Got my 210mm Tojiro today

Lit · January 2012

Came pretty sharp but I touched it up. It will now shave your arm. For $60 it's got to be one of the best buys ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D7_10cIY7w&feature=youtu.be

ChokeOnSmoke · January 2012

Got mine yesterday. This thing kicks ass! When I sober up I'm going to do some serious chopping.

thechief96 · January 2012

I'm hoping to get mine today.

thechief96 · January 2012

@lit

I have never sharpen any knives. Any suggestions on what type of stones I should start with?

Dave

Village Idiot · January 2012

Chief,

I have a 400 grit, a 1000 grit, and a 5,000 grit. Then I have a barber's strop for finishing. Works great.

I bought Bob Kramer's Sharpening Kit ($295 at Sur La Table), and it comes with a base and a cleaning stone too.

thechief96 · January 2012

Thanks Rob (I think),

Is it pretty easy to pick up the general skills of knife sharping? I do have some less costly knives I can start with. Some really old Chicago Cutlery.

That may sound like a lot of money for a sharping kit I realize that the two Ken Onions that I have cost more than that.

Dave

Hungry Joe · January 2012

I got a couple of Japanese knives for Christmas and started looking for
information on how to sharpen them since I've never used stones before. I
came across this link
either from someone here or another greeneggers site. I haven't tried
it yet because the stones I want to order are not in stock but it looked
to be a good source for getting started.

Village Idiot · January 2012

Dave,

If you were talking to me, my name is Gary.

Sharpening isn't hard at all. Only need to know a few things.

1. Keep your knife at an angle, approx. the same angle as if you had a matchbook under it.

2. Apply 4 to 5 pounds of pressure when sharpening. Kramer says most people don't put enough pressure.(you can use a kitchen scale to practice)

3. Sharpen with the course grit until you can feel a burr on the entire edge. There will be a burr only on one side.

4. Switch to the next finer grain stone. You don't need to use the last two stones nearly as long as the first stone.

That's about it.

Check out Bob's video. He taught the class I went to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbkPdkUDuo

Hungry Joe · January 2012

Gary, I believe you are the one that lead me to the link in my post, have you ever purchased anyting form his web site?

Hungry Joe · January 2012

My bad I just re-read your post. I saw the Sur La Table part but missed the Bob Kramer sharpening kit somehow. @-)

thechief96 · January 2012

Sorry Gary, Yes I was.

Thanks for the information. I watched the videos. It looks like I have a very good starting point.

Thanks

Dave

Lit · January 2012

Chefknivestogo.com has a great selection of sharpening videos. I use the king 1000/6000 stone I got from kramerknives.com. I also use a leather strop glued to a 3*3 to deburr and polish the blade but my next purchase will be the hone American base with a bovine pad and 1 micron paste for a step between 6000 grit and stropping. The 1 micron paste will make the pad 16000 grit and then I want the horse leather strop pad for finishing. Sounds like alot but all of it comes out to just over $100 and $50 for the king stone and your set. Any of you guys that got this knife check out a post by focker on the other site yesterday titles lit. He sanded the rough sides with a 600 wet/dry sandpaper and polished them. Looks great so I'm off to lowe's.

thechief96 · January 2012

Mine was just delivered.

thechief96 · January 2012

@Lit

Focker's knife really does look quite good. Do you think that the sanding of the knife was just freehand or with a sanding block?

Thanks

Dave

Village Idiot · January 2012

Hat's off to Focker. My Tojiro shined up quite nicely. =D>

I used a sanding block, but in the process, I dulled up the blade pretty much. Not to worry. It will sharpen up fairly quickly, being carbon steel.

I might get another.

thechief96 · January 2012

Was it pretty easy to do? I will do mine tomorrow during the games.

Village Idiot · January 2012

Pretty easy. The black doesn't come off readily, but does after awhile .... probably took me 10-15 minutes. It's a little interesting getting it off right at the hilt. The Kanji lettering is still there after the sanding. I like that. During the game tomorrow, I'll resharpen it.

Lit · January 2012

I got 320 and 600 grit wet sand paper and did it by hand. The 600 got it smooth and some what shiny but I took some 16000 grit diamond paste I had laying around and it made it much better. I want to find a good polish to bring it to a mirror shine. The knife had some drag before but that is all gone.

ChokeOnSmoke · January 2012

Post a picture if you can after you get it finished.

Lit · January 2012

Here's the pics. You can see the fine scratches but it's smooth to the touch. I want to get a compound or good polishing cream to finish it off for looks but as far as functionality it's completely smooth. The carbon will pick up patina faily quickly and probably hide the scratches so I might give it a couple weeks before I worry about a compound. I suggest getting the 320 and 600 grit because the 600 grit would have taken forever by itself. The 320 strips the black pretty quick and the 600 smooths it back out quick. I sharpened it again and stropped it and the drag is so much better.

BGE Convert · January 2012

Lit, is this the one that you got.

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/toitkshwa21.html

There are two 210MM knives by Tojiro the other one called Tojiro DP Chef Knife which cast a bit more.

Been thinking of getting some Japanese knives and was wondering if you liked this knife so far.

Lit · January 2012

Yes that is it.This knife is great. How it comes it has a little drag when cutting but I took some 600 grit wet sand paper and polished it up and it got rid of the drag. A guy I work with brought me some 1000,1500, and 2500 grit wet sand paper so I am going to polish it to a mirror shine tonight. The best knife I have seen for $60 but if you get it I would recommend getting the 600 grit wet sand paper from home depot for $5 and finish the sides it only took about 30 minutes.

Village Idiot · January 2012

I sanded down the sides to where they are nice and shiny, but in doing so, I dulled the blade pretty much. It took very little time to bring it back to razor sharp. That's why I like carbon steel.

Thanks again, Lit. Great knife for the price.

BGE Convert · January 2012

Lit, Not familiar with the term drag. Are you saying some spots on the edge were not as sharp?

Lit · January 2012

The sides of the knife were not smooth along the black part so they didn't slide smooth through food. The blade itself comes really sharp. Just took a quick sanding to polish it.

The Naked Whiz · January 2012

Lit or VI, if you wanted to get a sharpening stone and not spend a fortune (which as I see you can!) what would you get? A double sided stone? Do you need 3 grits? Any advice?

Village Idiot · January 2012

whiz,

You might have read that I bought the Bob Kramer Kit, which consisted of 3 grits, a base holder, and a cleaning stone. It cost $295. Yikes !!!!

But, as I've since I've learned from browsing the internet sites, I see one stone can cost $75 or more, which is not unusual. So, 3 stones would bring it up to $225. Add the base and cleaning stone, and voila, you're up to the Kramer price.

Since I bought it, my wife has severely cut her finger (to the bone... ER visit) because the boning knife she was using was razor sharp. Still, if one of my knives won't cut paper cleanly and quickly, I am quick to go to the stone. It's become an obsession with me ..... kinda like Eggheads are with their Eggs.

Bottom line: It's a one time investment that will pay for itself over a long period of time, much like the Egg.

stike · January 2012

whiz. they've been sharpening knives for thousands of years. get a few stones of varying grit. and try not to scratch the heck out of the blades when you do them (oh no he di-int!)

just sharpened six or seven last night with a single stone, two sided. no need in this house to get crazy sharp. you can sharpen to too fine a point (lit and fig). daily use stuff, i take it easy. i also like a little 'drag' on the edge. forget what they call it, but i was clued into it by a chef who said he left a little 'grab' (edge not perfectly flawless, akin to micro serrations i guess)

my 9 year old sharpened his pocket knife the other day by hand. didn't do a bad job, though it was pretty sharp to begin with. key is lifting the handle as you get too the tip, or the angle will be too shallow.

Village Idiot · January 2012

Whiz,

There are two schools of thought. One, like Stike, that wants a knife that will function adequately in the kitchen. Sawing the meat is OK and will work if the meat is half frozen. Then, mine that wants a knife to start cutting into the tomato without putting any pressure on it.

The former is less expensive. You can probably get what stones you need at your local hardware store. Also, the electric knife sharpeners work fairly well for this. The latter is more expensive, and only required by compulsive, obsessive knife devotees that are not satisfied with anything less than perfection.

Either school is perfectly acceptable. Your choice.

Lit · January 2012

Whiz I only use one double sided stone. Its a King 1000/6000 I got from kramerknives.com for $50. It does everything I have ever needed it to (I used it to remove about an 1/8" from one of my friends 10" shun chef knife the other day after he took a chunk out of it on a coconut). I also bought a leather strop from highland hardware and glued it to a 3*3 for a flat strop for like $15. You don't need the strop it's just a fine finish but you can get a knife scary sharp on just the stone alone. When I do upgrade my stone I will get a 6000 grit stone that doesn't require soaking before use but the king I have only needs to soak for 10 minutes so its not too bad. From VIs post above it sounds like him and I are about the same with our attention to sharpness on our knives. I hit mine on a 6000 grit every couple uses and actually enjoy sharpening them and learning more about sharpening them.

The Naked Whiz · January 2012

Thanks all. Now to do a bit of looking around....

Got my 210mm Tojiro today

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