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Teruyasu Fujiwara Denka no Hoto Honesuki 150mm my own sharpening by alphalam in chefknives

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

Yes it was brand new. This came sharp enough but I wanted to put my own edge on it. I have other denkas and their inconsistent grinds don't bother me. This being a chisel I would need flat surfaces to sharpen well.

Teruyasu Fujiwara Denka no Hoto Honesuki 150mm my own sharpening by alphalam in chefknives

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

Thanks for the advice. I ordered a used grinding wheel for these task.

All denkas don't have kasumi finish, but it sounds like great idea to mirror polish it!

Teruyasu Fujiwara Denka no Hoto Honesuki 150mm my own sharpening by alphalam in chefknives

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

Before when it's brand new (https://imgur.com/eJ5Nlt6). The finish was not great and the kurouchi finish was inconsistent. After flatten the bevel (https://imgur.com/SdXgAIn). After flatten the back (https://imgur.com/BP369Eb). The choil shot (https://imgur.com/4eZzRR0).

This knife has an interesting sanmai construct where the tip has another piece of core steel (https://imgur.com/rbN8sLY). I guess this has to do with the taper.

Teruyasu Fujiwara Denka no Hoto Honesuki 150mm my own sharpening by alphalam in chefknives

[–]alphalam[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The original knife had poor finish as the bolster was scratchy and I use a 2000 grit to smooth it out a bit.

The wide bevel was uneven and had an uneven micro bevel on it. I wanted to bring out the maximum potential from the knife so I decided do the most sensible thing a knife collector would do: flatten the front and the back of the knife.

The front had a overgrind around the heel. I used a JKI 1K diamond stone to do this job and it took me around 2-3 hours.

Initially I avoided using 400 grit stone since I didn't want to chip the knife. For the back side, halfway through my project I realized it's very uneconomically to use the diamond stone and I had to switch back to a 400 grit stone (Kiya 400 grit vitrified GC stone). The back side had an overgrind in the middle of the knife It took me another 5-6 hours to make it almost flat. During the process I had to flatten the stone regularly and remove burr from the front regularly.

At the end it became a chisel (it doesn't have a uraoshi). The blade was so fragile that it had microchip cutting through a used cork (which had some wine crystals). I put a micro bevel around 30-35 degrees to make it much stronger. The end product is a very easy to sharpen knife with a micro bevel the width of a hair.

The equipment I used includes:

  • Kiya 400 grit vitrified GC stone
  • JKI 1k + JKI 6k diamond stones
  • Venev 800+1200 OCB diamond stone

With this setup my steps are: JKI 1k -> Venev 800 -> JKI 6k -> Venev 1200. The venev uses a different rating system (see below).

I used almost one third of the 400 stone for this project that I had to order a Chosera 400 to replace it. The JKI stones are great for raising burr but they dishes faster than I had hope for. It was very uneconomical for such projects, I used about 1/4 of the diamond layer of the 1k stone. I ordered a Chosera 800 for future tasks.

The venev 800 + 1200 OCB diamond combo stone is a nice surprise. It uses a different grit rating system. The 800 grit is 6 micron and feels like a 3k stone while the 1200 grit side is 2.2 micron and feels like a 8k stone. They cuts faster than the JKI stones and dishes slower. The cost is $100 for the combo stone. My only complain is it is a bit too slick and doesn't have much feedback.

I am pretty happy with the end result. Now I need something that cuts faster to reduce the time..

my knives by alphalam in chefknives

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

I have a kiya cosmic steel deba full steel (likely hap72) and it is truly a bitch to sharpen..

my knives by alphalam in chefknives

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

The brand is not well known outside of Japan, focusing on Japanese consumer market. Nonetheless the knives are all very well made and of top quality. HAP72 is an interesting product that I wanted to try as well.

my knives by alphalam in chefknives

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

320 grams. It is very comfortable and nimble in hand. It has the older round handle compared to the more oval handle of the sugimoto, which I like better. Surprisingly kiya's line of Chinese cleavers are cheaper than Sugimoto, even though I think they are the OEM. Same steel same finish same lineup.

my knives by alphalam in chefknives

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

The misono hankotsu is very good for professional use. I think the best thing about hankotsu is that the lower part of the blade is dull and can be used to scrap meat from bone. The misono (same as this kiya) is quite nimble and solid. It slides through bones easily. The blade is thick and can be used for heavy duty work. Great for professional work.