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finishing stones

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:22 am
by taquito0110
:shock: ok i have a good question im using a kohetsu 240 is asymetrical babel im having issue not sharpening but polishing i have 2k, 4k, 6k, 8k, and 10k. i polishing them with all them and gets a super nice tooth to it, also cut paper like nothing very nice edge, but when it comes to tomatoes doesnt do anything to them, but i notice that everytime i polish it gets a burr so i do not know if i need to get a burr from all the stones or what. from that point i get confussed and i dont know how to fix it.

Re: finishing stones

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 5:25 pm
by Kit Craft
taquito0110 wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:22 am :shock: ok i have a good question im using a kohetsu 240 is asymetrical babel im having issue not sharpening but polishing i have 2k, 4k, 6k, 8k, and 10k. i polishing them with all them and gets a super nice tooth to it, also cut paper like nothing very nice edge, but when it comes to tomatoes doesnt do anything to them, but i notice that everytime i polish it gets a burr so i do not know if i need to get a burr from all the stones or what. from that point i get confussed and i dont know how to fix it.
If you are having issues with tomatoes either you have too much polish, which would contradict the tooth comment or you are slightly rounding over your edge. Neither is helpful to you.

If you are over polishing you can fix it a few ways. One, spend less time on each stone. Two, cut out a few stones and make larger jumps. Or three, don't finish on such a fine stone.

If you are rounding over your edge, you can fix that too. It will take more angular consistency. That simply comes with practice.

What I would do, were I you, would be to test on a tomato after each stone and see where you are starting to have problems. If you do fine on all but the finest stone, you might have too much polish. If you have trouble after the 2k, 4k or 6k it is more likely a rounded edge. Now, that is not a certainty but it is a start.

As for the burr, only raise it once. Raise a burr on each side with your coarsest stone then work on reducing and then removing it on that same stone. When you move on to your following stones you have no need to raise a burr. You are simply refining the edge that you already have. If you are raising a burr easily on your fine stones then you are either using too much pressure or you are spending too much time on one side before flipping the knife.

That is just my take on it. Good luck.

Re: finishing stones

Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 2:00 am
by Spipet
Cutting paper is not really a good test. As said by Kit, try taking a bit bigger leaps, so may be 2k to 8k, and don't spend too much time on the 8k.

Re: finishing stones

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:18 pm
by marcel2006
The pressure you apply when sharpening needs to be lighter on the polishing (8000 grits) stone compared to the sharpening stone (1000 grits).

Re: finishing stones

Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2018 3:22 pm
by lsboogy
A knife with a good 8K finish should fall through a tomatoe - I just drop mine straight through even the ripest heirloom jobs. No slice, just a straight on push cut. A thin grind helps a lot. My Kikuichi Swedish Damascus knives go through, as do the Kohetsus. Grind, profile, steel, sharpening all make difference. Try push cutting (no slicing motion) newspaper or paper towels - those are my gauges for sharpening at present - if I can push cut a paper towel knife will push cut veg and breads

Re: finishing stones

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:29 am
by Papou
Aaahh the taste of a Heirloom Tomato such as Brandywine , Cherokee Choc , or Mariannas P :)...