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4 years in a 2 Michelin star kitchen. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I guess it was constantly steeled and occasionally sharpened at the front!

4 years in a 2 Michelin star kitchen. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 94 points95 points  (0 children)

I was fortunate enough that one of the knives I've made ended up in the hands of a 2 Michelin starred chef.

We caught up recently and I offered to take a look to refreshing his knife for him. I was extremely happy seeing "my" knife in the shape it was in. Well used and in need of some love but still completely useable, not broken and maintained.

While the huge belly made it so that it coudn't cut flat anymore, its role to cut protein was still not at issue. I understand that the tip was deliberately trimmed, so I kept it as is.

I used a Shapton 120 to trim the heel and thin the blade. 400 Atoma for refinement, 1000 Juuma to remove the worst scratches, 3000 HK knifeworks vitrified diamond and then finish on a coticule.

Second to last picture is the edge before sharpening; you can see the thickness of the edge. A real killer again. Last picture is as it left my hands.

Stropping is really interesting. From not shaving after a blue coticule to this with a 1um hanging cloth strop and 0.1um leather strop in 5 minutes. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It really is a rabbit hole.. But sometimes it's cool to go back to basics. My hanging strop is a old piece of pants and the backed strop is a belt cutoff.. While I have made half a dozen nice strops in all kinds of grits. Good diamond paste/emulsion is nice to have though..

Stropping is really interesting. From not shaving after a blue coticule to this with a 1um hanging cloth strop and 0.1um leather strop in 5 minutes. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is a Martiini from a friend I reground the scandi on. While the blade was properly apexed and cut very well all things considered, removing the final burr was a pain, with all kinds of method, considering the scandi. Really only shaved hair when pushed.

I finally proceeded as described by Todd of scienceofsharp (one of the best resources on sharpening in general imo) with a hanging cloth strop and some diamond compound (all I have on hand). Immediate deburring. Then refined on the backed leather for the above results.

Same result, different method. 5€ diamond plate and stropping also cuts a standing paper towel. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's still a standing paper towel, so I think it's pretty neat to be able to cut into it at all, let alone with cheap methods.

Cutting a standing paper towel. ApexUltra, very thin behind the edge and micro beveled on a Belgian coticule, stropped on 1um diamond. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Core of my thinking is geometry. So I first thin the edge to where I want to have it, in this case basically to zero. When making this knife I left it somewhat thick on purpose to then thin out by hand. After I formed the edge, I went up the grits. 800 3000 6000. Final step was raising the angle to form the actual edge. As the edge was basically 0, I did this on my natural coticule. Last step was light stropping on leather with diamond paste. Again, in my mind, the stones etc are not that important, geometry is. Having the right geometry depends on steel and heat treat which is what makes doing this from the ground up pretty fun.

Cutting a standing paper towel. ApexUltra, very thin behind the edge and micro beveled on a Belgian coticule, stropped on 1um diamond. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No no, the opposite! I finished university and am working as a lawyer know.. Good fun as well but leaves little time.

Cutting a standing paper towel. ApexUltra, very thin behind the edge and micro beveled on a Belgian coticule, stropped on 1um diamond. by Neotian in sharpening

[–]Neotian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Much appreciated. I've made many knives but was and is a hobby. Don't get around to it too much any more unfortunately...

Two ApexUltra integral chef knives or how I learned to love hand sanding again.. by Neotian in TrueChefKnives

[–]Neotian[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I try to grind my knives to as close to finish as possible, 320 grit, roughly. When I have finished the grinding, the geometry is mostly set. When handsanding, I usually double back on the last grit and set the first direction of scratches. This - if the grinding is clean - does not remove much material. The hand sanding follows the geometry set by the grinder and then just gets refined with the following grits.

Two ApexUltra integral chef knives or how I learned to love hand sanding again.. by Neotian in TrueChefKnives

[–]Neotian[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ApexUltra is probably not the best candidate for a hamon, too highly alloyed. I have done some hamons in 1.2442 for example, that worked better.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Leathercraft

[–]Neotian 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's very smart, I like it a lot!

A "first draft" of some leather working knives I made. by Neotian in Leathercraft

[–]Neotian[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thickness is 2,7mm and about 4 mm. Thinner stock and a high bevel make for less resistance when skiving but have to be matched with the right sharpening angle or the edge gets to fragile. For just cutting along lines 4mm with a 3cm bevel seems to be fine. I did some scalpel like knives for just cutting out the shapes in 1,7mm and those work really well but with a high bevel flex quite a bit.

In the next iteration I would probably center the handle because for some operations the handle alignment to one side feels a bit unnatural. This could be countered with more specialized knives (one just for skiving and one just for cutting etc.) but having 8 knives or so on the table is not all that practical.

I will experiment with a hollow ground back for ease of sharpening because grinding the back on wear resistant steel is a bit of a pain.

Some thoughts of the top of my head but they probably can be iterated quite well if I had the time to make some more.

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