Knife porn thread

What’s the deal with TPU cutting boards?

My mum said that she wants one as it is resistant to scratching and also dishwasher safe. Don’t think I’ve come across them before.

Unless it’s just a cheap rubber board?

Not as fancy as some of the knives, but this Japanese bread knife is incredible. It's like cutting through butter and makes barely a crumb.

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Can't tell if it's a small loaf or incredibly long

It's a relatively small loaf! I'd say the bread knife is a typical length, although slightly curved.

Have just changed out my Henckels 4 star 6in bread knife for a longer 10in Victorinox (because I bake big breds) so this is now going spare - anyone interested for 20?

Just treated us to this little santoku

https://www.chefslocker.co.uk/store/p398/seisuke-santoku-140mm.html

no idea who actually makes them, but will be useful for little tasks at home and given its aogami super, should get pretty sharp and be fun to use!

On a related note, does anyone else have a problem feeling for burrs when sharpening? I sharpen with a 1k stone and cannot feel a thing - regardless of which side I've been sharpening on, both sides of the edge feel the same to me when running my finger over it..

Is this the one Serious Eats are always recommending?

Not sure what Serious Eats is, but its the Morinoki Bread Knife. It's so fantastic. Has a sharper section for the crust, and then the main bit for the soft bread.

The only downside is I use my tiny bread crumbs dustpan brush a lot less.

https://www.knivesandtools.co.uk/en/pt/-shizu-hamono-morinoki-sm-4000-bread-knife-24-cm.htm

I'd then posit you haven't actually raised a burr.

^ Seconded.

Do you want a shit knife or two to fuck up?

You sharpening at angle of main “v” angle of knife or the secondary bevel which makes the cutting edge?

The knife gets sharp enough to dice soft tomatoes, which is as sharp as I ever need it to be as a kitchenknife. Then loses sharpness over three or four meal preps and stays like that for maybe ten to fifteen more before I get fed up and sharpen again. Still sharper than most things, but no longer goes through soft tomatoes without going up and down the blade a bit to find the place where it's still sharp enough to 'bite' into the skin. Which makes me think I'm raising a burr edge when sharpening, since I think a decently heat treatd W2 (which this is) should have better edge retention than that?

@lynx appreciate the offer but I've sharpened shit steel and it is really no fun at all on a 1k stone..

@jupiz I sharpen at the cutting edge. At least that's what I think the shiny 0.5mm or so at the edge is..?

1k will be quite slow going if really blunt. Keep at it checking regularly and a burr will eventually form when you finally grind to the apex. It will have no choice

How much time have you spent on it? Really effective sharpening takes much longer than most people think. I'm a beginner and it takes me hours, not minutes. It's very satisfying when the burr develops.

Sounds about right, but a bit off and you can just be polishing the bit next to the cutting edge (as I did countless times initially), rather than sharpening. Worth trying a bit more acute to see if you can properly raise a burr?
W2 is tool steel right? So may take a little while longer, but even with 1000 won’t take hours, just apply right pressure at right angle.

Try the sharpie method to check where on the edge you are sharpening.

Unnecessary complication; but there is a difference between natural stone composite stone and diamond stone, I have a natural stone that's supposed to be 1600 it's far far higher and if prepared with a fine diamond it'll have a polish surface - the diamond ones will shred through the metal but they are the ones that do cost the money and will dull

Micro serrations on the blade can aid in cutting action especially with tomatoes and the difficult skins which are tough even on soft tomatoes. This will be different to a scalpel sharp blade. I think that's what you have and as these serrations wear down you lose cutting ability.

O1 and W2 are hard as fuck steels which take ages to make any appreciable difference to with sharpening.

All this is super helpful thank you! I will describe my general process and what I've reasoned out so far. I have two stones, a 1k Cerax and a 6k Arashiyama, both composite. The knife I am sharpening is a Shiro2 by Wakui with a laser profile. I generally start with the 1k with a decent amount of pressure, maybe alternating 8-10 back and forth passes per side, then dropping the number of passes and the amount of pressure, and ending with edge leading passes at light pressure to 'deburr'. Then I move to the 5k and do the same thing, but by that point the sharpening feels a lot less responsive, perhaps because the apex is more developed/edge already relatively developed? So I tend to use not much pressure when sharpening on the 5k. I generally tend to think I'm there when I can push cut a supermarket paper receipt (which I can do after 1k; I see the 5k as additional). By this point I can also shave hair but not consistently/well - the blade needs to be angled the right way and it may take a few passes on a hair, and it will certainly not do what is happening at 3.33 here

which makes me think there's something wrong with my sharpening process.

As described, by the time I'm done sharpening the knife is sharper than when I started, which makes me think I am properly apexing the knife. I have done the sharpie trick before and am confident I do hit the edge, though I know that I do have a tendency to get the angle too low and run the risk of polishing the secondary bevel instead of hitting the edge. This sharpening will last me for about three or four meals of onions/garlic/peppers/etc on an edge grain board before I need to saw a bit to get through a tomato. It will still dice the tomatoes but not without some care, and it will start resist slightly (at points) going through an onion. I will keep using it in this way for about ten meals occasionally running it across a crudely DIYed leather belt-strop (with chromium oxide paste applied) but when it starts squashing tomatoes I take it back to the stones. At that point I can restore the edge with about 15min work (mostly on the 1k and very light pressure on the 5k), but it doesn't last very long.

In all this time I have never really been able to distinguish a bevel and the shining-a-light-on-the-edge trick hasn't really shown me anything perceptible.. Tried for a longer period (45min) on the 1k with more pressure yesterday and still no dice!

push cutting supermarket receipt and popping hairs sounds sharp so you must be on the cutting edge or very near, so seems weird that it fades so quickly.

Could you be creating a wire edge by sharpening predominantly away from direction of edge, or failing to remove it (give a go dragging through a cork after sharpening on 1k). Alternatively are you scraping edge along chopping boards etc (flip knife over and scrape cut veggies using heel instead)?

My guess was indeed wire (burr) edge, hence the question about not being able to feel burrs. I wonder if the answer is to buy a 60x loupe but that feels a bit excessive if everyone else just puts their fingers on the edge. I don't scrape the edge when chopping; after sharpening I try to remove the burr with the edge-leading strokes (and also the progression to the 6k/stropping after) but because I can't feel the burr I have no idea how effective (or not) those things are.. I've heard dragging through cork isn't great because you're just ripping the wire edge off rather than abrading it which then damages the rest of your apex.

Should be fine if you're doing all that. I sharpened mine yesterday, and checked on microscope, despite vg10 edge being bit chipped and jaggedy at micro scale and in no way fully uniform its bloody sharp. Won't pop hairs, but will is and will remain sharp for months at normal use.

If based near bristol, welcome to use scope to check it out?

Maybe do a knife sharpening course?

@Jurek did a course at Blenheim forge (maybe) and he rated it highly.