Shun edge deformation (pics)

S

sputnick

Joined
Mar 12, 2006
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Sharpened the shun up a couple days ago on the ezesharp at the 10 degree setting, no microbevel. If I recall correctly i finished to 2000 grit abrasive paper and a few passes with the norton 8k. The edge ended up "sticky sharp". When touching the side of the edge and pulling the finger straight off you could feel a slight bite and hear a little singing from the blade. Soft white bread and stale french bread were cut cleanly with no crushing or cracking. A few tomato slices (push cut) that were so thin they wouldnt hold their own weight when lifted.

After a few days of cooking I noticed the edge wasnt sticking in the end grained cutting board the way it had when freshly sharpened and this is what the edge looks like now. Definately too low an angle for this steel and my usage patterns. I'll put a higher microbevel on it (prob 15deg) and see how it cuts and lasts.

Pictures taken with a 2MP olympus d-490 zoom at max zoom through a 10x slide film loupe (for the super close up). The lines on the paper are 6-7 mm apart.

 
Wow. Which Shun did you use? I've had trouble using VG-10 at 12 degrees per side, so deforming with a thinner angle seems highly likely. Do you have a smooth steel (preferably flat)? I'd add a microbevel if setting the main edge that low.
 
I was just testing out the performance at that angle. The dulling/deformation was expected especially considering that when pressure is applied to the edge with a fingernail visible deflection like that of a straight razor occurs. I do not have a smooth steel but i would imagine that anything other than the lightest pressure would roll the edge even more.

The knife is a DM0706, 8 in chefs knife from the classic line. It is an awesome knife and i have used it to make dinner everyday for 2.5 years. It is generally sharpened on a 4k/8k norton by hand at an unknown angle and can split a hanging hair when fresh off the stone. Last week I accidently bounced the edge off of a ceramic bowl and since it needed some low grit action i decided to play with its performance at various settings. After tonights dinner i'll put a 15deg microbevel on it and see how that works out.

I would LOVE to get my hands on one of the elites and compare the performance between the two. It would be interesting to see what you get for twice the price of the DM0706.
 
I was watching something on TV where an Asian chef was cutting through food, but rather than into a cutting board it looked like he had some kind of soft mat as if to protect the edge even more than a cutting board would. I was thinking maybe you could run an edge that thin, but you would have to limit the knife's use to cutting only certain things and be careful of what the edge contacts (crusty bread, a wooden cutting board, etc, maybe to hard).
 
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