First Impressions 240mm Takeda Gyuto w/ Custom Saya

[Sean]

Well I started with an Edge Pro and moved to waterstones and I am much happier free handing with stones. You have an ideal knife for waterstones and I'm sure you'll be happy with the results.

[C.Morris]

Thanks for the encouragement! I look forward to Christmas when the inevitable splurge for sharpening supplies will occur .

[Octaveman]

Sean, Thanks for the heads up about the bevel. The moment that you said 7 degrees I realized that the Edge Pro wouldn't work. I'm amazed the blade can hold such an acute angle. How difficult is it to hold such a shallow angle steady?

Congrats on the purchase. He makes great knives. Takeda's knives are deceivingly acute. To say a hand made knife has bevel angles of 7* per side will likely not be accurate with every knife he makes. The picture below is a quick and dirty method to finding the original bevel angle. Move the blade back and forth and watch the water come out from underneath the edge. The moment the water is pushed out, that's the angle you need to sharpen if you want to keep the same angles.

To keep that shallow angle steady you will need to go slow and let the stone do the work. One hand on the handle/spine moving the blade up/down the stone and your index and middle fingers of the other hand on the bevel right at the edge to keep the bevel steady as you move it. After a while through muscle memory you will sharpen without worry of steadiness as you will "feel" the bevel quite easily. Also, the link below while in Japanese gives you a general idea through pictures of movement and hand position.

http://www.watanabeblade.com/hotyo/sharp5.htm

Edited November 24, 2010 by Octaveman (log)

[ojisan]

Sean, Thanks for the heads up about the bevel. The moment that you said 7 degrees I realized that the Edge Pro wouldn't work. I'm amazed the blade can hold such an acute angle. How difficult is it to hold such a shallow angle steady?

The angle on the EdgePro Pro is 7° when pivot is dropped all the way down. Don't know about Apex.

[budrichard]

Takeda makes a whetstone with a unique handle. http://www.shop.niimi.okayama.jp/kajiya/en/catalog_en/03.pdf

It is easy to use. If you encounter Shousui at one of the US Knife shows he attends, you will find him constantly sharpening his blades using this gadget. I have one and its certainly sufficient for the four knives that he has made me.-Dick

[scubadoo97]

Well I started with an Edge Pro and moved to waterstones and I am much happier free handing with stones. You have an ideal knife for waterstones and I'm sure you'll be happy with the results.

I did too but when I've used my EP I am humbled by how straight and even the bevel is compared to my free hand sharpening.

[C.Morris]

I guess I'll have to be sure I give the purchases some thought, but I guess if I'm willing the strop, then it won't be too large of a leap to free-hand the edge, although I know the processes are different. I'm sure I'll still get a lot of use out of my Edge Pro. I might also consider using a shim if necessary, because, as Scubadoo97 mentioned, the evenness of the Edge Pro is tough to match.

[Dakki]

Scored some free samples of 45, 15, 9 and 3 micron diamond compound from US Products (hey, running a machine shop does have some perks). I'll let you guys know how they compare to the 3M stuff.

[C.Morris]

I just finished sharpening my Takeda with a 1000/8000 grit Norton waterstone, and finished stropping on legal pads loaded with 1 micron boron carbide and 0.5 micron chromium oxide pastes. I'm glad I took the recommendation to do it. I did a quick paper test, and my knife will now push cut paper (after a little slice to get it started). I just wanted to post this to let everyone know how much I appreciate their recommendations.

Thanks again everyone. I will spend many happy years with this knife.

Carl

[scubadoo97]

I've heard from those that are very good at sharpening that they don't get much from stropping. I can get shaving sharp without stropping but after stropping I can push cut 10 inches from where I'm holding a sheet of paper and the knife passes through with just a little sound. More of a shoosh. I assume that I have a lot of imperfections that the strop takes care of.