I have a large Sashimi knife in H1 ground that way.
Sal, any chance these are available to us mere mortals?
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:19 pm
by sal
Hi Carson,
The knife was custom made for a particular Sushi Master to see if H1 could be used for Sushi Prep. Sushi / Sashimi knives are non stainless and are generally kept in a damp towel when not in use to prevent rust.
As it turned out, the Master said he preferred his regular Sashimi knives, so the knife was presented to me as a gift. I've only used it a bit as it is pretty large for home use. I don't think we would try to make one in production.
sal
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 7:47 am
by cgjones
Sal,
Thanks for the info. I suppose that it would be a pretty niche item. I do have a G. Sakai Sabi Knife 4 in H1. It's a Deba style fixed blade that I use as a camp kitchen knife.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2022 4:20 pm
by sethwm
Just spent the afternoon in the garden (breathing in all the wildfire smoke, but that’s a different issue). Was picking the last of the peppers and tomatoes, and cutting down the plants. Brought a few blades out with me to play around: h1 salt 2 ticn pe, h1 salt 2 ticn se, lc200n salt 2 PE, spy27 para 3 pe, dragonfly salt se, and dragonfly k390 pe. All of the plain edge blades were super glassy on the stems, just sliding back and forth. These were just sharpened and hair shaving sharp on a fairly coarse 300 grit stone. The serrated made quick work of the stems. The salt 2 was “factory serrated” whereas the dragonfly got the sharpening treatment from this thread. I found them basically equivalent but the harsher serrations did like 10% better on the stalks. The dragonfly was great but ever so noticeably harder to cut through.
Then I took all the knives into the garage to cut through some cardboard. The plain edges pushcut like the cardboard wasn’t even there. The serrated wouldn’t push it but a slight sawing motion tore right through the cardboard. The rougher salt 2 serrations snagged slightly, but that was canceled out by the shorter dragonfly having its spyderhole snag.
So what’s the lesson here? the serrated was the best all around blade. I wish there was a serrated para 3 lw salt…maybe I’ll try the bd1n serrated version.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:11 am
by mark greenman
This is another interesting Tormek SE sharpening video. He achieves first a 110 BESS, then a 69 BESS.
Essentially, he only grinds very lightly on the back of the blade, to raise a burr within the scallops, then deburrs the scallops with a fine felt wheel.
In another video, he describes how he does it without the Tormek, using a dremel with flexible 'pencil' attachment:
I'm curious if anyone has tried this method as it sounds quite promising.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2022 5:57 am
by Woodpuppy
Yikes. Be very careful with power tools! The only time I use a dremel on my knives is to clean corrosion out of the thumb ramp serrations.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Yikes. Be very careful with power tools! The only time I use a dremel on my knives is to clean corrosion out of the thumb ramp serrations.
Its would be with a soft cloth/felt wheel with a bit of polishing compound to strop/polish/deburr the scallops.
I'm very tempted to try it. Knife Grinders Australia (the video maker) are pretty serious 'edge scientists', and then I found a post from Evil D that describes a very similar dremel stropping process.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 8:27 pm
by sal
I have seen many ways to sharpen serrations and many tests to "prove" how sharp they are. Serrations are a funny thing and "Real-World-Testing" is still the best test. I've seen serrations sharpened to create exceptional single tooth sharpness, but slicing a piece of paper proved challenging. Keep an open mind (drafty brain) when learning to sharpen teeth. Also, do your own sharpening and your own testing.
sal
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2022 8:03 am
by Woodpuppy
“Drafty brain” that’s a good one
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2022 8:51 pm
by SpyderEdgeForever
Tasman Salt Serrated, Yum Yum :)
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
I have seen many ways to sharpen serrations and many tests to "prove" how sharp they are. Serrations are a funny thing and "Real-World-Testing" is still the best test. I've seen serrations sharpened to create exceptional single tooth sharpness, but slicing a piece of paper proved challenging. Keep an open mind (drafty brain) when learning to sharpen teeth. Also, do your own sharpening and your own testing.
sal
Well said, sir. You and your knives are my favorite. :)
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Essentially, he only grinds very lightly on the back of the blade, to raise a burr within the scallops, then deburrs the scallops with a fine felt wheel.
I worked for a little boutique cutlery shop when I was in college. The old guy who ran the place had mostly retired, and just handled the sharpening. This was essentially his technique, only he used Norton belts rather than a wheel. He had exceptionally good results.
The downside here is that eventually you'll wear the serrations away, but I suppose that is true no matter how you sharpen them.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:59 am
by magicdad
Evil D (I gather your name is David), I purchased and first used a Byrd Cara Cara with SE combo blade yesterday. It was love at first use. Although I have a few other SE blades (Benchmade Griptilian, Kershaw Blur, Boker Subcom) I've never really taken to them and use them quite infrequently. Of course that could be because I went blindly into the category of SE knives. The Cara's intended purpose was to be my beater knife to clean my koi/goldfish pond with. It was perfect for the job. I posted about that here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=93730
I'll have to finish reading your entire essay after taking care of some things, but first let me say that this is among the most informative articles I've ever seen regarding any aspect of pocket knives. Every time I feel as if I have enough pocket knives I find out about another sub-category, then buy a few more. I know that I'm not alone in that respect. And I realize that I'm about 12 years too late to thank you for writing this, but …thank you! I will also offer my sarcastic appreciation by saying, "Thanks a lot, David, for encouraging me to pour even more money into this hobby/pastime/obsession." I'm now going to be looking for a legitimate non-beater SE for EDC carry, and your research will help quite a bit.
This is a fantastic write-up, brother. I will put it to good use, as I'm sure many others have.
Re: SE performance is more than simply teeth vs no teeth.
