Another which way would d you grind this?
- Drewski
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Another which way would d you grind this?
Shun premier chef knife. Very abused. The entire edge is full of chips but there's a very big one about 1cm from the tip. Should I grind from the spine and make this into a santoku? Or should I grind from the edge and give it a very upswept, thick belly?
Also, hi to everyone! Been a very stressful time as a teacher, plus I haven't been able to buy any knives for over a year now, so I've kinda dropped out of the forum. But I'm sharpening a lot of knives these days, so I expect I'll be on here a bit more frequently. Cheers!
Also, hi to everyone! Been a very stressful time as a teacher, plus I haven't been able to buy any knives for over a year now, so I've kinda dropped out of the forum. But I'm sharpening a lot of knives these days, so I expect I'll be on here a bit more frequently. Cheers!
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
It is nice to see you on the forum! I haven't been on as much, either (and I'm also a teacher, at university, which has spared me compared to other levels but has still taken a toll).
Why not split the difference? It seems like you can nearly match the original profile if you took some off the top and some off the bottom, while also flattening the belly about 1.25 inches from the tip. I think this is totally doable. Remember that it is much faster to remove metal from thinner areas, so I really think this is still a quick fix. While you won't get as high performing of a tip overall, you can keep the profile and still have a great tip for garlic and maybe even shallots (if not for onions) with only marginal thinning after this work.
Being in BC, we've been in lockdown for what feels like ages, although it hasn't really been that long. But it is nice to feel like lives are being saved. Hang in there!
Why not split the difference? It seems like you can nearly match the original profile if you took some off the top and some off the bottom, while also flattening the belly about 1.25 inches from the tip. I think this is totally doable. Remember that it is much faster to remove metal from thinner areas, so I really think this is still a quick fix. While you won't get as high performing of a tip overall, you can keep the profile and still have a great tip for garlic and maybe even shallots (if not for onions) with only marginal thinning after this work.
Being in BC, we've been in lockdown for what feels like ages, although it hasn't really been that long. But it is nice to feel like lives are being saved. Hang in there!
~J
Comments: I'm short, a home cook, prefer lighter, thinner blades, and have tried dozens of brands over the years.
Comments: I'm short, a home cook, prefer lighter, thinner blades, and have tried dozens of brands over the years.
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
Ignoring the big chip, and assuming consistent chippage along the edge (to that in the photo), you'll need to grind the edge back to expose fresh metal, then thin, then put the edge back on. With Shuns, new chips often appear as you sharpen what you "thought" was fresh metal. Chasing those can be frustrating and time consuming.
In these situations, I do all the "metal moving" with a belt sander then perform the final sharpening freehand. If you're planning to do this all by hand, then hopefully you have some very coarse stones or very coarse aluminum oxide sandpaper. You can do most of the work with something like an Atoma 140, but that stone will tear out metal at the edge so care is required with the edge once fresh metal is exposed.
With all the chips ground back from the edge, and with the knife thinned, your "big" chip will appear much smaller. Salemj's advice of splitting the difference will seem much more reasonable at that point.
In these situations, I do all the "metal moving" with a belt sander then perform the final sharpening freehand. If you're planning to do this all by hand, then hopefully you have some very coarse stones or very coarse aluminum oxide sandpaper. You can do most of the work with something like an Atoma 140, but that stone will tear out metal at the edge so care is required with the edge once fresh metal is exposed.
With all the chips ground back from the edge, and with the knife thinned, your "big" chip will appear much smaller. Salemj's advice of splitting the difference will seem much more reasonable at that point.
Greg
- ken123
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
I tend to agree with both posts. First you have to get all the small chips out and see what is left. Then attack the larger chips or what's left of them bringing them down parallel to the original profile. A perfect application for a 150 platinum for original shaping or if you lack patience, a 46 grit diamond plate to start.
Ken
Ken
- Drewski
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
Thanks to everyone for their input. It was super helpful. Luckily I had a 60 grit diamond plate lying around (thanks Ken!) and a 150 stone (thanks Ken again!). Still took a while. But after removing all the (normal on this knife) chips on the rest of the edge, the huge chip wasn't so huge. I ended up doing most of the work from the edge rather than the spine. Tried to thin it out, not sure how successful I was. Wasn't able to get that shun polish back on the cladded steel, even with a 5k stone. Thanks again!
- ken123
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
Looks great! I was worried this might become a nakari Nice photo sequence!
Ken
Ken
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
Nice job!
Thinning always seems to take more effort than we expect. Now that you have the knife "working" again, you can sneak up on optimal thinning with each subsequent sharpening.
I've tried a number of methods (most using power tools) to restore a Shun finish after thinning. In all honesty, I've never really cracked this. You can always tell that I just put it on a buffer, and I think this looks worse.
Greg
- Jeff B
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
Nice repair and good job with the pictures showing the progress.
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
- ken123
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
"You can always tell that I just put it on a buffer"
You might want to go back to waterstones to generate a flatter blade edge.
Ken
You might want to go back to waterstones to generate a flatter blade edge.
Ken
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Re: Another which way would d you grind this?
I was speaking of trying to restore the Shun Damascus finish after thinning a blade (not just thinning behind the edge). Have you ever restored it via acid etch? If so, how did you prepare the blade prior to putting it in acid?
Greg