Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

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Drewski
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Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by Drewski »

Recently I had a couple of knives to sharpen for a friend. One was an 80mm Kikuichi paring/petty with a western handle. The other was a Mac Pro gyuto. While sharpening I regularly test the edge of the blade by cutting newspaper, and I can never seem to get the petty to match the sharpness of the gyuto. I know that smaller blades require more skill to sharpen because slight variations in angle are easier to introduce while sharpening.

However, is there more to it than this? Are such small petties just going to be thicker behind the edge relative to a thin gyuto, making them feel less sharp? Should I be able to get a small petty feeling as sharp through newspaper as a thin gyuto? Any advice on this would be appreciated, it's kinda bothering me. Cheers!
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by Robstreperous »

Can’t say I’ve ever run into this myself. One of my sharper knives is a petty Tim Johnson made for me in S35VN which isn’t necessarily known for being a breeze to sharpen...

Which Kikuichi petty is it? Is it an older knife by any chance?
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by Jeff B »

My petties feel just as sharp but they are thicker behind the edge in general.
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by gladius »

Are you comparing with the same maker and steel?
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by Drewski »

Thanks for the replies. I can't figure out exactly what like of Kikuichi it is, but surely has different steel than the Mac. I've attached a pic of the Kikuichi, the handle is a natural wood western. Seems like I might just need more practice on small blades.
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gladius
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by gladius »

Drewski wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 4:17 pm Seems like I might just need more practice on small blades.
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Some blades just don't get that sharp.
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by branwell »

How are your angles?

I found when I started sharpening pettys I had to make a concerted effort to keep the angle low. The blade being less tall than larger knives has less gap at the back for a given sharpening angle, which my admittedly small brain needed to wrap its self around before I started getting equal results to large knives.
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by bruin »

branwell wrote: Wed Aug 12, 2020 6:40 pm How are your angles?

I found when I started sharpening pettys I had to make a concerted effort to keep the angle low. The blade being less tall than larger knives has less gap at the back for a given sharpening angle, which my admittedly small brain needed to wrap its self around before I started getting equal results to large knives.
I’ve had this experience too. Visual perception of angle can really change on knives of different heights.
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by nakiriknaifuwaifu »

You said that the petties are not feeling as sharp through paper. IMO thickness behind the edge only really matters when you're cutting harder things, because as the edge moves down the product, the product is then moved further apart. If the product is weak like a watermelon or something, you won't crack and wedge as much as if you were cutting a thick carrot. With paper though, it's so light and flimsy that thickness behind the edge shouldn't matter. I can get a bone cleaver to shave paper just as good as a normal gyuto.

Even if the petty is a few mm thicker behind the edge, I don't think the difference in a few mm would make a significant difference. Usually petties are thinner behind the edge - in any case though if a workhorse gyuto can do it, the behind-the-edge geometry of your petty isn't holding you back.
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by Radar53 »

Hi There Drewski. Not sure if this will helpful or not, but just scaling from the photo would suggest that, for an angle of about 15 - 16dps, the gap at the spine (above the choil) between the stone and the spine should be around 7mm.

HTH
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Re: Sharpening a petty vs a gyuto

Post by lsboogy »

I have an old Kikuichi white steel blade that looks much like your picture Drewski - and the thing takes one of the best edges of any blade I have ever had - adjust your angle a bit - and low pressure on the blade when sharpening
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