unable to engage in sophisticated knife banter.

jm

[Octaveman]

A single-beveled knife will have the tendancy to turn clockwise as you slice. Your knife is a slicing knife and should not get near bones. If you paid $20 it could use a LOT of sharpening. It just takes practice to control the turning. There are also different ways to cut a filet. You can cut it from the right side or the left. I can't recall the specifics right now like which side the trailing end of the filet goes and which side you cut. If you have a block of fish like Marguro I think you cut from the left side. Anyway, it probably doesn't matter a whole lot but it just takes practice using the knife compensating for the turning effect.

Regarding sharpening it, you do sharpen both sides. The large bevel on the front is layed down flat and worked until you get a burr on the edge. Since most of these have a convex bevel/edge (slightly rounded) you may have to lift the spine up a little (not a lot) to make sure you're hitting the edge. Then you turn it over and lay the entire blade flat on the stone to move the burr back to the other side and repeat until the burr is gone. The back is concave so the only part of the blade that touches the stone is the outside rim all around the knife. Once the burr is gone you do just a few light swipes to clean up the edge and your done. This is based on having just a couple of stones starting with the lower grit and finishing with the higher grit.

This is very general info as one could spend hours writing a how-to for your knife alone. But the idea is there. Work the beveled side until you get a burr, turn it over laying it flat to move the burr back to the other side, repeat until burr is gone or has come off. The idea is to remove the burr so all you have left is a sharp edge. No steal will be needed because the burr is gone. As times goes by that edge will dull and get weak. No steel can fix that. It's back to the stones again.

I highly recommend getting a DVD that explains all of this in great detail. The why's and how's of sharpening a single beveled knife will be made clear to you and while your knife is not all that good, the DVD can help make the knife a very useful tool. I highly recommend it as it's easier to grasp by visual instruction than from reading alone.

http://japaneseknifesharpening.com/ On the left side is the link for the DVD. Dave is a very thorough instructor so I know it will help you greatly.

Edited April 9, 2008 by Octaveman (log)

[Forest Gleaner]

Ah, nice info - now I've got a clue or two on how to show a tiny bit of respect to this modest but otherwise worthy knife. I think I'll pass on the $45 DVD though - given the fact that I myself pretty much match this knife, if I started getting too uppity with my knives, god only knows what might happen! No, I believe I'll follow your direction with the single bevel, and use the old Chef's Choice for all others.

Thanks once more for the good instruction.

john

[Octaveman]

Another good resource are a couple of knife forums that go into extreme detail on sharpening knives all the time in various threads. Going through previous threads would help you get more detail as what I wrote was just a quick and dirty run down of the basic idea. What you should actually do is based on a few factors revolving around the stones you have.

http://www.foodieforums.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=6

and

http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showforum.php?fid/26/

Plus Chad's sharpening tutorial here of EG. Not sure if it covers traditional Japanese knives though. I'd check but I can't find it right now in my lazy search.