How to Sharpen a Gyuto

This is how I make shiny things get cutty cutty. Question or comment below.

 

Great video Rick. Really shows your technique and angles .

 

Really nice video, Rick. uch

The only thing I do differently is to put my index finger on the spine of the blade (as well as my thumb on the left side of the blade), as I think I can better maintain a constant angle this way, particularly when addressing the tip. Additionally, I prefer to always keep the edge facing me, so I hold the knife in my left hand when sharpening the left side of the blade. I'm a lefty, so it's much easier for my to do it this way, and I find that I don't have to change the angle of the edge to the stone to the almost 90 degrees required to get the heel of the left side with the edge facing away from me.

That Bester 1200 is a fantastic stone.

 

Wonderful! Thanks Rick.:like

 

Great as always. I like your strop set up.

 

Got it from Dave like 5 years ago.

 

Just watched the video on "smart" TV. Great job, Rick, very informative to your style of sharpening.

 

Rick thanks very much for that video.

I am thinking of moving to stones. I've gone from Lansky to Edge Pro (clone) and though they both produce very sharp knives, I find the tip is especially difficult to keep even. I fear they are weakening the tip as well as causing the point to move up. Any discussion about that would be appreciated.

On you video you mention imagining two penny's under the spine when doing the front and 3 when doing the back. Is the knife asymmetrical or am I not getting something?

On that video you started with a 1200. does that mean the knife is in pretty good shape to start, or is that the stone you would routinely start with on any knife?

I note that the stones are not clamped in. would you recommend that the beginner clamp or learn to do it without clamping? And if so is the clamping jig really needed?

Thanks in advance for any who would share their insights.

Mike

 

Clampy thingys are great I got my stone holder off amazon years back for under 30 bucks you do not one just a wet folded towel if that's all you have but a ligit holder Will help you keep a more accurate angle and when lapping a flatter stone due to it not bouncing around on ya PS nice vid theory

 

Yes, as are most Japanese double bevel knives.

I didn't need major bevel setting or thinning but a 5k would have been too slow to start with so I dropped down to 1200.

Only reason it's not "in" the stone holder is that the stone height is much too short and comes up below the height of the rubber clamps.

I say clamp it if you can.

 

Stone holders can be very helpful, but there is so much variability in stones, it's hard to have a one size fits all solution. There is an under $30 holder that Dave used to sell (maybe still does - just haven't checked) that works great for a variety of stone sizes. Then, many stones come with their own base. Finally, as Rick said, many stones are too short for a traditional holder. The diamond stone set that Jon has been selling (I'm a big fan) is an example. (As an aside, Jon sells those diamond stones with a special low profile holder). If a holder doesn't work for you, a wet towel will suffice. I cut a piece of 2 x 6 lumber to act as a sink bridge. It's long enough to butt against the faucet on the far side of the sink, and extends past the 'front' of the sink and edge of the counter. When I had just stones with no holder, a wet washcloth was plenty to hold things in place.

 

This is pretty much my method, except I have much cheaper King 1000 and 6000 stones lol. My technique is NOWHERE near as good as yours. If I tried what you do, I'd wreck the finish on customer's knives left and right lol. I do try to practice the way you do it on my own knives when I have time though (I can botch the finish all I want by rolling the angle here and there on mine lol). For customer's knives, it's mostly a pull motion. I also sharpen at a bit more acute angle, as the knives are a zero edge to begin with. Perhaps 3 or 4 pennies, vs 2 and 3.

 

Cris, perhaps it's just semantics, but wouldn't using a 3 or penny height of the spine (vs. 2 or 3) be a less acute angle? To put it differently, isn't an angle of 15 degrees, for example, be less acute than an angle of 12 degrees?

 

Larrybard, you're just being obtuse.

 

Obtuse, yes. (And pretty sloppy with typing and typos; wish I knew how to edit something once I posted it.)

 

Lol, you're correct Larry. For some reason I'm always thinking of the edge angle, not the sharpening angle. Meaning my comparison is always to vertical rather than horizontal!

 

you guys are making my head hurt:k

 

Hahahahaha! At least he's not right!

 

So Cris, you raise the spine just little and don't have to worry about scraping up the blade face. When you say pull motion, do you mean edge trailing strokes?

 

Basically yes. Much like Theory does it in the 'blending' portion at the end of his video. It's probably not the most efficient method, but it works. As I said also...I still practice a more typical Japanese style sharpening on my own knives. Once I get it down where I don't beat the blade face up, I'll switch and do it for all of my knives including customer's. It's superior I think...at least in the speed at which it works, if not in the end result.

By the way, I don't raise the spine to save the blade face...I actually prefer a steeper angle on my edges. They are sufficiently thin that sharpening is almost like putting a micro bevel on, rather than actual sharpening.

I just snapped these pictures of Anton's 120mm petty for him a few days ago. This blade hasn't been sharpened at all...just polished...but will shave hair. Hopefully this will illustrate what I mean.



'Sharpening' this knife will take perhaps 10 draw strokes on a 1k stone per side...just enough to make and refine a burr. From there I put it on the 6k stone to polish that edge, then strop on either old belt leather or the unloaded hard felt pad I got from Dave.