sharpening a Japanese kitchen knife

intheshaw

intheshaw

Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Messages
163
I have been looking at picking up a few of the DMT 8" diasharp stones, c/f/ef for now and was wondering if they would work on japanese kitchen knives. Everything I have seen for instructionson the knives show them being sharpened on a whetstone.

I figured the DMT set would be fine but I guess I'm just really looking for a second opinion. Also would 8" stones be good for kitchen knives and should I spring for the eef stone as well?
 
DMT hones will work fine on high carbon steel. Waterstones are traditional for sharpening Japanese blades, but are messy and wear fast, so they need constant flattening to keep them level. DMTs likely will outlast you. I use mostly regular (red) and ultra-fine (green) 8" benchstones, but also take equivalent grit DMT diafolds for field sharpening.
 
I already have a diafold c/f and like it a lot. The issue that I'm worried about is because its a single bevel edge, and such a sharp point that maybe the dmt stone are too course even for the ef/eef
 
intheshaw said:
I already have a diafold c/f and like it a lot. The issue that I'm worried about is because its a single bevel edge, and such a sharp point that maybe the dmt stone are too course even for the ef/eef
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That shouldn't make any difference. The ultrafine DMT (green) will produce a polished edge; I also use my DMTs on wood carving chisels and an Ivan Campos tanto with chisel edge.
 
what type of knife is it exactly ? if it's the traditional yanagi/usuba/deba kinda thing you should invest in a couple of waterstones. something like a 6-8k and a 1k.


you could certainly get them sharp with a C/F/EF combo. but imho it would be like using the knives at about 50% of their potential performance.

if it's fake chisel without the hollow gound backside it can be fine ... not for a true kataha knife.
 
I'm looking at getting the Watanbe Yanagi, and eventually more onto other japanese knives. I'm looking at the DMT stones for my hunting/tactical knives but was trying to figure out if they could be used for the Japanese knives as well.
 
based on what i know of watanabe's knives, i'd say no.

i own a gyuto from them, it's ht'd very hard, around 64hrc, it's very thin at the edge too. i avoid diamond plates with these knives as it's very easy to put excess pressure and ruin an edge. aogami 1 at this hardness is a pretty special steel that holds a nasty burr even with very fine waterstones if you don't take special care. i HIGHLY doubt you'll be able to get a burr free edge with only a EF dmt.

plus yours is a true single bevel, it has an even thinner edge, and the very special edge geometry REQUIRE a stone in the 6-8k range to hone the flat side. aside from the initial sharpening if this side doesn't make full contact on the stone or if you made serious damages, this side should NEVER see anything coarser than that . something that cuts more than polish will considerably reduce the life of the knife.

go checking the in the kitchen section of KF there is a whole tutorial on how to maintain a traditional japanese kitchen knife, it's not a piece of cake. it require some very special care.
 
Yes pwet is correct.

I strongly suggest to NOT touch a Watanabe single bevel to a diamond plate. You will likely be sorry if you do - edge chipping will occur, maybe even while you're sharpening!

Also, you can't get near the potential performance out of this knife with DMT plates, in fact the 8k DMT won't even get you in the ballpark.

I can flex on many things but for single bevel knives you really do need waterstones.
 
Alberta Ed said:
Very interesting comments; I can see I have a lot to learn about Japanese kitchen blades.
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if you're not use to using waterstones or sharpening one sided knives, i suggest not learning on an expensive yanagi. you could get a cheaper (but still good) yanagi to practice with and use.
 
that's a good idea, you should see what my first cheap usuba looks like ...
 
You might even want to send that Watanabe yanagi to Dave for sharpening and maybe pick up his dvd set and some stones so you can resharpen it in the future.
 
I havent bought the knife yet, I just wanted to be prepared for when I did. I'm looking at his standard level knives which won't break the bank and I figured I could refine my skills on it.
 
intheshaw said:
I havent bought the knife yet, I just wanted to be prepared for when I did. I'm looking at his standard level knives which won't break the bank and I figured I could refine my skills on it.
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it's best if you start with a knife that you're not worried about ruining. it will allow you to work/train/maintain the knife without being nervous.

about the waterstones, have you ever used them before? do you have an idea of what grit ranges you will be using?
 
I haven't used waterstone before. I have a c/f diafold for my field knives and I have sharpened on an Arkansas stone before. The stones I am looking at to start out with are the beston 500, the bester 1200, and Arashyama 6000. I have found these 3 stones in a combo set for 140 so I thought they would be a good start. I have done a little research on them and they seem like a good starting point. I was thinking about adding something in the 2000-3000 range but I'm unsure if its needed. I was also planning on down the road picking up a 10k stone.
 
Those three stones will do just fine for your task.

Going from 1,200 grit to 6,000 grit is no problem - or, rather, if there is a problem, adding another stone won't fix it...
 
Best heed Dave M's advice.
He is the guru on sharpening these knives. :thumbup:

... and Thom is no slouch with his Japanese kitchen knife knowledge and use.

You are in for a real treat if using these for the first time and past experience has been limited to traditional German and American kitchen cutlery.
 
That's a good waterstone set, I have the 1k & 6k arashiyama and it does a excellent job. The 6k cuts quickly and removes the lower grit scratches with ease, polishes more than you would expect from a 6k too.
 
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