Sushi knife vs Straight Razor.

oic0

oic0

Joined
Jun 16, 2012
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Strange topic I know, but I was making an odd little knife for myself for work in the kitchen. Japanese style with a chisel grind, very acute angle, and high hardness. For cutting relatively delicate / soft things (sushi rolls). It sort of resembles a largeish straight razor but not a whole lot bigger. That got me thinking, typical knives do not make good razors because of their edge geometry and lower hardness, but what about Japanese cooking knives? That said I have never owned a straight razor so perhaps I am far off base here.
 
Japanese straight razors are chisel grind...

As for the sushi knife( Yanagiba ), those things are anything but small, although 99% of them are chisel grinds.
Most of the knives can be sharpened to the levels of sharpness required in straight razors, but their size/geometry isn't ideal for shaving.
I have a Watanabe small utility knife which sort of resembles what you describe, and has very acute edge, chisel, about 10-12 total angle, shaves effortlessly, Shirogami 1 steel, 62-64HRC, but I'd hesitate to use it for shaving, still too clumsy for that.
 
One I'm farting around with looks sorta similar to that only my proportions are off and it has a plunge because my stock was thicker. Oh well, learn a bit with each one.
w1sqh3.jpg
 
Vicarious Reality said:
Very cool, what steel
and what is a plunge
Click to expand...

Easy ol 1084. The plunge is the drop off where you go from full thickness to where the bevel starts. Most of the japanese knives I've seen, in my limited exposure, use thin enough material and have the blade come down far enough past the tang that there is no apparent plunge. My material was thick and only 1 inch wide so my knife is a bit different lol, but thats ok because I made it for personal use and learning. I bought some material of proper dimensions since I started this one and will give it another try after I learn some more on this one.
 
All (except the very old examples referred to as "wedges") straight razors are hollow ground. Even the Kamisori (Japanese straight razor) are hollow chisel ground. The result is a VERY thin (see below) and very acute angle (generally 13-16 degrees inclusive) edge. While specialty kitchen knives can have some pretty radical dimensions at times, I have never seen anyone attempt a straight razor geometry for one.

Straight razor edges can be damaged QUITE easily, and would not be a good choice for any sort of food prep I have ever seen (sushi and sashimi included).

Here is a measurement of the blade thickness of a basic straight in my collection. This thickness was measured at a point about 1/3 the way between the edge and spine (as indicated with the pointer). Your half and quarter hollows will not be as thin this high up the profile, but all effective razors will be extremely thin behind the bevel.

 
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