New to Japanese Waterstones and Setting a Bevel

S

SirCarl

Joined
Jul 29, 2009
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I just bought a double sided Japanese waterstone with 280 and 1500 grits. I'm following the basic steps outlined in this article for sharpening:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=26036

I'm having okay results with my sharpening; the knives are not really any sharper than before, but I haven't destroyed any edges yet. I'm doing freehand sharpening, so I realize that it will take a while for me to get my angles steady, but my primary question is about grits and setting a new primary bevel (if that is the right term).

The knives I currently use have fairly thick edges, and I believe if I thinned the edge and made a thinner bevel their cutting performance should increase, but I managed to grind a nice groove into the 280 grit side of my stone without significantly changing the bevel. Is this likely a technique issue or do I need a different style stone to reset a bevel?

Thank you very much! I'm new to the forum, but I'm eager to learn freehand sharpening.

Carl
 
There are only two issues. You need to maintain a consistent angle throughout the process and you need to finish with each stone completely before going to the next one. You need to learn to feel for and judge the burr. It can tell you how you are doing in both of these issues. I don't change stones until I can raise a burr in both directions with a pressureless swipe on either side of the blade.

Finally, use a coarse stone for grinding new bevels. The finer stones are used for sharpening those bevels. Anything finer than a coarse stone will be so time consuming you will lose interest.
 
Thank you for the advice. I tried again with my knives, and the results are much more encouraging. (I'll get the real test tonight, with some vegetable cutting for dinner.) Do you think a diamond hone would be better suited for reseting a bevel than a waterstone?

Thanks!
 
Great advice from KO. To add a bit, I'd also ask what steels you are trying to sharpen? Most modern alloy steels will wear out a Japanese waterstone without much effort. The stones will wear without putting much of an edge on your knife.

I have natural waterstones which are quite large and have used Norton sythetic stones( silicon carbide). Neither do much for modern stainless steels. I use my DMTs most for folders and Gyutos.

It is all about the consistency of the angle if there is one thing you can draw from anyones advice.
 
That's a good point that I didn't think about with respect to the steels of my knives. I honestly do not know about the steels of my knives except that they are stainless steel and from wal-mart.

One is a standard 8" chefs knife, with a flat, thick blade that doesn't taper until it reaches a sudden bevel at the edge. The blade is not entirely straight as you look down the length of the blade, but it is nevertheless versatile.

The second is a 7" to 8" santoku knife, fairly standard appearance.

The last is a 5" deba that doesn't carry that traditional deba bevel, but rather has a more chef's knife style blade.

The major common factor is that all three is Farberware if that helps.

Certainly, I'm sure the consistency of the angle will be my best improvement over time, but I'd like to always be using the right tool for the job to help myself along the way ;).

Thanks!
 
You might want to use a cheap diamond stone to grind a new bevel. Using a waterstone, you will ended up wearing a lot of the stone just for setting the new bevel. Then the stone will be worn unevenly and you will have to level it.
 
Faberware or most new chef knives are prob from the 440 series of steel(most non Japanese). Just sharpened a bud's 4 set of Wusthofs this weekend. It was all synthetics. Norton coarse/fine. Then DMT coarse, fine, and finished with a worn coarse as I usually do ( believe it or not, one of my best finishers). The set consisted of a 8 and 6" chef, 4 and 3inch paring knife. The change in angles was minute. Wrist up or wrist down depending on which you start with
 
Diamond stones remove more metal faster. They are great with high wear resistant type steels, but can very easy remove too much metal / damage the knife with just a few errant strokes.

I don’t believe Faberware uses a difficult steel to sharpen and it sound like you just need some more time learning how to sharpen. I suggest sharpening the knife with the 1500 grit using the existing angle. After getting the knife sharp, dull it, and re-sharpen it again. Then do whatever re-profiling, thinning, angle changes using the 280 grit or a harder stone like diamonds – if you need more / faster cutting power.
 
This is really great information for me! It looks like I should work with the current bevels of knives for the moment, working to simply enhance sharpness and maintain consistent angles. In the long run I think I will try to invest in a coarse (and possibly medium and/or fine as money allows) diamond stone to allow me to start learning to reset the bevel on knife. Of course, the most important step immediately is to continue to practice my angles!
 
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