Japanese kitchen knife question

That Nakiri is likely to get bacon edge. That is thin and thin behind the edge. You can take it to .020 but you should leave more meat behind the edge to ensure your work isn't wasted.
In general it's better to keep more meat on it prior to HT. I used to do all my grinds pre-HT more or less that thin, but I'd get back a mixed bag of success, and some ended up be another type of much shorter blade. :\
The Santoku looks like it will be fine.
 
I'll measure it, but I think it's the bad lighting. I don't think the edge is that thin. It may also be due to my grind lines being kind of washed out. I'm still working on consistency with the larger blades.
 
I was really reluctant to do my grinding post-HT for the first year, even though everyone kept telling me to do it that way.
Now I actually prefer it in a big way. You just have to keep it cool with water mist. I like the mist too in that it tends to wet the path on the bench under the belt and helps reduce fire risk. I have a wood bench.
You do have to take care with your steel tools, but it isn't as bad as one might think. Don't get it sloppy wet and it's not a pain. I use a spray bottle and it works fine. The one area where you can get in trouble quick is at the tip, using finer grits.
I slow it down if need be and keep it wet.
Try it on a few blades. You will probably find it is a good decision.
 
I did that on the paring knives I did, but I think that may have not been representative of most post HT grinding. I was working six blades at the same time and they were thin and small. It was harder than I had thought and much abrasion of fingers and gnashing of teeth was to be felt!
 
Kevin McGovern said:
I did that on the paring knives I did, but I think that may have not been representative of most post HT grinding. I was working six blades at the same time and they were thin and small. It was harder than I had thought and much abrasion of fingers and gnashing of teeth was to be felt!
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Funny. I did a 200mm Gyuto this week and I didn't draw blood, something I rarely do now thankfully. But I did sand the upper layers of skin off my index finger, and that isn't great.
I get better and better at not removing flesh but you know how it is...
What gloves do you prefer?
I started with thick leather gloves, mostly out of fear, but am now down to thin nitrile gloves. These let me feel my work much better and I actually sand my fingers far less than I did.
 
I use the cheap nitrile dipped palm cotton gloves pre HT and nitrile post. I don't really think it's so much abrasion as the inside of my index fingers ( where I support blades) get black stains and are dry and cracked. I think it's the hot steel dust slowly burning that area. This is what it looks like having healed a bit.
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that thickness should work out fine. If your grind is uneven I think that might contribute to warping, but you should be good at that thickness.
I know what you mean about the burning metal bits. i often have to dip my fingers to stop the burning sparks. Grinding wet helps with this.
 
Looks good, Kevin.

I think the people who posted about warp are forgetting that this is AEB-L, which is stainless steel. It will be plate quenched, and warp isn't usually a problem.
 
Looking good Kevin. I'm hoping to be in this territory soon as well. My wife is hounding me for some kitchen knifes.
 
Nice. My wife is hell on kitchen knives, but I worked my way through college working in kitchens and bars.
 
As usual, thanks for all the advice. I'm pretty happy with how the santoku is turning out.

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