I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
set and keep the edge?

On 12 Mrz., 00:28, " Nartker" > wrote:
> I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. *What is the proper way to
> set and keep the edge?

The best way is to admire it only! Please, show it to Your friends,
look at it with pride, but (for Gods sake) don´t use it! So it stays
brittle sharp forewer!

On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:28:51 -0500, " Nartker" >
wrote:

>I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
>set and keep the edge?
>

If is is a single bevel with a hollow back, i.e. a traditional design,
the best way to sharpen it would be with a set of waterstones. That
will take some investment and some practice, but it will take
advantage of the design and produce an excellent edge.

--BS

Yes, I agree with the waterstones.

With care, you may find a sharpening service which is familiar with
the techniques of using waterstones. Chances are, though, they'll
simply lay your knives on a rather coarse grindstone and hand them
back to you with their invoice.

Simply put, sharpening Kapanese knives is a bit of an art. It's
possible to learn how to do it (and it's a most satisfying
accomplishment) but it does require some skill and practice.

One begins by using a coarse (1000-grit) waterstone to shape the edge
and to remove all those little nicks and gouges. Then the edge is
honed to a very fine edge on a 6000-grit stone (it feels almost as
smooth as a piece of marble.)

In general, a knife made with good steel (or layered steel as in
Japanese knives) can be sharpened to a razor edge with two
waterstones. In fact, after finish polishing (on the fine stone) the
ground edge should be as smooth and as bright as a mirror. Often, I'll
follow the fine stone honing with polishing strokes on a scrap of
leather that's been rubbed with jeweler's rouge (iron oxide.) That
edge will be razor sharp.

As a cabinetmaker, I discovered Japanese Waterstones about 20 years
ago after decades of using Arkansas stones and machine oil diluted
with kerosene. The differences are remarkable. The waterstones
generally cut faster and produce a very highly-polished edge. My
kitchen knives (like my woodworking chisels and plane irons) are
routinely so sharp as to shave the hair on my forearm easily.

A funny: My wife could always tell when I had spent some time
sharpening my tools from my shaved-off forearm!

Pixmaker




On Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:28:51 -0500, " Nartker" >
wrote:

>I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
>set and keep the edge?
>

An excellent video is available
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/martell.htm

Nartker wrote:
> I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way to
> set and keep the edge?
>
>

--
Steve Bottorff
www.sharpeningmadeeasy.com
Remove REMOVE from address when replying

" Nartker" > wrote in message
news
>I recently bought a single bevel Japanese slicer. What is the proper way
>to set and keep the edge?

Well as someone who uses Japanese knives both single and double bevel
exclusively I can tell you that it is easy with the proper equipment. If you
wish to do it yourself then here is how
http://knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/772696/ You will need to
make an investment in the correct grit waterstones. Now you can get it done
fairly inexpensively by Dave at http://www.japaneseknifesharpening.com/ Now
I suggest you send him an email with the length of the knife asking for his
price. You will have to ship it to Pennsylvania to him and he will sharpen
it and return it probably within a 5 day span. He has done a few problem
knives for me such as convex edges on cleavers and hunting knives. His work
is excellent, inexpensive compared to many others, service is fantastic as
well as just a plain nice guy.

He also posts regularly to knifeforums.com Kitchen forum.

Joe Cilinceon