Looking for a - 240 - wide bevel - KU finish

[AlbuquerqueDan]

Not familiar with that knife but familiar with the maker and I think you have a lot more grinding to do...

Or just quit while I'm ahead...

[Kit Craft]

Or just quit while I'm ahead...

Grinding a knife to zero is a great learning experience, once. It is also why I have been looking into belt grinders...I did the same with a few mono steel westerns and that is no fun at all with plates and stones. In fact it is downright masochistic.

Having said that, gladius (I think) once made the suggestion to use belts from a belt grinder cut down and glued or whatnot to a board. Something like 36 grits belts I guess would be much faster than a 140g diamond plate. Surely much faster than a 220!

[Bensbites]

Or just quit while I'm ahead...

Grinding a knife to zero is a great learning experience, once. It is also why I have been looking into belt grinders...I did the same with a few mono steel westerns and that is no fun at all with plates and stones. In fact it is downright masochistic.

Having said that, gladius (I think) once made the suggestion to use belts from a belt grinder cut down and glued or whatnot to a board. Something like 36 grits belts I guess would be much faster than a 140g diamond plate. Surely much faster than a 220!

I have a guy who does mine for me. I do his woodworking....

[AlbuquerqueDan]

Or just quit while I'm ahead...

Having said that, gladius (I think) once made the suggestion to use belts from a belt grinder cut down and glued or whatnot to a board. Something like 36 grits belts I guess would be much faster than a 140g diamond plate. Surely much faster than a 220!

Yeah, I actually started on 120 sandpaper taped to the back side of a diamond plate. It's a good way to remove material, and a good way to rub your fingerprints off.

Ben. You're a wise man. If ever there was a task to delegate, grinding a knife is it.

[Bensbites]

Or just quit while I'm ahead...

Having said that, gladius (I think) once made the suggestion to use belts from a belt grinder cut down and glued or whatnot to a board. Something like 36 grits belts I guess would be much faster than a 140g diamond plate. Surely much faster than a 220!

Yeah, I actually started on 120 sandpaper taped to the back side of a diamond plate. It's a good way to remove material, and a good way to rub your fingerprints off.

Ben. You're a wise man. If ever there was a task to delegate, grinding a knife is it.

I am not sure it is about wise. It is one part, playing to each of our skills. One part time, equipment. One part being frustrated how slow metal moves compared to wood. I do loose out on the satisfaction of doing something myself and I am on someone else’s time table. We are all busy, but I have the patience of a fruit fly on its deathbed.

[milkbaby]

Almost all of the wide bevel knives will require flattening or using stone slurry to get into the slight concave in order to get consistent finish on the wide bevel. Most of these knives are ground with a large waterstone wheel and thus slightly concave at the wide bevel.

I consider wide bevel a knife that is essentially flat zero ground (or almost) from the shinogi to the cutting edge. As I said above, since many sharpeners do the grind on a large waterstone wheel, the bevel is not really flat but slightly concave.

[Lepus]

A wide bevel knife has a tall blade road intended to some degree to be manipulated by the sharpener as part of thinning or regular sharpening. It can be sharpened with a flat zero grind, a convex clamshell zero grind, either of the above with a microbevel, or either of the above with a full cutting bevel depending on the user's desires. If you don't mind the aesthetic implications I don't think you would even need to fully flatten out the concavity on such knives when thinning; it could be treated like the ura on a traditional Japanese knife.

It is common enough to give a knife a lower grind, one that does not reach particularly high up the blade face, and then go back and create the appearance of a straight taller blade road with whatever sandblasting or flexible abrasive a knifemaker favors. Particularly on KU knives I think that is perfectly acceptable or even the best practice. It exposes an attractive amount of steel and creates nice contrast. Again, I haven't checked the knives in question, so I guess some could be close to or indistinguishable from "true" wide bevels. I guess I hadn't ever thought about calling it a wide bevel knife since I associate wide bevels with Sakai, but I will check how tall my Makoto's grind is tomorrow. I have mentally compared it to a Fujiyama before.

That said, there are many paths to God. I have a Kanehiro I have been hesitant to invasively thin specifically because the convexing lower on the knife is what makes it special. Sharpening it like a wide bevel and flattening the whole thing out or grinding in an inferior and less consistent attempt at Hiroshi Kato's grind is... extremely objectionable. It's a project for a rainy day.

[Bensbites]

From what I can tell of choil shots and talking to owners, the koishi is ground on a large wheel, the makoto has a flat bevel.

Anyone who actually knows, please feel free to correct me.

[Bensbites]

I pulled the trigger on the makoto Damascus. It has been a long week and I am looking forward to the experience of playing with this knife.

[gladius]

Makoto White #2 Damascus Gyuto is a sweet knife, I'm sure you'll like it.

[Bensbites]

Makoto White #2 Damascus Gyuto is a sweet knife, I'm sure you'll like it.

You have given me nothing but thoughtful advice so far, much appreciated.

[Lepus]

My Makoto is concave on both sides. I assess all grinds on a straight edge when I get a knife these days.

[Lepus]

I finally checked out my Makoto. The grind on the right side of the knife runs a shallow, consistent hollow all the way up to the kurouchi for its length. On the left side toward the heel it is almost as tall at the heel, running up say 95% of the blade road, and closer to the tip it drops a bit to about 85%. At the tip past the kurouchi the grind runs to the spine on both sides. You could definitely call it a wide beveled knife.

[Bensbites]

Woo hoo, it arrived!

Thank you to everyone who helped.

At 8 am USPS dropped off a package. I made it though one apple for the little ones snack and so far I am very very happy. I think everyone was right!

I laid a straightedge against the bevel, if there is any concavity, it is a very small amount. Later tonight I will lay this on a straight edge and take a photo with backlighting. Stay tuned, the kids will be getting extra veggies as a snack.

[Jeff B]

Enjoy Ben, I think your going to really like it. And for the money, wow what a knife!